The USA Today’s all time Super Bowl team is a joke and here is why.
They reward some players for going to a number of Super Bowls – for example WR John Taylor – and others for having one good/great Super Bowl – QB Steve Young and LB Ray Lewis.
Look at WR John Taylor. Per USA Today “He won three Super Bowl titles and also serves this squad as a valuable punt returner – his 94 punt-return yards are a game record.” First, the comments seem to imply the 94 return yards were in one game when in fact they were over three games. Still, the 94 yards is a record so it is impressive but the comments for WR Desmond Howard further down the page states Howard “is our man to return punts and kickoffs.” Great, so that means Taylor is just a receiver. As a receiver, in 3 Super Bowls, Taylor’s TOTAL production was 8 receptions for 102 yards and 2 TDs. Not exactly earth shattering. Compared to Deion Branch (21 receptions for 276 yards and 1 TD) who won two Super Bowls, was a Super Bowl MVP and tied Jerry Rice for most receptions in a Super Bowl (11 Receptions) the numbers are bad. Branch also ranks third all time in Super Bowl receptions with 21 behind Rice’s 33 and Andre Reed’s 27. Hell, one could argue that Troy Brown is more deserving than Taylor. Brown, like Taylor has three rings, returned punts – Super Bowl record 8 punt returns over the three a games and totaled 16 receptions for 182 yards but no TDs.
My next grip would be Ray Lewis over Tedy Bruschi. Yes, Lewis was “MVP of Super Bowl XXXV, in which he had five tackles and got his hand on four passes” – a nice way of saying tipped because he had no interceptions. Bruschi played in 4 Super Bowls totaling 3 sacks and an interception. In fact, just matching Bruschi’s best game, seven tackles, one sack and one interception against Lewis’ best I would still argue Bruschi was better. Maybe Bruschi should have had a little stupid dance he could do before he took the field to get a little publicity.
They reward some players for going to a number of Super Bowls – for example WR John Taylor – and others for having one good/great Super Bowl – QB Steve Young and LB Ray Lewis.
Look at WR John Taylor. Per USA Today “He won three Super Bowl titles and also serves this squad as a valuable punt returner – his 94 punt-return yards are a game record.” First, the comments seem to imply the 94 return yards were in one game when in fact they were over three games. Still, the 94 yards is a record so it is impressive but the comments for WR Desmond Howard further down the page states Howard “is our man to return punts and kickoffs.” Great, so that means Taylor is just a receiver. As a receiver, in 3 Super Bowls, Taylor’s TOTAL production was 8 receptions for 102 yards and 2 TDs. Not exactly earth shattering. Compared to Deion Branch (21 receptions for 276 yards and 1 TD) who won two Super Bowls, was a Super Bowl MVP and tied Jerry Rice for most receptions in a Super Bowl (11 Receptions) the numbers are bad. Branch also ranks third all time in Super Bowl receptions with 21 behind Rice’s 33 and Andre Reed’s 27. Hell, one could argue that Troy Brown is more deserving than Taylor. Brown, like Taylor has three rings, returned punts – Super Bowl record 8 punt returns over the three a games and totaled 16 receptions for 182 yards but no TDs.
My next grip would be Ray Lewis over Tedy Bruschi. Yes, Lewis was “MVP of Super Bowl XXXV, in which he had five tackles and got his hand on four passes” – a nice way of saying tipped because he had no interceptions. Bruschi played in 4 Super Bowls totaling 3 sacks and an interception. In fact, just matching Bruschi’s best game, seven tackles, one sack and one interception against Lewis’ best I would still argue Bruschi was better. Maybe Bruschi should have had a little stupid dance he could do before he took the field to get a little publicity.
