Breaking Down Peter King's 2011 All Pro Team
By Jason Lisk
I agree with King’s selections at MVP and Offensive Player of the Year (Brady), Coach (Belichick), GM (Pioli), and Defensive Rookie (Suh). King goes with Bradford at Offensive Rookie, and I’m sure he will win in a landslide; I’m going contrarian with Mike Williams of Tampa Bay. As for Comeback Player, I’m not sure Vick should qualify (he played last year), but then again I’m never sure what the requirements are for this award so I’ll abstain from my non-existent vote on this topic that interests me not at all.
Let’s get to the offense, and remember, the AP voters select only a first team, as I clearly have even less pull in influencing AP voters than I do at my own house:
QB- Tom Brady (agree)
RB- Arian Foster (agree)
FB- Ovie Mughelli (I think I might have gone Vonta Leach, but Mughelli is good too)
WR- Calvin Johnson and Roddy White. Roddy White is a no-brainer for me, but I disagree with Calvin Johnson. His stated reason is that Johnson had bad quarterback play. If that was the requirement, I would take Fitzgerald, as he had more yards and the Lions quarterback situation was like having Marino compared to Anderson, Hall and Skelton. My choices are between Lloyd, Wayne, Jennings and Andre Johnson. In a close call, I’ll go Jennings for how big he played down the stretch, as Lloyd had better raw numbers but more opportunities as the Broncos trailed alot, and Wayne had fewer touchdowns. Andre probably would have been the choice if he had played all season-still amazing what he did on a bad ankle.
TE- Marcedes Lewis. Major disagreement here. Lewis is only 8th in receiving yards for tight ends, and has less than Gates in six more games. I’m not going to go Gates, though. My pick is Jason Witten and his 1,000 yard season and 9 tds. Maybe he was just too boring and established for King.
OT- Jake Long and Marshall Yanda. Yanda? I suppose if you limited yourself to just right tackle, he’s in the discussion. I guess there is a philosophical difference on what to do at the tackle position, as it says tackle and doesn’t distinguish between left and right (just like wide receiver doesn’t distinguish between flankers and split ends, or defensive ends by which side they line up). I’m taking the best tackles. For me, it comes down to Jake Long, Joe Thomas, and D’Brickashaw Ferguson this year. I’ll go Thomas and Ferguson on the first team, and Long would get my second team vote.
OG- Ryan Lilja and Rich Seubert. I will say that his choices are not just based on who won last year, and I like the Lilja pick. I’ll go Josh Sitton (GB) and Carl Nicks (NO) over second teamers Harvey Dahl (ATL) and Lilja.
C- Alex Mack. No complaint there, as it should come down to Mack and Nick Mangold. My vote is Mangold.
DEFENSE
DE- Julius Peppers and Vince Wilfork. I didn’t realize Wilfork would count as a DE. Regardless, this needs more Justin Tuck. I’m fine with keeping Peppers as the second defensive end.
DT/NT- Kyle Williams and Johnathan Babineaux. Haloti Ngata over Babineaux, with Suh on my fictional second team.
OLB- Clay Matthews and Cameron Wake. I think this is a three way competition with Harrison (who King does not mention), rather than Suggs. I’m fine with his picks but I could also easily go Harrison here.
ILB/MLB- Lawrence Timmons and Ray Lewis. Not sure why King draws the distinction of ILB for Timmons and MLB for Lewis, since they both play in a 3/4. Regardless, I’m fine with this pick. Willis didn’t have as dominant a year, and Lewis is still bringing it strong.
CB- Nnamdi Asomugha and Devin McCourty. I’m fine with this, as King says Revis was just OK during the middle part of the year with the injury. If I’m picking on who I want at season’s end, though, it’s Revis Island over McCourty. Tramon Williams would be a second team pick.
FS/SS- Chris Harris and Troy Polamalu. I’m fine with the Harris pick, and it comes down to him or Quentin Mikell opposite the no-doubt pick of Polamalu. Reed didn’t play enough.
[photo via Getty]