Legendary offensive tackle Tony Boselli made history this offseason.
After several years of being denied, Boselli became the first Jacksonville Jaguar to ever be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton following a storied seven-year career that included five trips to the pro bowl and three first-team all-pro selections.
In perhaps his most infamous game, Boselli managed to hold Hall of Fame edge rusher Bruce Smith to just three tackles and two quarterback hits in the 1996 AFC Wildcard game, where the Jags upset the Bills 30-27. Smith won Defensive Player of the Year that season after accumulating 13.5 sacks and 90 total tackles.
Through a series of Instagram posts, it is clear that Smith still reminisces about this game and feels that Boselli’s performance played a huge role in his induction to Canton, to which he does not agree.
“A large part of the campaign to promote Tony Boselli into the Hall of Fame seems to hyper-focus on a single successful performance he had against me in a 1996 playoff game,” Smith said. “On the one hand, I’m quite flattered to be considered the gold standard by which another player’s game can be measured to determine his qualification into the HOF. But on a more serious level, I and other HOFers believe it sets a horrible precedent to negatively zero in on a standing member of the Hall’s play in order to validate the candidacy of a nominee.”
Smith did acknowledge Bosselli as a formidable opponent, but when comparing him to other legendary left tackles he was reluctant to give Bosselli credit for his outstanding play.
“Tony was a formidable opponent during his brief career, but I find it difficult to compare the totality of his body of work with those of the NFL’s greatest left tackles,” Smith said. “With the exception of the legendary Anthony Munoz; Jonathan Ogden, Willie Roaf, and Walter Jones all protected the blind side of the quarterback for 12 seasons or more. In Jacksonville, Leon Searcy bore the arduous task of protecting Mark Brunell’s blindside, while Tony benefited from protecting the extremely talented, mobile left handed quarterback.
“During my nineteen years in the NFL several outstanding LTs, such as Bruce Armstrong, Richmond Webb, and Will Wilford, all had stellar games against me,” Smith said. “Perhaps they too would be wise to build HOF campaigns highlighting that fact.”
Boselli has long been considered the greatest Jaguar of all-time. The first-ever draft pick in Jaguars history, the Jaguars took a young Boselli out of USC at No. 2 overall in the 1995 NFL Draft and proceeded to build around him under head coach Tom Coughlin.
And it didn't take long for Boselli or the Jaguars to make a name for themselves. Boselli was named a Pro Bowler in 1996, the same year the Jaguars went 9-7 and advanced all the way to the AFC Championship Game.
Boselli would go on to become arguably the most decorated player in franchise history, earning five Pro Bowl nods, making the All-Pro First-Team three straight years from 1997-99 and being named to the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team.
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