During his tenure with the Bengals, Willie Anderson was widely regarded as the best right tackle in the NFL, and was chosen a first-team All-Pro for three straight years from 2004 to 2006. But Anderson isn’t in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and he thinks Sandra Bullock has something to do with that.
Anderson thinks Michael Lewis’s book The Blind Side and Bullock’s hit movie adaptation of that book, led Hall of Fame voters to conclude that left tackles were the truly great linemen, and right tackles were afterthoughts.
“The media had a bias because they just didn’t understand the importance of the guys we blocked over there [as right tackles] were some of the best rushers of all-time,” Anderson told Kay Adams. “The whole Blind Side thing got taken out because of the movie and the right side guys got pushed away.”
Asked if he thinks The Blind Side movie negatively affected his Hall of Fame chances, Anderson replied, “Absolutely.”
“The media push of The Blind Side left tackle is a huge deal,” Anderson added.
Anderson is in the Bengals’ Ring of Honor and was chosen to their 50th Anniversary Team, and he has been among the 15 Hall of Fame finalists in each of the last three years. Last year he made the cutdown to the final 10 candidates but missed out in the end. He’s trending toward eventually getting into the Hall of Fame. If he makes it, Anderson will be the first right tackle who played in the 21st Century to be enshrined.
