Non-QB, Non-RB TMQ Player of the Year (1 Viewer)

[Chase Stuart]

The finalists: Flozell Adams, Dallas

Marques Colston, New Orleans

Brian Dawkins, Philadelphia

Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis

Matt Light, New England

Marcus McNeill, San Diego

Jamar Nesbit, New Orleans

Trevor Pryce, Baltimore

Asante Samuel, New England

Jeff Saturday, Indianapolis

Bart Scott, Baltimore

Lofa Tatupu, Seattle

William Thomas, Philadelphia

Brian Urlacher, Chicago

Mike Vrabel, New England

Brian Waters, Kansas City

Ty Warren, New England

Jamal Williams, San Diego

Second runner-up: Brian Urlacher. No NFL defender plays with both power and speed better than Urlacher. He meets runners at the line of scrimmage and he covers wide receivers deep. Half a dozen gents had legitimate claims to Player of the Year status on defense this season, and Urlacher was one. He's a little lower on my list than he might be only because he is already well known.

First runner-up: Asante Samuel. I took some flak earlier this season for calling him the NFL's best corner, but stand by that assessment. I seem to recall Samuel performing well in three playoff games while Champ Bailey was comfortably seated at home. New England's tremendous defensive performance -- second-best for points allowed -- was made possible partly by an extremely efficient secondary. For the past two seasons, losing Samuel would have hurt New England more than losing any other player except Tom Brady.

Winner: Jeff Saturday. This gentleman's game-winning block in the AFC Championship -- shoving outsized, No. 1-drafted defensive tackle Vince Wilfork halfway to the hash marks, allowing Joseph Addai to walk in standing up -- was arguably the single best block any football player has ever made. Jerry Kramer's winning block in the Ice Bowl? Saturday's was better: He didn't just move the man at the point of attack, he removed him. One reason the Indianapolis offense has been the league's leader so far in the young century is near-perfect center play. Undrafted out of college, Saturday is one of the best centers ever to snap a football, and is on course for first-ballot Hall of Fame admission.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...mp;lid=tab2pos1

 

[perry147]

Non-QB, Non-QB ?????????

 

[Chase Stuart]

Non-QB, Non-QB ?????????

Fixed.

 

[Doug Drinen]

Asante Samuel. I took some flak earlier this season for calling him the NFL's best corner, but stand by that assessment. I seem to recall Samuel performing well in three playoff games while Champ Bailey was comfortably seated at home.

Well I guess that settles it then.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Asante Samuel. I took some flak earlier this season for calling him the NFL's best corner, but stand by that assessment. I seem to recall Samuel performing well in three playoff games while Champ Bailey was comfortably seated at home.

Well I guess that settles it then.

Yeah, TMQ thinks he knows a lot more than he does. Maybe we all do, but he's pretty high up on the list. I hear there are blogs pointing out his inconsistencies every week.

 

[Bri]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...mp;lid=tab2pos1

TMQ has long called the Chicago team the Ming Ding Xiong,

I have no clue what that means

 

[Chase Stuart]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...mp;lid=tab2pos1

TMQ has long called the Chicago team the Ming Ding Xiong,

I have no clue what that means

Did you really stop reading in mid-sentence? TMQ has long called the Chicago team the Ming Ding Xiong, "Bears whose outcomes are decided by fate" in Chinese.

 

[djcolts]

Football Outsiders completely disagreed with this. They said today Tarik Glenn is the only Colts OLmen that is decent.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Football Outsiders completely disagreed with this. They said today Tarik Glenn is the only Colts OLmen that is decent.

What do you think?

 

[Bri]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...mp;lid=tab2pos1

TMQ has long called the Chicago team the Ming Ding Xiong,

I have no clue what that means

Did you really stop reading in mid-sentence? TMQ has long called the Chicago team the Ming Ding Xiong, "Bears whose outcomes are decided by fate" in Chinese.

Nah this

But perhaps it's all in the hands of the football gods. TMQ has long called the Chicago team the Ming Ding Xiong, "Bears whose outcomes are decided by fate" in Chinese. I've long called the Indianapolis team the Lucky Charms, owing to their horseshoes. When fate meets luck, the gods must decide.

is just weird from a guy that previously was discussing stats and such in the article. That could be the "unconventional wisdom" but then what's the first half of the article? Seems like he tried too hard to be clever

 

[GroveDiesel]

Asante Samuel. I took some flak earlier this season for calling him the NFL's best corner, but stand by that assessment. I seem to recall Samuel performing well in three playoff games while Champ Bailey was comfortably seated at home.

