Team of ’00 Decade

19 Comments

1. Tony Parslow on February 1, 2009 at 5:58 pm

   This list looks very impressive and you did in a short time. Thanks for making the board!! It should allow for some good debate.

   I’ll get the ball rolling with a little debate. Nothing jumped out except I’d replace Ronde Barber with Ty Law. Law is a 2/5 with 52 ints. compared to Barber 3/4 with 37 ints. Law has had the bigger reputation IMO and is a better cover corner. Just seems like a better choice along with the team of decade. Well maybe. :)

   Also I noticed no mention of John Lynch.

   Based on history I’m sure we could take this list right now and it’s going to be better than what the HOF Committee comes up with.Lol!! They’ve had some really questionable choices in the past.

   One that comes to mind and pains me to say as a Dolphins fan is Dick Anderson on the All-70’s team. It really puzzles me what criteria they used. It appears they maybe don’t look at longevity. Anderson had 3 great years(Defensive POY ’73) in the early 70’s. Based on that maybe they’ll pick Jared Allen if they think his level of play exceeds the other more accomplished players.

   Even worse than Anderson is Dave Butz (just one example) on the All-80’s Team. He made 1 Pro Bowl and All-Pro Team and he’s the best the the 80’s had to offer?

   Also a peeve of mine is selecting a player on multiple Decade Teams like Bruce Smith. I’d like to see a player have to play 80% of the decade to make the team.

   Finally why wasn’t Dan Marino the QB on the All-90’s Team? They messed up IMO. John Elway belonged on the 80’s Team not Fouts. Elway and Montana were going to all of the Super Bowls. Dan “The Man” was breaking all of the records in the 90’s.

2. Brad on February 2, 2009 at 12:14 am

   I think Kurt Warner could sneak in. I agree with Kevin Mawae. Now, why isn’t John Abraham on this list? 84 sacks in this decade. These players are now on the borderline: Jonathan Vilma, Larry Fitzgerald, Andre Johnson, Josh Cribbs, Chris Carr, Allen Rossum, Justin Miller, Michael Lewis, Kerry Rhodes, Leon Washington, Donovan McNabb, and Big Ben just won his 2nd Super Bowl. If he can come away with another one than he could in fact make the cut.

3. Tony on February 2, 2009 at 2:47 pm

   Brad – Abraham was on our consideration list, right with Allen–we just forgot to include him in the comments. We didn’t feel he was better than the 3 we went with, though.

   Not mentioning Lynch was intentional–another guy that I always think is vastly overrated. TO be honest, not sure I would put Harrison on the list either–I was pushing for Wilson in the top four, but he doesn’t have the postseason awards (probably due to being in Arizona).

4. Brad on February 2, 2009 at 4:00 pm

   Are you going to put special teams player as a category? I have some considerations if you are: Larry Izzo (3 time super bowl champion, 3 time pro bowler as a special teamer), Brendon Ayanbadejo (3 time pro bowler as a special teamer), Kassim Osgood ( 2 time pro bowler as a special teamer).

5. Andy on February 2, 2009 at 4:21 pm

   Tony P. – Thanks for the comments. I respectfully disagree with requiring 80% of a decade though. You could end up with guys who had fantastic 10 year careers who played from 85 to 95 or 95 to 05 and they are eligible for neither team of the decade? Doesn’t seem right to me.

   Also we looked at Law v Barber. I like Barber a bit more. His numbers were a bit less than Law’s somewhat, I think, because of the Tampa 2 style of defense the bucks played, but I don’t think he is a lesser player than Law. I also liked Barber’s versatility – 5.5 sacks one year, if I recall. He was a very good but often less heralded part of that great defense. Law does definitely deserve consideration though.

   Brad, if we were to name a special teamer or two those are definitely three guys I would consider.

   Thanks for the comments.

6. Brad on February 2, 2009 at 4:44 pm

   i agree with Andy. Ty Law has 32 Int’s in this decade 4 brought back for TD’s. Ronde Barber has 33 Int’s in this decade and 7 brought back for TD’s. Advantage Ronde. Ty Law has 4 pro bowls and 1 all pro in this decade. Ronde has 5 pro bowls and 3 all pros in this decade. Again, Advantage Ronde. Ty Law led the league in Int’s with 10 in this decade with the Jets. Ronde led the league with the same amount with the Bucs. Advantage is split. Ty Law has 3 sacks in this decade. Ronde Barber has 19 sacks in this decade. Ronde also has 3 seasons with 3 sacks. Advantage Ronde. Ty Law has 3 rings. Ronde has 1 ring. Advantage Ty Law. Ronde Has 4 fumble recoveries for TD’s this decade. That would place him 2nd all time. Ty Law has none in his career. Advantage Ronde. You get what im saying. I think Ronde is a lock no doubt. Ty Law, maybe, maybe not.

