 |
| |
|
 |
 |
My all-pro team Posted: Wednesday January 09, 2002 4:53 PMOffense | Defense | Special Teams | Awards These are my all-pros for 2002. They represent a season of feeding my charts raw data from more than 130 games and 48 hours of grading the 120 players who made my final checklist. I got at least three looks at every team. Some clubs -- Bears, Packers, Jets, Giants, Rams, Ravens, Eagles, Buccaneers, Raiders -- got at least 10 looks apiece. The great search was for sleepers, players who labored in relative anonymity but compiled grades that were so dominating they simply demanded to be included. There are always surprises, guys who jump off the chart as I grade them, and yes, I wind up almost rooting for them. I found Merton Hanks, the old 49ers free safety, that way, a year before he was discovered by the mainstream selectors. I'll make the occasional phone call for tips on people I might have overlooked. Then I'll include them on my checklist and do a season-long work-up on them. Sometimes, when a player's numbers look too good for what my general perception is, I'll call his position coach, just to keep me from making a fool of myself, which I've done before. That was the route that the Giants' right tackle, Luke Petitgout, took to win a spot on this team. His line coach, Jim McNally, was most helpful (as he has been for the many years I've known him). Scrupulously honest. Most of them are. Some aren't, and I don't call them again. I wish I could detail the weird grading scheme I use for the different positions, but I don't have the space. Another day perhaps. You won't see any mention here about the Pro Bowl, which is just a popularity contest or a trip down memory lane. This year's edition was the worst I can remember. Here then is my 2001 all-pro team: OFFENSEQuarterback
You have to be careful not to get carried away by the romance of the position. The Cinderella story of Tom Brady captured everyone's fancy, as did the rags-to-riches story of Kordell Stewart. But in the end, it came down to Warner vs. Rich Gannon. Down-the-field thrower against the leading proponent of the West Coast offense. Warner threw a lot of picks, Gannon guarded the ball. But he didn't scare defenses the way Warner did. And no one in the game was as deadly on his hot reads against the blitz. I threw Brett Favre into the mix, too, and he finished third on my chart. Big moments, yes, but he lost out on overall consistency.
Running back
I was rooting for Curtis Martin, the heart and soul of the Jets, both athletically and emotionally. On straight carries from scrimmage he would have gotten it, and Priest Holmes would have been right in there, too, but the added dimension was Faulk's pass catching. There have been great receivers out of the backfield, many of them pure third-down specialists, and great runners, but no one ever combined the two talents the way Faulk does. Fullback
Kaboom! He'll block as well as anybody. He's a good receiver and I've seen him make some nifty catches in the mid-ranges. He runs well enough so that they could have played him at tailback, as the Bucs do with Mike Alstott, whom I didn't include among the fullbacks because he plays a hybrid position. The Raiders' Jon Ritchie was my runner-up, and also in the mix were the Packers' William Henderson, the 49ers' Fred Beasley, the Vikings' Jim Kleinsasser and, as a pure blocker, the Seahawks' Mack Strong . But these are guys who generally carry the ball once or twice a game and leave the field on third down, while Schlesinger stays. And does everything. Wide Receivers
A flyer and a possession guy. Boston is an interesting kind of deep threat, 239 pounds of explosiveness, bludgeoning defenders out of the way or outleaping them. Keyshawn was the guy who bled first downs, always catching the ball in a mob, because, except for Warrick Dunn, he was the only Bucs receiver people had to worry about. He worked his butt off and if he didn't have enough touchdowns to suit everybody, well, that's tough. Terrell Owens was my third-place finisher. Tremendous production, but he simply dropped the ball too much. High grades as well for the Smiths, Jimmy of Jacksonville and Rod of Denver, and then there was my personal favorite, Troy Brown of New England. Tight end
I wish all the picks were this easy. Still no challengers in sight. The other day someone asked me who I liked best in the NFC. Off the top of my head and without really thinking it through I said Fred Baxter of the Bears. Not much in the way of receptions, but look at some of Anthony Thomas' better runs and see who's always hooking the outside linebacker. Baxter is a master at that, and at pulling and trapping. All he does is make plays that help his team win. Tackles
