James Harrison and Lamar Woodley (1 Viewer)

[timschochet]

OK so I'm a Steeler fan and I'm biased. And it seems like the Steelers have had great linebackers forever and ever. Last week, Jeff Pasquino compared these two to Greg Lloyd and Kevin Greene, and that's very high praise indeed. I don't know if they're quite that good, but they really are emerging as two of the best in the current league. James Farrior, who was considered one of the best linebackers in the NFL only a couple of years ago is now considered somewhat of an afterthought on his own team.

Has any other team had as many linebackers who have excelled like Pittsburgh? The list seems endless:

Jack Lambert

Jack Ham

Andy Russell

Greg Lloyd

Kevin Greene

Levon Kirkland

Joey Porter

James Farrior

...and now these two. And this is only the cream of the crop. For instance, one guy I didn't list was Chad Brown, who in 1996 had possibly the best single year ever for a Steeler linebacker. And there are plenty of others.

So is this the comparison reasonable? How good are these guys?

 

[Godsbrother]

Harrison &Woodley are a nice combo and you missed some other really good Steelers LBs (Mike Merriweather. Jason Gildon & David Little instantly come to mind) but there are lots of good LBs in the league. I don't think after 5 really good weeks we really know how good they are.

As a lifelong Steelers fan I am just happy to be 4-1.

 

[timschochet]

Harrison &Woodley are a nice combo and you missed some other really good Steelers LBs (Mike Merriweather. Jason Gildon & David Little instantly come to mind) but there are lots of good LBs in the league. I don't think after 5 really good weeks we really know how good they are.As a lifelong Steelers fan I am just happy to be 4-1.

You're right, I should have put Merriweather and Little in there. Gildon always disappointed me. I felt like he never came through in the big games.

 

[jojoh07]

I'll take patrick Willis and .................................

 

[BigSteelThrill]

I'll take patrick Willis and .................................

Welcome to my dynasty LB crew. Harrison-Willis-Woodley.

 

[jojoh07]

I'll take patrick Willis and .................................

Welcome to my dynasty LB crew. Harrison-Willis-Woodley.

Not bad .. it's no harrison willis harris combo though

 

[pizzatyme]

My list begins with Urlacher and Briggs

 

[r3t2]

dont forget mr chad brown.

brown-greene-lloyd-kirkland was amazing to watch.

 

[BigSteelThrill]

Why was this moved from the football section into the IDP section?

This post wasnt even about IDP fantasy... it was about REAL football in general.

 

[Sabertooth]

Why was this moved from the football section into the IDP section?This post wasnt even about IDP fantasy... it was about REAL football in general.

You'd need to have a lot more blind assumption, conjecture, and outright making up of supposed facts to keep this in the Pool. The Pool has pretty much become a joke.

 

[Jene Bramel]

Not sure why this was moved to the Forum. I agree that there should be more general defensive discussion in the Pool.

Right now, I don't think there's any question that the Steelers have the best combination of linebackers in the NFL. All five are great fits within the scheme and are just as consistent with their run fits as pass rush. Pretty amazing that, as the number of teams looking for rush end/tweener/OLB types increase, the Steelers are still able to find guys and work them into their system over time.

The Seahawks are struggling obviously, but their starting trio is pretty underrated. Minnesota was looking awfully good before Henderson went down. Arizona, Green Bay and Baltimore have pretty dynamic groups as well.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

Urlacher/Briggs are the best tandem going. Briggs has been a 1st team All Pro at WLB and Urlacher is a former defensive player of the year.

some other good ones:

Hayes/Dansby - ARI

Barnett/Hawk - GB

Beason/Davis - CAR

Morrison/Howard - OAK

Fletcher/McIntosh - WAS

Tatupu/Peterson - SEA

 

[Frenchy Fuqua]

Through 5 games it would be very hard to argue against Harrison and Woodley.

Harrison is 2nd in the league with 6.5 sacks, also has 3 forced fumbles. Woodley is tied for 3rd in sacks with 5.5, also has an interception, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and a TD.

Throw in Farrior, Foote and Timmons and I'd put the Steelers LB core up against any other team.

 

[The Hank]

Urlacher/Briggs are the best tandem going. Briggs has been a 1st team All Pro at WLB and Urlacher is a former defensive player of the year.

some other good ones:

Hayes/Dansby - ARI

Barnett/Hawk - GB

Beason/Davis - CAR

Morrison/Howard - OAK

Fletcher/McIntosh - WAS

Tatupu/Peterson - SEA

Maybe they were in the past, you have to admit though the Steelers tandem of Harrison and Woodley is in the Top 5, heck, the top 3!Look at some of the stats from this year so far:

Sacks:

Rk Player Team Pos Total Solo Ast Sck SFTY PDef Int TDs Yds Lng FF Rec TD

1 John Abraham ATL DE 15 14 1 7.0 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2 -- --

2 James Harrison PIT OLB 31 22 9 6.5 -- -- -- -- -- -- 3 -- --

3 Joey Porter MIA OLB 16 9 7 5.5 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1 -- --

3 LaMarr Woodley PIT OLB 23 19 4 5.5 0 2 1 0 6 6 1 2 1

5 Albert Haynesworth TEN DT 20 15 5 5.0 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1 -- --

...

85 Lance Briggs CHI OLB 32 25 7 1.0 0 5 1 0 3 3 0 1 1

...

196 Brian Urlacher CHI MLB 29 26 3 0.0 -- -- -- -- -- -- 0 1 0

Tackles:

32 Lance Briggs CHI OLB 32 25 7 1.0 0 5 1 0 3 3 0 1 1

38 James Harrison PIT OLB 31 22 9 6.5 -- -- -- -- -- -- 3 -- --

49 Brian Urlacher CHI MLB 29 26 3 0.0 -- -- -- -- -- -- 0 1 0

...

104 LaMarr Woodley PIT OLB 23 19 4 5.5 0 2 1 0 6 6 1 2 1

Forced Fumbles:

1. James Harrison PIT OLB 3

14. LaMarr Woodley PIT OLB 1 2 1

121. Urlacher/Briggs -- 0

....

In any case, I would say that Briggs and Urlacher are very very good, I just think that this year is just the beginning of the Harrison/Woodley era as the elite LB corps in the league.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

Harrison/Woodley both play OLB in a 3-4.

Urlacher/Briggs play MLB/WLB in a 4-3.

very different positions so it's tough to make a direct comparison, and relying on sacks for the comparison is almost always going to favor the 3-4 OLBs regardless of who the players are.

Harrison/Woodley are both playing great right now and will probably dominate for years as most Steelers OLBs do, but I'd still take the tandem with a longer history of proven success personally. when you include the entire Steelers LB group, it would be tough to find any better around the league.

 

[CrossEyed]

All I know is it's going to be fun watching Harrison, Woodley and Timmons all playing together for the next few years.