Sure-Handed Moore Mysteriously Shunned Near The End In Detroit

The rookie pass catcher from the University of Virginia was having all sorts of problems -- namely, catching passes. He was a Lions freshman in 1991, and there were fears that the team had wasted another first round pick on an offensive flop -- the way they did a year earlier with QB Andre Ware. He was given extra work in practice. He was counseled. But he still wasn't hauling in passes with any sort of reliable consistency. Fortunately, the team went on a roll, playing their hearts out for their fallen teammate Mike Utley, so the rookie receiver's woes were mostly hidden.

Then Herman Moore tried some contact lenses. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Moore, it was revealed this past week, is one of the Class of 2008 for the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame (MSHOF). Well-deserved, and even more of a no-brainer if his last coach hadn't largely ignored him toward the end of his career in Detroit.

But Moore didn't even have a lock on a roster spot with the Lions in '91, much less being considered a Hall of Famer in anything related to NFL football. He was drafted with high hopes from Virginia, yet had a propensity for dropping almost as many passes as he caught. Consequently, he wasn't utilized all that much, mainly because he couldn't really be trusted. Then Moore switched to a different set of lenses and his pass catching skills improved tremendously.

Before long, Herman Moore became the most sure-handed pass receiver I've ever seen in Detroit. Even today it's true, some seven years after he played his last game.

I saw Charlie Sanders extend his body and grab them, when he had no business doing so. I witnessed Leonard Thompson with his spectacular receptions of bombs. And I saw the potential of other young receivers like Germaine Crowell, TE David Sloan, and others -- players who flickered brightly but only for a short period of time. But never did I see anyone whose hands were as reliable as flypaper as when Moore was at his peak.

Moore was a four-time Pro Bowler and a three-time First Team All-Pro. In the three seasons from 1995-97, Moore caught 333 passes (111 per year) for 4,275 yards (1,425 per year), and 31 TDs. It's mind-boggling, I know, but it's true.


Moore hauls another one in with his soft hands


But it wasn't just the numbers; after all, we know how they can be inflated in the NFL misleadingly. It was simple: when you threw the ball in Herman Moore's direction, he was going to catch it. Period. He used his hands, not his chest, to catch most of the passes. He had the length (6-foot-4) and the reach to snag those alley-oops in the end zone, when the ball was inside the five-yard line. I could have thrown some of those touchdown passes; all I would have had to do was heave the ball, like a hand grenade, and watch Moore outmuscle some poor little CB for the football and six points. Out of 670 passes that he caught in his career, Moore fumbled five times. Five. That's less than one percent.

Yet it could have been so much more for no. 84 in Detroit. I'm not sure what Moore did to piss off coach Bobby Ross, but it must have been something, because Ross treated Moore like dog doo-doo in Moore's final seasons here. As Crowell emerged as the potential new go-to guy, Moore's role diminished -- and in a way that's like saying letter-writing diminished upon the arrival of e-mail.

Suddenly Moore was persona non grata. After starting 15 games in 1998 and catching 82 balls, Moore was mostly a rumor in Detroit from 1999-2001. Even when he played, the ball was mysteriously not being thrown in his direction. It was weird. It was as if Ross was intentionally freezing out the best receiver to ever wear Honolulu Blue and Silver.

So Moore ended his career with a whimper, not a bang. He suited up for one game with the Giants in 2002 before retiring.

No telling where he would have ranked all time had Ross not kicked him to the curb so soon.

Herman Moore is going into the MSHOF this year. Even Ross won't be able to kick him out of there, once he's in.