Here is the complete All-Pro team, and the guys I voted for, with a comment after each position:
OFFENSE:
WR
Winners: Andre Johnson, Wes Welker
Me: Johnson, Reggie Wayne
Tough to pick between Wayne and Welker. I went with the Colts overall efficiency as an offense. Both guys had great quarterbacks throwing to them. It's not like either pick is wrong. I just had to pick one.
TE
Winner: Dallas Clark.
Me: Clark
I gave serious consideration to Antonio Gates based on his one-man dismantling of the Browns, but Clark's overall production (100 catches, 10 TDs) was too much to ignore.
OT
Winner: Joe Thomas, Ryan Clady
Me: Thomas, Michael Roos
Anyone who quibbles with the drafting of Thomas is missing the point. He's on the verge of being a perennial All-Pro. Things have gone swimmingly with him. Clady got a lot of play out of Denver, but somebody had to help Chris Johnson top 2,000 yards, which is why I went with Roos.
G
Winners: Jahri Evans, Steve Hutchinson
Me: Evans, Hutchingson
Evans seems to have surpassed Hutchinson as the best guard in the league this season.
C
Winner: Nick Mangold
Me: Mangold
Watch the guy and he's just dominant. I had a lot of fun when the Browns took a center in the first round of the draft, but if Alex Mack becomes anything like Mangold it will be quite a pick.
QB
Winner: Peyton Manning
Me: Manning
Tough choice between Brett Favre, Manning and Drew Brees. But it's just impossible to ignore all the things Manning brings to the team.
RBs
Winners: Chris Johnson, Adrian Peterson.
Me: Johnson, Peterson
Though I did consider Stephen Jackson for all he did for a lousy team in St. Louis.
FB
Winner: Leonard Weaver
Me: Lousaka Polite
Gave serious consideration to Lawrence Vickers.
PK
Winner: Nate Kaeding
Me: David Akers
What is it with kickers who suddenly can't kick in the playoffs?
KR
Winner: Josh Cribbs
Me: Cribbs
Perhaps the easiest vote on the ballot.
DEFENSE:
DE
Winners: Dwight Freeney, Jared Allen
Me: Freeney, Allen
Remember when Freeney was drafted and everybody said he was too small to play DE in the pros? Perfect illustration why Bill Polian gets it. He drafts players that fit the Colts system, and he doesn't worry about this or that. His other end, Robert Mathis, is also an excellent player.
DT
Winners: Kevin Williams, Jay Ratliff
Me: Williams, Haloti Ngata
Ngata looked pretty good to me in the two games I saw him. He should make this team next season — and a lot more after
OLB
Winners: Elvis Dumervil, DeMarcus Ware
Me: Dumervil, Ware
The best pass rushers always win this position. This season is no different
ILB
Winners: Patrick Willis, Ray Lewis
Me: Willis, David Harris
I think the league's top-ranked defense deserved to have its leading tackler on the team. As good as Lewis is, he seems more on the downside of a great career than on the dominant end of things.
CB
Winners: Darrelle Revis, Charles Woodson
Me: Revis, Woodson
Pretty easy choices. Have to say that the more I watch Revis the more impressed I am. That guys is a true shutdown corner.
S
Winners: Darren Sharper, Adrian Wilson
Me: Sharper, Nick Collins
Sharper was a no-brainer, but Collins had an outstanding season for Green Bay. He gave up only 87 yards after the catch, had six interceptions and seven pass breakups and only gave up three touchdowns. I chose him just ahead of Wilson and Kerry Rhodes of the Jets.
P
Winner: Shane Lechler
Me: Lechler
Absolute no-brainer. The guy had a net of 43.8 yards, which is flat amazing.
How sweet it must be to have a job where it IS your job to watch sports so you can write about it. Hey, can you take out the trash? Sorry dear, I have to watch the Colts game. OMG I am soooo jealous!
Lechler may be the best punter I've ever seen, edging out another Raider, Ray Guy.
Assessiong? Is this one of those words from alan's vocabulary?