Jones is chalk. Nifty on the left side, and a good drive blocker, working in tandem with Steve Hutchinson, who's still a little raw on his pass blocking but will be heard from next year. Based on his first three games, Petitgout wasn't even a faint candidate for my checklist. Still a bit stiff, as he was last year, shaky on his pass blocks. Then in the Kansas City game, he caught my eye. The Giants ran for good yardage that day, mostly on power-right -- behind one, sometimes two tight ends, plus the fullback and the pulling left guard. A mob, crashing into a mob of defenders, but Petitgout was the fulcrum, driving his man with power and technical precision, creating the big crease. And then I really started watching him, and during the season he stopped giving up sacks and remained the prototype right tackle. New York's running game would have been nowhere without him. The other popular names, Tarik Glenn, Chris Samuels and Orlando Pace, had their ups and downs, at least while I was watching them. A good young talent is the Jets' Ryan Young . The Ravens' Jonathan Ogden has more ability than any of them, but I thought he got a bit lazy at times. Guards
Faneca is a steady banger who did a lot of heavy-duty inline blocking and gave up only one sack in the eight Steelers games I graded. Mulitalo? Well, in my mind he was always a terrific, booming barrel of a guard who could clear out a side by himself but got confused by pass-rush stunts. I graded him anyway, and guess what? He ended up with the second highest score on my chart, behind Faneca, and gave up only one sack in the 11 Ravens' games I had on him. My third highest grade went to Rex Tucker of the Bears. My No. 1 on drive-blocking technique was the Seahawks' Hutchinson, but he didn't seem quite ready for the pass-rush schemes they threw at him. Anyone who put the Cowboys' perennial all-pro, Larry Allen, on his team simply wasn't watching him carefully enough. Something's happened to his balance. Any defender stationed near him was going to pay the price, but in space, he was sending up a lot of airballs. And here's a guy who really meant a lot to his team and helped solidify what seemed, on paper, to be a terrible O-line: the Patriots' Mike Compton . Center
To me, the coming together of this unit was the springboard to New England's success. Woody always had the talent, now he's finally taken a leadership role. Center was a terrific position in the NFL this year, and do you really want me to list the other 11 that I graded? Well, if you care enough, e-mail it in and I'll see what I can do. How about if I give you my next four, in order -- the Steelers' Jeff Hartings, the 49ers' Jeremy Newberry, the Bears' Olin Kreutz and the Jets' Kevin Mawae . And here's a sleeper that popped my eyes open: the Bills' Billy Conaty . Maybe I just saw him on the greatest days of his career because I couldn't find anyone to agree with me. I didn't like him as much as I did Woody, but he was fairly close. If Conaty had ended up even with Woody, I'd have gone back and studied more tape.
DEFENSE Ends
Well, you know all about Strahan. I'm just sorry that such a magnificent season was tainted by that gimme sack that got him the record. The interesting thing about him is that he based practically everything on a power rush. Usually the guys with the big sack numbers are speed rushers, which brings us to Abraham, who has the quickest first step in the game. Not much of a run-stopper early in the season, but he got better at it. Numerically speaking, Grant Wistrom would have been my No. 2, and Marco Coleman would have been right up there if he hadn't have missed as many games as he did. But Abraham won it on big plays: sacks, forces, stops for loss, etc. Next in line: Jason Taylor, Vonnie Holliday and Simeon Rice, although I've never been a fan (I thought he had a terrific year for the Bucs and even held up against the run). Finally, there was the Bears' Phillip Daniels , and, aside from some of Strahan's multiple-sack orgies, my No. 1 game was turned in by the Redskins' Kenard Lang in the first Giants contest. Nose tackle
We'll pretend we're the Steelers and line our team up in a 3-4, only because I couldn't find a second tackle good enough to allow me to omit either of my two inside backers. Walker was on the field an awful lot, and at times he had to pace himself, but he's one of those players who became more dangerous when he smelled trouble. There were a few guys I kind of liked, but no one in Walker's class. Warren Sapp had a rough year, getting double-teamed more than I've ever seen. In the Rams game he was crashing it and he had a terrific night. But most of the time he was simply riding with it. Inside linebackers
These are two guys who are on the field for all downs and both are key figures in the pass defense, which is unusual for middle backers. Lewis was not as dominant against the run as he was last year, but he's still amazing in his ability to read the run and then instantly drop back into his short-coverage zone. Urlacher is not a run stuffer. They don't ask him to be. His game is space. His range is amazing. Sorry, but I didn't grade any others because I knew no one would be close. Zach Thomas is still highly effective, and no one has as much man coverage as he does. It really hurt him, though, when the Dolphins' premier tackle, Daryl Gardener, went down. The underrated MLB this season? The Giants' Mike Barrow . Outside linebackers