7. Brad on February 2, 2009 at 4:47 pm

   I mean, after all we are talking about the all time 2000’s decade team. It doesn’t matter what the players/coaches did in the 1990’s. It matters what they did in the 2000’s.

8. Tony Parslow on February 2, 2009 at 6:02 pm

   You could be right about Barber over Law but as I pointed out numbers don’t matter. Unfortunately I tried to make them count without your thorough reseach and was burned. :)

   If numbers mattered Jake Scott’s profile 5/2 49 ints. would be on the 70’s Decade Team over Dick Anderson’s 3/2 22 ints.

   I wouldn’t be surprised if Law and Lynch are both on the teams.

9. Brad on February 2, 2009 at 6:07 pm

   True. Do you think Curtis Martin will have any chance at all?

10. Brad on February 2, 2009 at 6:15 pm

    Tony, I think John Abraham should be considered at least. he Had a Pro Bowl season. He also has like i said 84 sacks. Richard Seymour has 39 sacks. i know he has 3 rings, but Super Bowl victories are a team award. if he got super bowl MVP than he is a lock. his stats compared to John Abraham’s stats, John Abraham wins that contest. That’s just my opinion.

11. Andy on February 2, 2009 at 6:23 pm

    Tony P. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re right – Law and Lynch very likely could show up on the teams (though we here at Zoneblitz headquarters will recognize our list anyway – grin).

    Brad, Martin had some fantastic numbers the first half of the ’00s. I’d put him at number four, but yes, I do think arguments could be made that he was as good as James or Alexander.

12. Tony Parslow on February 3, 2009 at 4:51 am

    Harrison and Moss are slam dunks. I’m not a fan of T. Owens or Chad Johnson:(

    Without looking at numbers IMO seems like they could easily pick Steve Smith and Hines Ward because of their impact on their teams. IMO NO DIVAS ALOUD ON MY TEAM!! Gotta give the little guys with huge hearts some love. :)

    TE’s – Solid as granite!

    RB’s – not bad but:) I like Alexander a 1/3 with 5-straight 1,000yd seasons, 112 TD’s and 215 catches but I feel pretty certian the HOF will pick someone else. I think the HOF will remember how Alexander softened up towards the end of his career. They’ll probably pick one of three. Most likely it will be Clinton Portis. Portis who’s still going strong is an 0/4 with 6-1,000 yd seasons out of seven, second best rush avg, of 4.5,76 TD’s and 233 catches. IMO one more 1,000 yd season and Portis is a lock with 7-1,000 yd season in 8 years. Other strong possibilty is Tiki Barber a 1/3 with 6-1,000yd seasons (5 straight), 67 TD’s and 586 catches and the highest rush avg 4.7 of any RB in the decade. He can’t help it someone else took his TD’s :) Or unlikely but possible they could go Ahman Green also with 6-1,000yd seasons (5 straight),73 TD’s and 375 catches. How quickly we forget the great ones.Lol!!

    My personal favorite is Corey Dillon a 0/4 with 4-1,000 yd seasons in the 00’s decade, 89 TD’s and 244 catches and a sure fire HOF guy with 7-1,000 yd seasons. I know his stats don’t quite measure up in this decade with the others but he ran like a beast on a sorry team for most of his career. He had the single highest rushing game for a while besting Walter Payton’s record which stood for about 20 years. I just prefer his tough running style and he seemed to be a real money back with NE late in his career. He’s the only one with a ring too.

