Ed Reed finishes with league lead 8 interceptions...

[DeadlyDynasty]

I think Brian Dawkins definitely deserves some consideration as one of the best safeties ever. Constantly overlooked, but the dude has been a monster his whole career. Consistent. Great in coverage. Can play both safety positions. Feared hitter, great tackler, fantastic athlete.

Dawkins reminds me of Steve A er...both great all-around players and very underrated.

IMO I think Sean Taylor would've been one of the best ever had he not been killed.

[monosylab1k]

IMO I think Sean Taylor would've been one of the best ever had he not been killed.

if he was better in coverage, then maybe. I saw that guy take ty angles all the time. But holy crap could he hit somebody. That hit on the punter in the Pro Bowl is still awesome, even if it was kind of a punk move.

[Blake]

getting the job done often due to the defense constantly getting them more opportunities to be on the field and shorter fields to work with.

its much easier for an offense to flow when they have 40-60 yard fields to work with every posession, as opposed to 70-90 yard fields. i strongly doubt that if they consistently had bad field position and didn't have the ball as often as they did, their offense would be far less productive than it was. granted, that obviously played a factor in the 85 Bears offense as well, but at the same time, they were still CLEARLY superior to the 2000 Ravens offense.

I wonder how many of those points were scored on a short field, given this data.

After all, the main reason Pats have scored 30+ 8 games in a row or so are due to the sick turnover differentials they've had.

I dunno where their average starting line of scrimmage was per drive, but although they had problems punching the ball into the end zone, they were still 16th out of 31 teams in total yardage and 14th in scoring.

Hardly awesome, but hardly absolute crap. Pretty much just average.

[DeadlyDynasty]

if he was better in coverage, then maybe. I saw that guy take ty angles all the time. But holy crap could he hit somebody. That hit on the punter in the Pro Bowl is still awesome, even if it was kind of a punk move.

He did occasionally take awful angles, but often time his freakish speed and athletic ability would help him recover. He was very young too, and angles of pursuit is definitely a coachable thing. That being said, like you alluded to he could knock the out of people. He also had a knack for the ball that mimicked Reed or Polamalu at times. That 2005 WC game against TB still sticks out to me--he was amazing, and won that game for the Skins.

I remember there was a point when people were arguing over who was the better safety: Roy Williams or Sean Taylor

[Blake]

I remember there was a point when people were arguing over who was the better safety: Roy Williams or Sean Taylor

that should tell you something about Taylor right there.

[monosylab1k]

I remember there was a point when people were arguing over who was the better safety: Roy Williams or Sean Taylor

yeah that's insane. Roy wasn't even all that great of a hitter. He rarely ever got a big hit when the team needed it, or on a receiver, generally it was on a running back who had a ty screen pass thrown to him so he needed a second to recover, and there comes Roy leading with his helmet. In the open field against a receiver going right at him, Roy was an ankle tackler (as I think Santana Moss once called him).

That was another great thing about Taylor, he was for the most part a clean hitter. Leading with the shoulder and putting it square into a dude's chest.

[DeadlyDynasty]

that should tell you something about Taylor right there.

[Blake]

so people actually had legit arguments about how Williams was better than Taylor?

[DeadlyDynasty]

so people actually had legit arguments about how Williams was better than Taylor?

Legit? No. Visual evidence trumps everything else, and even Stevie Wonder could see that ST was world's better than that overrated POS.

[monosylab1k]

so people actually had legit arguments about how Williams was better than Taylor?

No, people compared them because Taylor is a hard hitter and Roy had the reputation of a hard hitter. Don't pretend you don't remember Roy's first couple of years in the league where he was living off his big plays at Oklahoma and that big hit on Emmitt, only for people to quickly realize that he sucked.

[Blake]

No, people compared them because Taylor is a hard hitter and Roy had the reputation of a hard hitter. Don't pretend you don't remember Roy's first couple of years in the league where he was living off his big plays at Oklahoma and that big hit on Emmitt, only for people to quickly realize that he sucked.

so the arguments that Williams was better than Taylor were legit then?

k.

[monosylab1k]

so the arguments that Williams was better than Taylor were legit then?

k.

4/10 troll job

[LnGrrrR]

Ryan Leaf was compared to Manning when they were about to be drafted. Does that mean that Manning vs Ryan is a legitimate comparison now?