While I wanted the Browns to select Adrian Peterson with their pick in 2007, I had no problem with them taking Thomas. I was just glad they didn't take Quinn at #3. As the top 10 picks that year shows, they could have done much worse…
1 Oakland Raiders JaMarcus Russell
2 Detroit Lions Calvin Johnson
3 Cleveland Browns Joe Thomas
4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Gaines Adams
5 Arizona Cardinals Levi Brown
6 Washington Redskins LaRon Landry
7 Minnesota Vikings Adrian Peterson
8 Atlanta Falcons Jamaal Anderson
9 Miami Dolphins Ted Ginn, Jr.
10 Houston Texans Amobi Okoye
That your team and the all-pro team were so close impresses me. How translatable is that knowledge? That is, a blog or column I'd like to see, please, Pat, is an assessment of the Browns players and where each starter might fall in "above average," "average," or "below average" with the starters compared to the other 31 teams — because the common sense I got from everyone writing on the Browns back when they were 1-11 was that Thomas and Cribbs had a chance to make the pro-bowl as one of the four best in the AFC at their positions, but that few if any other Browns could even make another team's 53 man roster. Well, how do the assumed starters (taking injuries into account) really stack up against all the other players you've seen?
Brian d…I noticed that you mentioned Gaines Adams in your post. It is sad that the young man has passed away. I don't want to speculate on the reason he died, but on the trade that occurred that led him to be part of the Chicago Bears.
Tampa Bay traded him to the Bears in 09' for a couple draft picks. What a stroke of luck for one organization and horrible for the other. It reminds me of that running back from Syracuse that died right after he was drafted by the Browns.
Speaking of Gaines Adams, it has been reported that he may have been killed by suspicious landscaping. Check out the second paragraph. http://xr.com/4la3
Greenwood county Landscaper Union 157 is very well organized and lots of infleunce throughout the county government.
I guess they say "Keep Off The Grass", they mean it.
When they announced that it was cardiac arrest, the first thought is a healthy 26 year old man doesn't usually die of natural causes…but it does happen.
From that draft, three of the top 10 picks, Calvin Johnson, Adams and Okoye, all admitted to having used marijuana during team interviews at the draft combine. Obviously it wasn't held against them by the teams that drafted them. Maybe the teams figured the other 7 players taken in the top 10 were just liars.
The first thing that came to my mind was the use of anabolic steriods because he was a professional athlete. I will save judgement on the young man til after coroner makes his report. For now I will assume it was simply his time to leave.
Please forgive the off topic nature of this question, but while listening to sports talk on the way home today the point was made that if Z was traded to Washington for Antawn Jamison, there's no guarantee in 30 days the Wizards would then buy out his contract and free him up to return to the Cavs.
(Now I don't agree with that position, because a salary dump would be the only reason for Washington to make the trade in the first place; losing the popular Jamison for Z certainly wouldn't increase the fan base.)
Which then begged the question – From the Cavs perspective, would you trade Z for for Jamison straight up, right now, period?
Ralph…NO! Unless J.J turned the corner and has a MONSTER 2nd half i think what they did X-mas to the Lakers shows what Could happen with 2 BIGS interesting to see how it plays out Thursday ….Z is slow and LBJ cant stand and dribble in the 4th with no movement ……..but when it clicks this year it looks good…..Lets Hope for a Parade in June!
If Leon Powe looks ready to go by the trade deadline, I might make that trade. I'd hate to see Z leave, but I love what Jamison would bring to the court.
I just don't see how they are going to find PT for Powe unless they plan to play him at the "4" and bench JJ.
I think it's a really tough decision, especially when you look beyond this year.
Let's say worst comes to worst and LeBron goes.
If you still have Jamison for two years, that would keep the team competitive (around 50 wins) and in the playoffs while working to sign The Next Big Thing.
I think a lot of Z and appreciate his contribution to the Cavs, but if that deal is there, Ferry has to think long and hard about it.
And, if the 30 day Z turnaround is a sure thing, I think you have to do it.
Ok guys, lets keep basketball talk where it belongs. I don't know where that is but it is not here. Don't sneak in basketball talk under the guise of NFL talk. It's Un-American by God! LOL!