Two different positions -- a rush linebacker who drops down to become an edge rusher in passing downs (i.e., Miller) and a space linebacker (Arrington). Miller enjoyed a rebirth this year. He played like a man possessed most of the way, although he tailed off a bit at the end of the season. Next best in that style would be the Seahawks' Chad Brown (although sometimes he had coverage responsibilities), the Steelers' Jason Gildon and the Bears' Rosevelt Colvin. Arrington wound up in a spirited battle with the Packers' Nate Wayne, the Bengals' Takeo Spikes, the Ravens' Jamie Sharper and, surprise, the Patriots' Roman Phifer, who reverted to his best days when he was with the L.A. Rams. I looked long and hard at these guys and finally it came down to Wayne against Arrington. I love the way Wayne moves around in space, and a big final game against the Giants might have swung it for him, but he was coming back from an injury, and he still wasn't right. Arrington's progress this season has been an upward spiral. By December he was the dominant figure on the Skins' defense. A word about the Bucs' Derrick Brooks, whom I graded for old times' sake because he was the best. You never know how badly hurt someone is. He played with a severe foot injury early on and he was, well, frankly awful. Never had he missed so many tackles. He had a good game against the Vikings in Minnesota and a huge one against the Rams and an even bigger one against the Ravens. So his overall grade was good, but the ebb and flow was simply too great for me to include him. Cornerback
This is the toughest position to grade because sometimes you can only guess if they're in man or zone coverage. I do the best I can. If there's any question, I don't attach as much weight to the play, unless the guy misses a tackle or something. The first game in which I saw McQuarters, a guy I'd sort of taken for granted, was in the Baltimore opener, and he gave up some stuff but seemed to be playing with real passion. The next one was against Cincinnati in October and wow, a blinder! Turned out to be the best performance by a corner that I saw all year. So I began rooting for this ferocious little lock-on cover guy, and it was with great pleasure that I came up with a final tally that ranked him up there with Troy Vincent, who must be having a nervous breakdown by now, constantly playing man coverage behind the Eagles' multiple-blitz schemes. There are so many variables in the grades at this position that I can't give you my strict numerical runners-up, but I'll give you the rest of my really top guys, in alphabetical order: the Bucs' Ronde Barber, the Browns' Daylon McCutcheon, the Packers' Mike McKenzie, the 49ers' Ahmed Plummer, the Rams' Aeneas Williams and the Raiders' Charles Woodson, who gets an asterisk because he had to come out of some games due to his turf toe injury. Without it, he probably would have been my No. 1. Strong safety
On the depth chart he's listed as a free safety, but in the Packers' scheme Sharper really plays the strong side. He blitzes, he brings the hammers when he tackles, he covers. The Chargers' Rodney Harrison was right up there until he got hurt. Next on the chart, the Niners' Lance Schulters, Bucs' John Lynch and the Patriots' Lawyer Milloy. The Saints' Sammy Knight is an interesting player, a gambler who had some big moments, but I saw games in which he was missing people, too. Free safety
King of the blitzbacks. A big-play guy who turns games around. The Bears' Mike Brown did much of the same, only not quite as well as Dawkins did.
SPECIAL TEAMS Kicker
I favor guys who kick outdoors and Akers is a bad-weather guy, booting them on a bad field. He was 9 of 13 past 40 yards and his kickoffs had consistently high hang times. Punter
Net punting records haven't been kept through the years, but Sauerbrun's 38.9 must be close to the all-time mark. His gross yardage average of 47.5 also put some space between him and the rest of the field. Coverage
His special teams work, running downfield under punts and kicks, caught the coaching staff's attention and pretty soon he was the dime back. Then he was promoted to nickel -- without giving up his special duties, of course.
AWARDS Player of the Year
Sure, it would be easy to go with Warner or Faulk, but how about the guy who takes a pounding on every play and from two, sometimes three guys on pass plays? And he still broke a 17-year old record. Coach of the Year
The Super Bowl-winning coach seldom gets this award because it comes out before the game has been played. So you look at who has brought his team the farthest. That would mean Belichick and the Bears' Dick Jauron, with a nod to the Niners' Steve Mariucci. What I admire about the job Belichick and his staff have done, though, is the way you saw players develop from game to game. An almost forgotten part of coaching is teaching and no staff did it better. Rookie of the Year, Offense
Started the season on the bench, ended it as the key figure in a run-oriented offense. Rookie of the Year, Defense
Kendrell Bell, the Steelers' dynamic new linebacker, is the fashionable choice, but Seymour was on the field more, and in the late going he really became the run-stopping force inside. Offense | Defense | Special Teams | Awards Sports Illustrated senior writer Paul Zimmerman covers the NFL for the magazine and CNNSI.com. His "Inside Football" column and Mailbag appear weekly on CNNSI.com. To send a question to Dr. Z, click here. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer. |
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