Well I guess that settles it then.

Yeah, TMQ thinks he knows a lot more than he does. Maybe we all do, but he's pretty high up on the list. I hear there are blogs pointing out his inconsistencies every week.

Some of his ideas that he thinks make him a genius are just outright stupid. I'm sorry, but punting from your opponent's 45 yard line is not always a bad decision. And blitzing is not the hugely stupid play that he makes it out to be. And seriously, can we stop with the stupid "the cheerleaders wearing next to nothing make the football gods happy and insure a win" schtick? He's always quick to point out when a something backs up one of his crackpot theories but never talks about the counter-evidence. The bottom line is that he makes a good read, but he's a Page 2 guy and not an analyst or Insider for a reason.

 

[thesurfshop19]

My pick would have to go to Champ Bailey.

Heck, maybe back to the 2005 season.

He saved the 2005 season early (TD vs. Chargers, down 14-3) and late (near-TD vs. Patriots, up 10-6 from own end zone).

His ridiculous stretch of INTs early in the 2006 season kept the Broncos winning even without any semblance of offensive consistency.

He came up big in the Broncos' two final games (even if they lost the 49ers game).

I thought it was great when FootballOutsiders.com essentially refuted TMQ's tired "Stop me before I blitz again!" line in their 2006 book.

Note to TMQ: There are many ways to win, it's not formulaic.

Another note to TMQ: Ongoing schtick is the trademark of the Sports Guy. It's why he's so annoying and borderline unreadable to non-Boston-area fans, and not something you want to be copying.

 

[djcolts]

Football Outsiders completely disagreed with this. They said today Tarik Glenn is the only Colts OLmen that is decent.

What do you think?

I think Saturday's a very good player - maybe about the 5th best center in the NFL. He's more of a "smart" player than a physical player. He's the 2nd best OLmen on the Colts behind Tarik Glenn (besides his false starts he's a really good LT) - and the rest of the OLmen are just OK players who fit what the Colts look for in the OL. The most impressive highlight of his career was switching to Guard and having the guard switch to Center to block Trevor Price in a WC game against the Broncos - and this helped the Colts smoke the Broncos in Manning's first ever playoff win.

 

[Bri]

The most impressive highlight of his career was switching to Guard and having the guard switch to Center to block Trevor Price in a WC game against the Broncos - and this helped the Colts smoke the Broncos in Manning's first ever playoff win.

heh, whose idea was that switch?

 

[djcolts]

The most impressive highlight of his career was switching to Guard and having the guard switch to Center to block Trevor Price in a WC game against the Broncos - and this helped the Colts smoke the Broncos in Manning's first ever playoff win.

heh, whose idea was that switch?

It was Saturday's.

 

[aposulli]

And seriously, can we stop with the stupid "the cheerleaders wearing next to nothing make the football gods happy and insure a win" schtick?

I think it's more like a fetish of his... kindof creepy.

 

[Jene Bramel]

Winner: Jeff Saturday. This gentleman's game-winning block in the AFC Championship -- shoving outsized, No. 1-drafted defensive tackle Vince Wilfork halfway to the hash marks, allowing Joseph Addai to walk in standing up -- was arguably the single best block any football player has ever made. Jerry Kramer's winning block in the Ice Bowl? Saturday's was better: He didn't just move the man at the point of attack, he removed him. One reason the Indianapolis offense has been the league's leader so far in the young century is near-perfect center play. Undrafted out of college, Saturday is one of the best centers ever to snap a football, and is on course for first-ballot Hall of Fame admission.



Easterbrook >>> and heavily.

 

[GroveDiesel]

Football Outsiders completely disagreed with this. They said today Tarik Glenn is the only Colts OLmen that is decent.

Yeah, but their entire basis seemed to be the AFC Championship game. And honestly, Vince Wilfork was probably playing better than any DT in the entire league by the end of the regular season. The guy is an absolute beast. So for Saturday to get beaten a few times in that game isn't the huge embarassment the Outsiders seemed to make it.