Dr. Z's 2004 All-Pro Team OFFENSE QB: Peyton Manning, Indianapolis RB: Edgerrin James, Indianapolis FB: Jerald Sowell, N.Y. Jets WR: Terrell Owens, Philadelphia WR: Muhsin Muhammad, Carolina TE: Antonio Gates, San Diego T: Walter Jones, Seattle T: Marvel Smith, Pittsburgh C: Kevin Mawae, N.Y. Jets G: Will Shields, Kansas City G: Pete Kendall, N.Y. Jets DEFENSE DE: Aaron Smith, Pittsburgh DE: Dwight Freeney, Indianapolis T: Cornelius Griffin, Washington T: John Henderson, Jacksonville OLB: Keith Bulluck, Tennessee OLB: Donnie Edwards, San Diego MLB: James Farrior, Pittsburgh CB: Nate Clements, Buffalo CB: Sheldon Brown, Philadelphia FS: Brian Dawkins, Philadelphia SS: Ed Reed, Baltimore SPECIAL TEAMS K: David Akers, Philadelphia P: Mike Scifres, San Diego Returner: Eddie Drummond, Detroit Coverage: Mel Mitchell, New Orleans AWARDS Coach of the Year: Bill Belichick, New England Player of the Year: Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Rookie of the Year: Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh

I have been asked if I consult with anyone when I select my all-pro team for the magazine. Yes, if someone looks too good to me, I call his position coach to find out if I'm seeing things, or if I have a real sleeper on my hands. Usually I can tell when the coach is being sincere. Occasionally he'll try to knock down a young player for the sake of harmony on his unit. He doesn't want to get the older vets annoyed. Sometimes he's been told not to push a guy too hard because his contract is coming up.

Occasionally that coach will steer me to someone I hadn't considered, and so I go back through all my charts and do a workup and bingo! A sleeper. I picked Miami guard Mark Dixon one year by that method. All I can say in my defense is that I take this as seriously as anything I do, and I try not to let any personal dislikes influence my choices. Terrell Owens is a case in point. Here, then is my team:

QUARTERBACK: I was riding with Daunte Culpepper almost the whole way. Two things switched me over to Manning ... 1) It's a historic season for him and I didn't want to go on record as the one idiot who failed to recognize that, and 2) more than any of his five-TD games against laid-back zones, two contests convinced me. Baltimore, whose blitzes he beat by real artistry at going to his hot reads in a way that reminded me of Joe Namath in his prime. And San Diego, when everything was blah and his team was ripe for a defeat, Manning pulled the Colts out of their spin.

RUNNING BACK: You chicken out when you pick two of them. A team has one runner and one fullback in its lineup, period. Emotionally, I was in Curtis Martin's corner, but logically, I had to go with James, whose combined rushing and pass-catching yards topped everyone through 15 games. Why shouldn't that count? I almost went with Martin, though ... but four Jets among the NFL's top 11? Uh uh, too scary a prospect.

FULLBACK: The Chargers' Lorenzo Neal had a kind of renaissance as a blocker, but he just isn't on the field long enough. Which led me to Pittsburgh's Dan Kreider and the Chiefs' Tony Richardson, a pair of big league blockers. Almost as good in that department is Sowell, but gosh, can you really overlook the 45 passes he caught, by far the most of any fullback? He's very valuable as an outlet receiver for Chad Pennington, and Lord knows, the troubled Jet QB needs them. The NFC's Pro Bowl selection, William Henderson of the Packers, is a solid old veteran, but I would really question whether or not he's on the field as much as their other fullback, the big guy, Nick Luchey.

WIDEOUTS: Usually it's so close among four or five of them, that I have to do a game-by-game comparison. This time it was easy. I haven't found any wide receivers whose contributions were as meaningful for their teams. Owens, especially, almost single-handedly lifted the Eagles' whole offensive production. Very impressive indeed was the cavalier way he blew off attempts at double coverage, and you can't overlook the psychological effect his presence had on Donovan McNabb.

TIGHT END: A very tough go here. Gates and the Chiefs' Tony Gonzalez were almost impossible to separate, so I did my game by game breakdown, looking at how they did against similar foes, in meaningful situations, and overall. After 15 games (I picked my team before last Sunday's action), Gates was ahead 7-5, with three ties. I didn't think it would come out this way. On sentiment, I was in Gonzalez' corner. But fair's fair.

Tackle Walter Jones was a key player in Seattle's eighth-ranked rushing offense. Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images

TACKLES: Walter Jones is an easy pick. He's the best and smoothest pure pass blocker in the game. The other position was tough. Usually I like a boomer for my second tackle. Jonathan Ogden and William Roaf -- both of whom I've picked in the past -- qualify, but their pass blocking has slipped. They need help, especially against speed rushers. You remember, of course, what Indy's Freeney did to Ogden.

