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My all-pro team Posted: Thursday December 26, 2002 1:15 PMUpdated: Thursday December 26, 2002 1:51 PM
Offense | Defense | Special Teams | Awards Here is my expanded all-pro team, including near misses, finalists, runners-up, etc. You will find one change from the team that appears in Sports Illustrated this week. Jeremy Shockey is my tight end instead of Todd Heap. This was a late-hour decision, too late to reach the magazine with before lockup, but not too late for my loyal Web-readers. I'll deal with all complaints. I should have had him in the first place. I'm sorry. I take this seriously.
OFFENSE
QUARTERBACK
This pick will draw the most heat. He ended up in the finals pool with Brett Favre, Rich Gannon, Drew Bledsoe, Michael Vick and Jeff Garcia. I tried doing game-by-game work-ups on all of them, and gave up because numbers don't really tell the story at this position. Then I looked at stuff like game-winning drives, late-game proficiency, execution when behind, etc. Nope, something missing there, too. Then I just ditched the charts and tried to think it through. McNair is a guy who grabbed a teetering team by the throat and, through toughness and resiliency and imperviousness to pain, made it his own and lifted it to where it sits now. That's what it's all about, I believe.
RUNNING BACK
Lots of good backs this year, but none has meant as much to a team's offense as Holmes. An easy choice.
FULLBACK
Two-way battle between Beasley and the Lions' Corey Schlesinger, my choice last year. The edge was off Schlesinger's game, though, because he had to drag himself out there with cracked bone in his back (and how about that afternoon when he manhandled the bears' Brian Urlacher, cracked bone and all?). Beasley, though, is a booming blocker, and he also fills the old fashioned fullback role of short-yardage ball carrier. He's better than any of them at that.
WIDEOUTS
Harrison was an easy pick, based on overall productivity. Owens was one of those selections that made me ashamed. Eric Moulds of the Bills is a better player, a better team guy. He doesn't take a play or two off, or give up on a route, as Owens does. But Owens has just given the Niners' offense so much zip and life. Name another receiver on the club that an opponent has to worry about. And no one can deny the impact he's had on their games this season.
TIGHT END
His control of the hash marks has allowed the Giants offense to open up as it never has in years. He has put a true stamp on the position, consequently on the whole attack.
TACKLES
I was glad to see that Roaf was active again and going after people on his run-blocks, because tackle is always the position that is starved for talent. I did work-ups on four others, going through the entire season -- Pittsburgh's Marvell Smith, Denver's Matt Lepsis, Seattle's Walter Jones and Baltimore's Jonathan Ogden, a perennial. Some of these were recommended by personnel people, and the exercise became a waste of time. But as I was checking other positions on the Niners, and I had nine looks at them this year, Deese kept coming up with consistently good grades. And yes, I've always liked this tough, undersized, 289-pounder, so I went back to square one and did a full work-up on him, and he came out just a shade below Roaf, but way ahead of any of my other candidates. Sometimes, you see, the charts just reach up and speak to you.
GUARDS
Faneca's been easy for a number of years. An old-school banger who makes the nice big creases. Mayberry? Well, I kind of figured the middle of the Eagles' O-line was where it all happened, since I like neither of their tackles. And when I had gone through the seven Philly games in my book, Mayberry and center Hank Fraley emerged. A pair of very solid maulers, and Mayberry had the all-pro grades. But, and I must be honest here, not the highest grades of all my guards. That honor went to the Chiefs' young Brian Waters. This is tricky stuff. Sometimes when you're playing between a really good twosome, such as Roaf and center Casey Wiegmann, you kind of get caught up in the flow and you fall into the good numbers. Besides, I didn't see how I could pick three K.C. linemen on my all-pro team. So I called their line coach, Mike Solari, and he was very obliging and told me how he had graded his guys, and No.1 was right guard Will Shields, whom I hadn't even considered. Roaf and Wiegmann? Yes, very deserving. Waters? A fine young player whose career is ahead of him, although he's not quite there yet. Now this was getting terribly complicated, and rather than suffer from paralysis by analysis I went with my own choices, reserving Waters for another day. LeCharles Bentley was a guy who interested me, so I did my work-up on him and his grades were way behind, probably because I saw him playing hurt on a few occasions. One scout told me that a terrific sleeper would be the Jaguars' Brad Meester, and I got all excited because I love to make picks like this, but on my grade sheet I had him tied with the Niners' Ron Stone for eighth behind Faneca, Waters, Mayberry, Shields, Jamie Nails, Benji Olson and Mo Collins.
CENTER
I liked him when he was backing up Olin Kreutz on the Bears, and I certainly liked his range and athleticism this season. Almost dead even was Fraley, very tough but not quite as athletic. No one else was close.
DEFENSE
ENDS
I hate to just go with the pure sackers, but this was a year in which you couldn't get away from it. Last season Michael Strahan was so special because he combined a serious dedication to the run with his sack record. But Strahan was almost a non-factor during the first half of this season. His game picked up after the midway point, but overall, it hasn't been at an all-pro level. Rice is a lot better playing the run than he used to be in his Arizona days, when tight ends would put him on his back. Taylor picks up a lot of stray ball carriers through hustle and speed. I did game-by-game studies on five more DE's -- Julius Peppers, Mike Rucker, Dwight Freeney, Trevor Pryce and Darren Howard -- and the result was pretty much the same. Here and there an outstanding performance, but no consistency.
