Bruce Smith questions Tony Boselli's Hall of Fame credentials

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Hall of Fame defensive end Bruce Smith is upset that supporters of offensive tackle Tony Boselli are using Boselli's dominating performance against Smith in a playoff game as one of the reasons that Boselli has been elected into the Hall.

The NFL's all-time sack leader also intimates that Boselli doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame because of the length of his career and the fact that Boselli played with a left-handed quarterback and didn't have to protect the blind side.

«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 in a statement posted on his official Instagram account. «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.»

Boselli dominated Smith in the Jacksonville Jaguars' 30-27 upset of the Buffalo Bills in an AFC Wildcard game on Dec. 28, 1996. Smith was the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year that season after racking up 13.5 sacks and 90 tackles, but he managed just three tackles and two quarterback pressures in the game in Buffalo.

But Smith said using that game as an argument for Boselli's inclusion into the Hall of Fame is «underhanded tactics.»

«The HOF is an exclusive fraternity that follows a tacit code of conduct which fosters respect and brotherhood between its members,» Smith said in his statement. «Given the opportunity, any Hall of Famer could