    One other thing as great as Edg James is his numbers are very equal to these other guys. It’s not impossible for them to leave him off. Although I really think he helped himself with his playoff and Super Bowl appearance. But there is a “wildcard” IMO

    If AD “All Day” Adrian Peterson puts up an MVP 2,000 yard season next year IMO he could and maybe should be put on the team.:) Yours to I hope. Peterson IMO is best running back since O.J. Simpson and Gale Sayers before him as far as pure moves. A.D. makes other players trying to tackle him leave their jocks on the field. Lol!! Those are some moves!! And hard, he actually runs almost too hard for his own good like an Earl Campbell or Walter Payton. He’s one in a generation RB. I hope he can stay healthy for a few more years so we can enjoy his greatness. Before youall say it, I’ll say of the RB’s that ran with an upright style and not low to the ground.:) I know many will say Barry Sanders had the greatest moves ever. JMO. I’m sure there would be lots of debate before that happened. That would really test what’s more important, accumulation of stats or greatness.

    QB’s – Solid as a rock! Amazing to think that Donovan McNabb (100 more TD’s than picks) could guide his team to its 6th NFC Championship and possibly win the SB next year and not be one of the two best QB’s of the decade.

    Tackles, without looking at numbers just going off reputation and my eyes I’d say Ogden and Roaf. IMO they got the most pub. as being the best for a long time. Pace is close behind. I know he was a number one pick. Isn’t Roaf more of a 90’s guy? He looked all bookworm with those glasses right before he flattened guys. You have to be good to get attention on some of those Saints teams. The other three guys made it to the SB.

    Seems like great Guards are kind of thin. Seems like the Giants would have some good ones? Hmmm. I can’t even name a guard. I don’t think the announcers talk about individual OL like they used. I guess you have to listen to Dierdorf or Madden to hear much. Two old lineman.

    LB’s seem a little weak with Joey Porter. This coming from a Dolphin fan. Last year he made all pro averaging 1 sack and was in on 2 1/2 tackles a game with no picks. He never gets many tackles. He’s been excellent sacking the QB through his career which gets the glory but his best year for tackles is 61. Other great LB’s consistantly get around 100 or more tackles a season. I’ll be gunning to pick off Porter. Lol!!! – Andy :)

    The Pat’s have arguably had one of the best groups of LB’s for years. Atleast that’s what the media keeps telling us. But it’s amazing none of their players rises to the individual success that Porter has had with PB’s, sacks and ints. Not even close!! Most excel at tackles though. Really, I’m shocked with their lack of post season accomplishments. It seems hard not to put one of these names on the Team: Willie McGinest, Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi or Ted Johnson. But they certianly don’t deserve it.

    Is there a spot for a Nose tackle like Casey Hampton the Steelers 4-time pro bowler on two SB winning teams whose been the rock in the middle years? Had a off year this year. Maybe next year will return to PB form.

    CB’s – hmmm.

    Safeties – Solid as granite!!

    Returners – Solid as granite!!

    Kickers – Solid as a rock.

    Punters – Solid as a rock.

    Coaches – It’s not that close to me. I’d pick Coughlin over Cowher. Winning percentage isn’t everything. I’m looking at the coaching conditions. If it was a vote for who’s had the better coaching career Cowher wins hands down. But considering what Tom has done over the last 5 years in the toughest media city, playing in one of the toughest divisions, and winning a Super Bowl at his age. Next to Lombardi he must be about the oldest coach to win a SB. It takes a lot of energy to be a good head coach these days. Cowher had no job security issues and very little pressure as coaching jobs go. Pittsburgh would seem to one of the best jobs to have in the league. A winning tradition and a great family owner. Plus Cowher won’t of coached for the last 4 years of the decade. Coughlin the man!!

    That’s all I have :) Tony P. – out

13. Tony on February 3, 2009 at 8:59 am

    Coughlin was almost fired in NY, was fired in Jacksonville, and until last year was well known to be a dictator who couldn’t relate to players. Still probably a top 5 or 6 coach, but not on our list.

    Hampton probably could make it–we were shocked at how inconsistent the DTs we found were. Kris Jenkins probably will make the actual team, since they will take 4.

    Pats LB are overrated–we looked at Bruschi, but didn’t think he matched up. You could be right on Porter, but when it came down to it, the guy has gotten a lot of postseason love. Ware and/or Merriman could knock him off.

    Guards were really tough–we wondered if Waters got too much play for playing with Roaf/Shields/Wiegmann for so long. Didn’t have the heart to dig too deep on them, though–pains me, because OL is my favorite spot, but guards are tough to name. Tackles and centers get all the love (or hate).