TACKLES
Hovan was my top grader. Off the ball like a shot, technically sound against the run. Coleman is a strange case, and I'll probably get some heat for picking a guy who doesn't start. But Al Davis rewards size, and Coleman's a little guy, so Sam Adams starts, then Coleman comes in and plays so well that you don't see much more of Big Sam. He's a John Randle-type, a terrific inside pass rusher. Randle, though, is a guy I've never picked because of his complete indifference to the run. Coleman will pick up the ball carrier on the go, in his pursuit of the quarterback. I wish I had more looks on the Cowboys' La'Roi Glover. He had a terrific game against the Redskins on Thanksgiving. In my other looks, he was pretty decent, and his overall grade was about even with Coleman's. My rule of thumb in these cases is to go with the guy I've never picked before. I guess you're wondering about Warren Sapp. On a strict grade average, he finished sixth behind the three players I named, plus the Redskins' Daryl Gardener and the Saints' Grady Jackson, who might have made my team if he hadn't come off the field so often. No tackle got double-teamed as much as Sapp did, but you don't make all-pro simply by eating blocks. There's got to be production, too. Everyone talked so much about the Chargers' Jamal Williams that he became one of my candidates for grading. I had him fairly consistent and just a shade under Sapp.
OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS
I've always tried to pick one of each type, the Rush-LB and the Cover-LB, when selecting a pair of outside backers. The only competition Porter had at the rush position, i.e., someone who frequently lines up as a DE in the nickel, was the Bears' Roosevelt Colvin, who started off the season in a, well, in a rush, but tailed a bit as the team's fortunes fell. Brooks was the best of the space linebackers, those who usually played the weakside in the base defense and had major coverage responsibilities. He seems just about back from the multiple injuries that ruined his 2001 season. This was a crowded position, though, with so many challengers that I considered picking two of them and then selecting a rusher as an extra LB. The Raiders' Eric Barton ("still learning the position," one opposing offensive coach told me) kept lifting his game week by week, and graded high enough to have made my all-pro team in another year. So did the Titans' dynamic Keith Bulluck, who really looks comfortable playing in space now, and the Panthers' Mark Fields. Those were my finalists.
MIDDLE LINEBACKER
If Ray Lewis stayed healthy, he would have been a lock at the position. No one came close to his performance against the Broncos in the Monday nighter. But by process of elimination, I was left with Urlacher, who continues to bother me by his failure to take on blockers, even in short-yardage situations. His overall grades, though, for productivity all over the field, were out of sight, but I vainly graded five others at the position, desperately seeking a challenger. I found a few whose play greatly impressed me -- Donnie Edwards of the Chargers, Miami's Zach Thomas (more complicated coverage responsibility than any of them), Houston's excellent inside pair of Jamie Sharper and Jay Foreman -- but they just didn't have Urlacher's numbers. The Broncos' Al Wilson strung together some good games, but I tend to rule out the middle backers who come out at times on the nickel.
CORNERBACKS
Barber was my front-runner from the go, and he did nothing to disappoint me. Many teams stayed away from him for almost an entire game, which is why Brian Kelly at the other corner got so much work, and so many picks. The last weekend that fell into my grading scheme was Dec. 15-16, which was a good thing for Barber, since he had a terrible night against the Steelers this past Monday. But so did a lot of other Bucs, in a game that didn't seem very high on their priority list. Thomas emerged from the forests of the charts. While I was checking my other finalists, and grading them in the following order -- Aaron Glenn, Troy Vincent, Patrick Surtain, Mario Edwards and Antoine Winfield -- I kept bumping into Thomas' numbers. So I backed up and ran a study on him by himself and he came up with a grade second only to Barber's. Nobody seems to give him much credit for anything. I know I've seen him playing hurt, knocking down passes with a cast on his wrist. If I am to believe in my grading system, then I have to believe in Fred Thomas as one of my top two corners this year.
STRONG SAFETY
At times, the Niners' secondary looked ready to crack wide open. A strong hand was needed to keep things together, and I found Parrish to be adept in that role. As far as individual skills, coverage, tackling, etc., the Giants' Shaun Williams was very close, perhaps even a trifle higher, but Parrish got the edge on his leadership. The Ravens' Ed Reed is a comer.
FREE SAFETY
Just can't get him off there. You tend to lose track of free safeties during the course of a game, but Dawkins always seems to be involved in the action, whether it's blitzing or double-covering deep or knocking the ball loose from a receiver after the catch. The Packers' Darren Sharper was the only other free safety I graded and he came close.
SPECIAL TEAMS
KICKER
He and David Akers were the top percentage guys, with three misses apiece. I picked Akers last year. Now it's Vinatieri's turn.
PUNTER
A repeater. The league leader in both gross and net yardage. For a large part of the season I was rooting for the Seahawks' Jeff Feagles, a long time favorite, who was carrying a net of 40-plus and who is always very careful to keep the ball out of the end zone, but Sauerbrun got him at the end.
RETURNER
This is a position for which you usually go for a combined punt-kick returner, unless someone is so dazzling in just one area. Lewis was always a threat in both categories, plus his volume of returns was greater than anyone else's.
SPECIAL TEAMER
The most anonymous players on the field are the blockers for punt and kick returns. The TV announcers never mention them, mainly because their spotters are unable to pick them out. Not to blow my own horn, but I spend about half an hour after each game, going through each punt and kick return in slo-mo, to see who did the blocking. Sowell's precision at this skill was amazing, a big reason why the Jets had both the leading punt and kick returner in the league.
SPECIAL AWARDS
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
COACH OF THE YEAR
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
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.
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