These were the guys to whom I devoted a full workup -- Marvel Smith, Chad Clifton, Willie Anderson and the Falcons' young Kevin Shaffer, whom I was assured was a real sleeper -- a good future bet, a la the Panthers' Jordan Gross, whom I picked as a rookie last year. I liked Gross as a right tackle, incidentally. When they switched him to the left side this season, I thought his game went kaput. The thing that Smith had over all of them was consistency. He didn't thrill me, but I didn't catch him in a bad game, either. Anderson, whom I picked a few years ago, looked clumsy at times.

GUARDS: These were the guys I graded, my finalists: Marco Rivera of the Packers, the Falcons' Kynan Forney, Seattle's Steve Hutchinson, Pittsburgh's Alan Faneca, Pete Kendall of the Jets and KC's Will Shields. And this was their order of finish, strictly according to my rather complicated system, and I'll even list their grades: Kendall 5.6, Shields 5.5, Faneca 4.9, Hutchinson 4.6, Forney 4.2 and Rivera 3.4.

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I was really pulling for Shields, as I did my tally, because he has been effective for a long time and, for some reason, I've never selected him. I was prepared to get away from my charts and pick him on long and meritorious service, to get the pick in before he starts slipping, but I didn't have to, thank God. Larry Allen probably would score pretty well in this system, but his failing was all too obvious. Devastating as a close-line blocker but unable to hit a moving target. With the Packers' Mike Wahle, whom I picked last year, the reverse was true.

Kendall is not a big guy and he's starting to wear down a bit, but his effect on the Jets' offensive line, bringing the unit together this year, has been almost miraculous.

CENTERS: Kevin Mawae was my highest-rated offensive lineman with a gaudy 6.3, but the season has been a little long for him. He's starting to struggle. Nevertheless, his early work, and especially his hustle to the edges, making the really tough blocks, was too impressive to overlook.

DEFENSIVE ENDS: It killed me to leave off Julius Peppers, just killed me. He was a monster at the end of the season, but he got off to a slow start. After the first game in which I saw the Falcons' Patrick Kerney, against Carolina, I said that's it. I can pencil him in right now and hunt around for another one, but I never saw him duplicate that performance. Ditto the Cowboys' Greg Ellis, who had a really big game against the Browns. Nevertheless, they were both finalists. New Orleans' Charles Grant and the Cardinals' Bertrand Berry were effective, but not quite as consistent as my guys. The Dolphins' Jason Taylor and the Jets' John Abraham were very close. Just for fun, I did a workup on Bryan Thomas, who had some impressive outings, starting for Abraham when he went down with the knee. Actually two impressive outings for Thomas -- Pittsburgh and the more recent New England game -- which, of course, aren't enough, but it was fun to throw his grades into the mix.

I know it's crazy that no Patriots are on my team, and Richard Seymour would be an easy fix for that problem, at either end or tackle. I picked him last year, although the grades didn't really back up the choice, only because people whom I respect came on so strong about him. He's as technically sound as any lineman in the game ... I mean when he two-gaps, he really two-gaps. He doesn't fool around. But ... how can I say this? ... I just don't see him making as many plays as the other guys do. Sorry, Patriots.

So what am I left with? Dwight Freeney, Aaron Smith and the Bears' Alex Brown. Brown was a very high grader, but I only had three looks -- Washington (a monster game for him), Giants (very good) and Dallas, in which he struggled against Flozell Adams. So I started making phone calls. Yes, I heard, a real comer, but a year away. I love to pick guys like that, but Smith was just so effective in that 3-4 and really anchored the entire defense, so I couldn't get away from him. And although I'm usually not enamored with pure sackers, such as Freeney, I had to ask myself, where would the Colts' defense have been without him? And thus he became my second choice.

DEFENSIVE TACKLES: I love the Ravens' Kelly Gregg, who plays the nose, but he usually comes out on the nickel, which costs him a lot of points. My second favorite nose tackle, Jamal Williams of the Chargers, had a huge game against Denver, and he would have been a pretty good choice, too. The pure tackles I looked at were Marcus Stroud and John Henderson of the Jags, Cornelius Griffin of the Skins, Detroit's Shaun Rogers and Minnesota's Kevin Williams. Griffin, Henderson and Williams finished one-two-three. Stroud got more double-team attention than Henderson did at the beginning of the season, but then it was about evenly divided. They both got a serious push, but I didn't see as much ball reaction from Stroud. Rogers, whom everyone assured me was the second coming of Merlin Olsen, did not look impressive in the games I saw. Sorry. Maybe I just caught him at the wrong times.

