Warren Sapp and Michael Strahan do not like each other. When they were active players, Sapp reacted to Strahan breaking the single-season sack record by saying there should be an asterisk next to his record because Brett Favre laid down for the final sack. Strahan responded that there should be a McDonald’s next to Sapp’s house because Sapp is fat. That kind of verbal sniping has continued through the years, and kept going this year when Sapp was voted into the Hall of Fame and Strahan was voted out.
Now Sapp is saying that Strahan should stay out of the Hall of Fame. And Sapp says that if the Hall of Fame Selection Committee wants to put in a good pass rusher, it should look to his own former teammate Simeon Rice over Strahan.
“Simeon was a better rusher than Michael Strahan any day of the week and twice on Sunday,” Sapp told the Tampa Tribune.
Rice was an excellent pass rusher, a three-time Pro Bowler who had double-digit sacks in eight different seasons and 122 sacks in his career, the 13th-highest career total since the NFL started counting sacks in 1982. But was he really a better rusher than Strahan, who in addition to being the single-season record holder is No. 5 in career sacks, with 141.5? According to Sapp, yes.
Sapp says that Rice routinely beat opposing left tackles, while Strahan had an easier job facing right tackles.
"[Rice] didn’t rush the worst lineman,” Sapp said. “You know the right tackle is the worst of the five. Strahan played right end his first four years. When they were putting the label on him as a bust, they put ‘B-U-S . OK, let’s transition him on the other side and see if he can play in his fourth year.’ They put him at right end and he couldn’t do it, so they moved him to the weak guy. One-on-one with the [Eagles right tackle] Jon Runyans for eight quarters every year. Sim won’t ever have his name brought up [for the Hall of Fame], and that’s a shame. He’s one of the best pass rushers I’ve ever encountered in my life.”
And, at least in Sapp’s mind, a better pass rusher than Strahan.