Dr. Z's All Pros

[tombonneau]

About the only two articles I find worth reading from the good doctor are his football announcer grades and his All Pro list.

This year's all pro article is no exception:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/dr_z/01/09/all.pros/index.html?eref=si_nfl

He really does his homework, which is when he is at his best.

A few standouts are his praise of Mankins, and gutsy election of Will Allen as one of his corners.

 

[miDeuce]

Interesting to me that he picked two rookie ILBs, is the Pats system just too complicated for a rookie to ever come in and play at that position from year one? It's clear what kind of player BB prefers in that spot. I think there's a strong contingent on this board that are salivating to find a stud ILB in the draft to replace Bruschi and/or Seau next year. I'm one of them.

 

[JoePats]

Nice...he gives some credit in the form of asst coach of the year to Dante.

 

[Fanfrom1960]

Thanks for posting Dr. Z's article Tom. Nice analogy here, using NYC especially:

My favorite Moss play this year? In the opener against the Jets, when they buttoned everything up with max protection and sent Moss galloping across the field, past the corner, past the safety, past the corner from the other side ... zip, zip, zip. It was like the old A train, the Eighth Avenue Express, going past the local stops between 59th and 125th Sts., zip, past 72nd, past 81st, past 86th. Fifty one yards and a touchdown, a continent and a half away from where he started.

 

[tombonneau]

Interesting to me that he picked two rookie ILBs, is the Pats system just too complicated for a rookie to ever come in and play at that position from year one? It's clear what kind of player BB prefers in that spot. I think there's a strong contingent on this board that are salivating to find a stud ILB in the draft to replace Bruschi and/or Seau next year. I'm one of them.

Agreed I thought that was interesting as well. Yeah, you'd think sooner or later BB would try his hand at a young stud ILB learning his system. Everyone claims he would have taken Vilma, so who knows, if the right guy is there maybe BB would bite ...

I didn't get a chance to really see much of Beason or Willis this year though.

 

[workhorse]

It's a good read. You know there is one thing that bugs me with these websites, SI being one of the worst, it's the false web clicks that they get from making that list 5 different pages. They couldn't have put all of that content on 2 pages?

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Love that he doesn't pick coach of the year based on taking a bad team and making them 9-7 or 10-6; It's a lot easier squeezing 5-7 more wins out of an underachieving team than it is to squeeze 4 more wins out of a 12-win team. I also love his special award for Scarnecchia; Light and Kaczur may slip up here and there, but for the most part they steer those pass rushers wide and the middle of the line consistently gives Brady a great pocket to step into.

Regards,
Chris

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Agreed I thought that was interesting as well. Yeah, you'd think sooner or later BB would try his hand at a young stud ILB learning his system. Everyone claims he would have taken Vilma, so who knows, if the right guy is there maybe BB would bite ...

I didn't get a chance to really see much of Beason or Willis this year though.

Saw a ton of Willis. Started the season off great, then tapered off a bit in midseason; Looked like he might be hitting the rookie wall. Then suddenly he amped it up and finished amazingly strong. It's fitting that he's coached by Singletary because he plays like him.

Regards,
Chris

 

[primetime]

A few standouts are his praise of Mankins, and gutsy election of Will Allen as one of his corners.

Will Allen is one of the worst starting corners in the league.

I'm of the opinion that Dr. Z is one of the least knowledgeable football writers out there. He's a good writer, but he doesn't know anything about the game. And his reminiscing back 50 years ago when he was 70 years old is tedious and boring.

 

[NEPat]

I'm of the opinion that Dr. Z is one of the least knowledgeable football writers out there. He's a good writer, but he doesn't know anything about the game. And his reminiscing back 50 years ago when he was 70 years old is tedious and boring.

Oh come on. The "least knowledgeable"? Yes Dr. Z can be a crotchety old man sometimes, but he knows his stuff. IMO he's one of the better ones out there, and he's one of the only writers that doesn't play favorites (unlike King, who is in love with the stars).

 

[sebman2112]

Will Allen is one of the worst starting corners in the league.

I'm of the opinion that Dr. Z is one of the least knowledgeable football writers out there. He's a good writer, but he doesn't know anything about the game. And his reminiscing back 50 years ago when he was 70 years old is tedious and boring.

I'm not going to say DR.Z is among the least knowledgeable, but he's dead wrong about Will Allen. There isn't anything that suggest he should be an "all-Pro". I will also say that I've found some of Z's past articles to be more worthy of the trash, than public circulation.

 

[primetime]

Oh come on. The "least knowledgeable"? Yes Dr. Z can be a crotchety old man sometimes, but he knows his stuff. IMO he's one of the better ones out there, and he's one of the only writers that doesn't play favorites (unlike King, who is in love with the stars).

Whereas Dr. Z gets hard-ons for guys he sees once and demands that they are great players. If he happens to see Will Allen in one game and Allen has a good game, suddenly Will Allen has turned his career around and is a stud, All-Pro corner. This ignores the fact that Will Allen totally sucks (something any Dolphin or Giant fan will agree with me on), but Dr. Z saw him look good in one game so he must be an All-Pro.

I don't think Z ever even played the game, except possibly in high school. Back when they were still running the single-wing.

 

[BWareofDWare]

I don't think Z ever even played the game, except possibly in high school. Back when they were still running the single-wing.

Who cares if someone played or not, doesn't mean they aren't smart about football. See: Belichick, Bill.

 

[NEPat]

I think he's wrong about Allen too. And he knows everyone thinks he's crazy for the pick.

They have already called the psycho ward and reserved a place for me because Will Allen of the Dolphins is my other All-Pro corner. When I went to bed with Newman and Cromartie as my pair, I didn't feel good about it, in fact I felt miserable, kind of like Benedict Arnold did after he had let the side down. At 4 a.m. I was sitting at the kitchen table, giving the charts one last look. Sometimes I start phoning people, even at that hour, to crystallize my thinking, but I didn't want to hear a single other opinion about Allen because I knew it would be, "Waddya nuts?"

He goes into an explanation of why he's picked Allen (he's seen him in more than one game of course), and why he's down on corners in general right now.

Anyway my quibble was with "least knowledgeable." I think he watches a lot, studies a lot, and he has some method. That is way more than I can say of most football writers nowadays.

 

[sebman2112]

Who cares if someone played or not, doesn't mean they aren't smart about football. See: Belichick, Bill.

His Father (Steve) was a coach and scout at Navy, and was considered one of the games more intelligent thinkers, so it's obvious a bit of his father rubbed off on Bill. Bill also got to meet some of the games greatest players, as his father was coaching them (Roger Staubach comes to mind). So, there's a difference.

 

[oldskool138]

Who cares if someone played or not, doesn't mean they aren't smart about football. See: Belichick, Bill.

True, I mean look at Andy Reid's kids or even BB's (one of his kids got busted for pot).

 

[ALP]

hmm

i think overall really good article (dont expect those from dr Z)

the will allen pick was for entertainment, i thought well of his insight on samuel and dante....

also the guy has some sense, he uses the right setup for the all pro team...unlike the AP, b/c every team uses a slot wr, and we all know who is the best at that posistion

 

[AdamJT13]

Will Allen might not be a great player, but he apparently had a fine season. When Football Outsiders published their defensive back stats through Week 13 (although not every game through Week 13 had been carted yet), Allen ranked 10th in success rate and second in yards per pass. He tied Asante Samuel in both categories.

The numbers might have changed in the rest of the games (Weeks 14-17 and any uncharted games from before that), but Allen was having a good season at least until then.