The 100 Greatest Players in Professional Football History 50-41

Last week's ten is here.

Here's 100-51, my picks are first, the NFL Network picks are second.

100. Larry Allen (Joe Namath)
99. Tom Mack (Michael Strahan)
98. Ozzie Newsome (Lee Roy Selmon)
97. Steve Van Buren (Derrick Brooks)
96. Michael Strahan (Mel Hein)
95. Norm Van Brocklin (Larry Allen)
94. Donovan McNabb (Lenny Moore)
93. Lance Alworth (Sam Huff)
92. OJ Simpson (Michael Irvin)
91. Lou Groza (Fran Tarkenton)
90. Jack Youngblood (Kurt Warner)
89. Sam Huff (Ernie Nevers)
88. Paul Krause (Ed Reed)
87. Cris Carter (Crazylegs Hirsch)
86. Chris Doleman (Willie Davis)
85. Sammy Baugh (Marcus Allen)
84. Alex Karras (Joe Schmidt)
83. Tony Dorsett (Norm Van Brocklin)
82. Don Maynard (Ted Hendricks)
81. John Brodie (Steve Young)
80. Bobby Layne (Troy Aikman)
79. Gene Hickerson (Emlen Tunnell)
78. Chuck Howley (Bruce Matthews)
77. Michael Irvin (Tony Dorsett)
76. Too Tall Jones (Art Shell)
75. Roger Staubach (Darrell Green)
74. Willie Wood (Marion Motley)
73. Will Shields (Ozzie Newsome)
72. Carl Eller (Jonathan Ogden)
71. Ladainian Tomlinson (Paul Warfield)
70. Curtis Martin (Marshall Faulk)
69. Terrell Owens (Bobby Bell)
68. Len Dawson (Mike Webster)
67. Tom Brady (Kellen Winslow)
66. Mike Haynes (Willie Brown)
65. Ken Houston (Randy Moss)
64. Rickey Jackson (Herb Adderly)
63. Darrell Green (Jim Otto)
62. Mike Webster (Randy White)
61. Forrest Gregg (Ladainian Tomlinson)
60. Harold Jackson (Jack Ham)
59. Tim Brown (Mike Ditka)
58. Night Train Lane (Steve Van Buren)
57. Ken Anderson (Mike Singletary)
56. YA Tittle (Gene Upshaw)
55. Alan Page (Earl Campbell)
54. Thurman Thomas (Forrest Gregg)
53. Howie Long (Willie Lanier)
52. Jack Lambert (Eric Dickerson)
51. Randy Moss (Bart Starr)

Here's the next ten...

50.Joe Perry RB 48-63 Niners

-When you average 5 yards a carry over a fifteen year career, that's a top 50 all time player.  (NFL Net took Terry Bradshaw, not on my list)

49.Herb Adderly DB 61-72 Packers

-Top comp is Ronde Barber, among the most underrated players of recent vintage; the Barber brothers might be back to back in the top 150.  (Mike Haynes, already appeared on my list.)

48.James Lofton WR 78-93 Packers

-18+ yards per catch over 764 catches – Lofton’s career a good example of the “pre-steroid” era in the inflation of passing numbers; you could look at the mid 90s as the beginning of a very comparable offensive inflation in both football and baseball – the difference is the passing numbers in football, inflated by rule change, continue to increase.  (Red Grange - not on my list.)

47.Bruce Matthews OL 83-01  Oilers

-(NFL took Ray Nitschke, not on my list.)

46.Derrick Brooks LB 95-08 Bucs

-5 time first team All Pro.  (Roger Staubach - already appeared on my list.)

45.Tony Gonzalez TE 97-   Chiefs

-80+ tds and over a thousand catches, the greatest TE in NFL history. (Hah!  First time!  They picked Gonzalez as well.  Consensus!  Consensus!  My work here is done.)

44.Marshall Faulk RB 94-06 Colts/Rams

-4+ yards a carry, 9+ a catch, 136 career TD. (Mel Blount - still to come on my list.)

43.Steve Young QB 85-99 Niners

-a QB rating of 96+, 33000+ yards passing, a comp percentage of 64%+, 232 career passing touchdowns and 43 on the ground with an avg of almost 6 yards a carry.  6 TD passes, no picks in SB 29. (Alan Page, just appeared on my list a dozen spots back.)  