    Peterson could make it, but it would require an amazing 2009, given that it will only be his 3rd year. Portis was on my list, but the lack of All-Pro seasons hurt him in our eyes. We went Alexander because he had the MVP season.

    Steve Smith isn’t a diva? He and Ward were on our list. Ward probably suffers because his team was run first for so long. Smith, unfortunately, just didn’t match up to the others, we didn’t think. Believe me, we were trying to find guys to put in ahead of Johnson, Owens, and to a degree Moss–heck, even Harrison is now facing some legal issues that make you question his character. But you can’t argue the numbers.

14. Andy on February 3, 2009 at 9:02 am

    Tony,
    Interesting commentary as always. Much of what you say I can’t disagree with. On the wide receivers, I would agree that it is painful to put Johnson and Owens that honor, given their jackassitude. But when we looked at the career numbers – especially given some of the poor team’s Johnson played on, for example, it was impossible to go against him.

    In eight years he’s been over 1,100 yards receiving six times. For five years in a row he had 90, 95, 97, 87 and 93 catches. And up until last season he’d been in the eight, nine, 10 touchdown range for most of the years during that span.

    I do very much respect Hines Ward, but other than 2002 when Ward had 112 catches and 12 touchdowns, it appeared to me as though Ward’s best was at the low end of Chad Johnson’s production during his peak years.

    Arguable, I know, but that’s my interpretation.

    I’m intrigued by your Adrian Peterson comments. He’ll have played in only three years of the decade but I suppose a monster year could throw him into the mix. Tony and I didn’t really even discuss him – perhaps an effort to not come off as biased toward our hometown Vikings.

    But I guess he could come into the discussion.

    Okay, back to my real job.

15. Tony Parslow on February 3, 2009 at 11:44 pm

    Sorry David Akers. Elam didn’t get it in the 90’s but deserves it now. Jason Elam is the man!!!

    Honorable mention to my kicker – Kris Brown too. What a leg!! 2007 went 5 for 5 from over 50 yds. He just keeps getting better.

16. Brad on March 13, 2009 at 10:50 pm

    Do you think Kris Jenkins make the 2000’s decade team?

17. Tony on March 14, 2009 at 3:35 am

    It’s a possibility. We considered him. Frankly, the DT class in the ’00’s have either been weaker than we originally thought they would be, or a bunch are all really good and keep preventing others from dominating the post season awards.

18. Brad on March 15, 2009 at 12:09 am

    This is my 2000’s decade team right now:

    QB: Tomy Brady

    QB: Peyton Manning

    QB: Drew Brees

    RB: LaDainian Tomlinson

    RB: Edgerrin James

    RB: Shaun Alexander

    WR: Radny Moss

    WR: Marvin Harrison

    WR: Terrell Owens

    WR: Andre Johnson

    TE: Tony Gonzalez

    TE: Antonio Gates

    OT: Jonathan Ogden

    OT: Walter Jones

    OG: Alan Fancea

    OG: Will Shields

    C: Kevin Mawae

    C: Olin Kreutz

    Defense

    DE: Jason Taylor

    DE: Michael Strahan

    DT: Kevin Williams

    DT: Kris Jenkins

    LB: Ray Lewis

    LB: Derrick Brooks

    LB: Brian Urlacher

    CB; Champ Bailey

    CB: Ronde Barber

    S: Ed Reed

    S: Brian Dawkins

    Special Teams

    KR: Dante Hall

    KR: Devin Hester

    P: Shane Lechler

    P: Todd Sauerbrun

    Special Teamer: Larry Izzo (if your having one)

    Coaches

    HC: Tony Dungy

    HC: Bill Belichick

    Comments:

    The two slots for QB’s are easy: Tomy Brady and Peyton Manning. Now, I had to decide between basically Ben Roethlisberger and Drew Brees for the 3rd slot. I choose Drew Brees because he led the NFL in passing yards 2 times. And also, Drew has 3 Pro Bowls, Ben has 1. What made it tough was that Ben has 2 rings.

    The reason why I went with Andre Johnson over Chad Johnson is because Chad Johnson’s attitude is bad. Andre Johnson is a gentleman. He never complains. He doesn’t celebrate like Chad does. And Andre has a real name. Not Ocho Cinco.

19. Brad on December 24, 2009 at 11:43 am

    Josh Cribbs is now my KR/PR of the decade. PERIOD