LOL I was waaaaaaay too lazy this morning for that. Its crazy to think Ray Lewis is still one of the best at his age. There have been alot of great MLBs in the history of the NFL, but none have played at such an elite level for as long as ray has. I cant think of many football players in general that have to be honest.
What about C Wake? Yeah their corners are struggling. That might be the difference maker.
Working in Ray Lewis' favor is that the MLB position is dying and there aren't many elite MLBs out there.
I can think of Willis, then? Bishop is #3 in tackles this year, and already has 3 sacks. Bishop is really good. Would anyone call him elite? Jon Beason? Timmons? I mean, those guys are good, but they're not elite...
As for Wake, I chose Hali because his body of work is better and he is in front of Wake in sacks, but neither guy is in the level of Matthews/Ware. The guy that has that spot is James Harrison, but not hurt like he is.
I struggled with a lot of positions, I haven't watched every team closely to say how everyone is playing right now... I went a lot by recent production, but based it mostly on last year's production, and how guys play. But some positions like the other OLB opposite Briggs in the 4-3 and the 3-4 DEs in the 3-4. A lot of the really good guys are too old now, like Aaron Smith and Shaun Ellis.
Had a lot of trouble finding great corners in the AFC. Devin McCourty went a lot by names and ints last year, the guy isn't that good, he struggles covering man to man, he gets beat consistantly, and by average receivers. Brandon Flowers played well last year, but he has struggles this year. Champ Bailey is old and hurt...
One thing that I didn't do is put 4-3 players in the 3-4 and vice versa, regardless if they played it in the past. Per example, contrary to popular belief, the Ravens do not play a 3-4. When they did, a few years ago, Lewis struggled disengaging blockers.
What they play isn't a clear 4-3 either. Their base is a 4-3 over with Terrell Suggs playing DE most of the time, in fact, when Suggs was tagged, there was a big discussion whether he should get OLB or DE money... And they like to use the 46 defense a lot, as do the Jets. It's a staple of Bud Ryan's defense, and Rex has carried it over in every team he has played, but he uses it situationally, not every down like his father...
This all-conference thing is hard to do, to do it properly one would have to watch every game from every season, and focus one player at a time...