MIDDLE LINEBACKER: I knew Farrior would be my guy, so I saved myself the trouble of multiple work-ups. He just jumped out of the pack, adding big plays this year to a repertoire always marked by steadiness and soundness against the run.

Donnie Edwards led the Chargers with 150 tackles this season. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS: I don't usually include the sackers, the guys who come in as edge rushers in the nickel, i.e., Joey Porter and Terrell Suggs. I consider them more defensive ends than players with true linebacker responsibility. The pair I selected, Keith Bulluck and Donnie Edwards, are serious space players and pass defenders, in addition to being good run-stoppers. In the end it came down to Edwards, who really plays a hybrid inside-outside position, against Marcus Washington of the Redskins. It was dead even. I had one tape left, Chargers-Bucs. A monster for Edwards, two picks, one for a TD, seven passes defensed, the best linebacker performance I'd seen since the Niners' Jamie Winborn against the Giants two years ago. That clinched it.

CORNERBACKS: Consistency, I want consistency. Almost impossible to find because the rules won't let these guys play. Champ Bailey and Chris McAlister have the best pure talent, but they play with such arrogance that occasionally they forget to cover their guy, i.e., Bailey against the Bengals' Chad Johnson or the Raiders' Jerry Porter, and McAlister in general against the Bengals. Some players are destroyed by their system, i.e, Seattle's Marcus Trufant, once billed as the next shutdown corner but now a guy who just keeps things in front of him, trapped in the Hawks' soft-coverage scheme.

I did a careful workup on nine corners, and oddly enough, I almost went with the Jets' David Barrett -- not on anything showy, just overall consistency. Then he got eaten alive by the Rams. Sheldon Brown, the only Eagle DB not picked for the Pro Bowl, was my second highest grader. And a guy I included in the mix as a last resort, Nate Clements, just had one sound game after another, as my spirits soared. I'd found one after all. He was my No. 1.

STRONG SAFETY: In any other year, Troy Polamalu of the Steelers would have been my pick, but Ed Reed just kept making one big play after another. I couldn't believe how good the Giants' Gibril Wilson was. Then he got hurt. Next year, maybe.

FREE SAFETY: Brian Dawkins still dominates the position. Smarts, hitting ability, ball reaction, you name it. I liked the Steelers' Chris Hope a lot, too.

SPECIAL TEAMS

KICKER: Adam Vinatieri, the AFC's Pro Bowler, would have been an easy choice, based on percentage, but two things bothered me. He didn't kick one longer than 48 yards and his leg was never needed to win a game. David Akers had almost as good a percentage and his 50-yarder beat the Browns in overtime.

PUNTER: Kicking in the dome, New Orleans' Mitch Berger had the league's best net. Oakland's Shane Lechler had impressive numbers, too. But I've never seen a punter hit so many five-second hangers in a season as the Chargers' Mike Scifres did. Here's a very big statistic for me, and Scifres beat all the other guys in this category. Lowest percentage of punts returned, and to calculate it, you don't use total punts, you have to subtract touchbacks. Only 37.7 percent of Scifres' non-touchback punts were run back. No one else was under 40 percent. I like this statistic better than net yardage, which often is a reflection of the skill of your coverage unit, not the punter.

RETURNS: Generally, I disqualify someone who has missed six games or more, so Eddie Drummond makes it. That rule is subject to change, If I really like someone, and now I'm giving away secrets.

COVERAGE: Mel Mitchell is always around the ball and usually making things happen. Plus he is skilled in an area that never gets recognized, blocking for the return man.

AWARDS

Manning and Ben Roethlisberger, my Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, respectively, were easy. Coach of the Year is always tough. If the Panthers would have made it into the postseason I would have picked John Fox for the inspiring way he kept his team together during the dark days. Atlanta's Jim Mora would have been an attractive choice, but there's just something a little unsettling about how this team's fortunes are so closely tied to one guy, Michael Vick.

Everyone loves Marty Schottenheimer, but I give the majority of the credit to Drew Brees, not the coach who wanted to unload him. And Bill Cowher did a fine job in Pittsburgh, but don't forget that Tommy Maddox, not Big Ben, was his QB at the start of the season, and it was only an injury to Duce Staley that brought Jerome Bettis back from the scrap heap.

Andy Reid hasn't really brought the Eagles back from the depths. They've been good for years. It was Owens who made the difference.

Which leaves a coach people are tired of talking about, Bill Belichick. Here's my case for him. He overcame almost total devastation of his secondary with some really imaginative personnel management. And he also had to overcome the Charlie Weis-Notre Dame situation, which so far he has handled. Plus he has maintained a high level of excellence for his operation.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Paul Zimmerman covers the NFL for the magazine and SI.com. His Power Rankings, "Inside Football" column and Mailbag appear weekly on SI.com.