Agreed. I don't view what Mayo was doing there as the kind of big play I was talking about at first though. What i mean is that I know Mayo is terrific. I just would like to see him make a Ninkovich style play once in a while. A pick like the one Spikes made in the playoffs a few years ago.
I totally agree that the hits on Anthony Gonzalez were huge. Just not the turnover or devastating, drive end sack kind of big playa that I had in mind in my opening post.
There's something to be said for having a guy in the middle who is simply a tackling machine. Ray Lewis never had gaudy sack or INT stats; he just tackled 15 guys a game. Mayo is similar (though I don't think he delivers the kind of punishing hits Lewis did) in that he is always just making a million tackles.
That's a very valuable thing.