42.Marcus Allen RB 82-97 Raiders/Chiefs

4 yards+ a carry, 9yards+ a catch, nearly 150 TDs and spent a chunk of his career as a blocking back. (John Mackey - not on my list.)

41. Marvin Harrison WR 96-08  Colts

And you thought Juice would be the top ranked player ever to kill a guy.  Allegedly.  (Rod Woodson - still to come on my list.)


That's the Top 60 - mine and theirs; I'll get the jump again on the next ten of the list by posting first thing next Thursday.  

I Pick Every NFL Game in 2010 - Week 5

Last week was here.

ATS 31-27-4
SU 36-26


Baltimore -7 Denver (win/win)
Bills +1 Jax (loss/loss)
Chiefs +8.5 Colts (Colts win game) (loss/win)
Wash +2.5 GB (win/win)
Det -3 StL (win/win)
Browns +3 Atlanta (loss/loss)
Bengals -6.5 Tampa (my suicide pick) (loss/loss)
Bears -3 Panthers (win/win)
Houston -3 NYG (loss/loss)
Ariz +7 NO (win/win)
Oakland +6 SD (Chargers win game) (win/loss)
Dallas -6.5 Tenn (loss/loss)
Eagles -3.5 Niners (loss/win)
Jets -4 Vikes (win/win)

ATS: 7-7   38-34-4
SU: 8-6     44-32

Giants v. Braves NLDS Thoughts

So, here we go.

Game 1 - Lincecum v. Lowe
Game 2 - Cain v. Hanson
Game 3 - Sanchez v. Hudson

-We were 7 1/2 games out on July 5.  The only time in SFG history we were further out and still won the division was 2000.  Beginning on that date, we played .630 ball, second only to the Phillies for best record in the majors.

-Lincecum's second only to Livan Hernandez as the youngest SFG to start game one of a playoff series.  No, it doesn't seem as if Livan Hernandez was ever 26 years old, but there it is.

-All 3 Braves starters are right handed - we went 68-50 this year against righties.

-For all the talk you'll hear analysts do about small ball and situational hitting and productive outs - when the Giants homered this season we win: 67-31.  And when we don't, we lose: 25-39.

-We led all of baseball in ERA.  Only the second SFG team ('87) ever to do so.

-Our pitching staff led all of baseball in strikeouts for consecutive seasons.  We struck out 1331 batters this year, an SFG record.

-We had the highest fielding percentage for any team in SFG history.

-When we score 3 runs or more, we have the best record in baseball.  3 runs.  That's it.  When we scored 3 or more we went 80-24.  As the postseason unfolds - if you see us hit a homer, if you see us score 3 runs, you're watching a game we are increasingly likely to win.  That's our team - we pitch the ball, we catch the ball, we hit home runs.  3 runs wins the game.

-Our guys have hit Lowe well.

Burrell: 9-25
Fontenot: 4-10 (in contrast to Sanchez, 3-17)
Renteria: 6-19
Ross: 3-10 (note that in contrast to Guillen 3-19 with seven strikeouts)
Rowand 11-23 (I don't know if Rowand makes the roster, but he hits these guys historically)
Sandoval: 4-10

Even the small sample sized guys - Torres, Uribe, have hit Lowe in their only opportunities.

-Game 2 is less promising.  We don't have a lot of at bats against Hanson, but the ones we do have aren't great, there are a lot of 0-4, 0-6, 0-7 records in small samples.

-Game 3's a mixed bag against Hudson:
Burrell: 7-34
Guillen: 3-15
Ross 2-15
Sanchez 3-21

But..
Huff 7-22
Rowand 8-21

On the other side - Infante, Lee, McCann have all hit Lincecum. Could be game 1 is higher scoring than one would anticipate.

But not Game 2, where Cain's record against them is similar to Hanson's against us.  And Sanchez has a similar split (not quite as successful) against the Braves as Hudson has against us.

This looks hard to me like a long, tight series.  I don't think I'm just being pessimistic when I say we're looking at going five.

But I do think we win.

And then the Phillies.

Edit - No Zito, no Guillen.  This is an excellent turn of events.  Curiously good decisionmaking.