Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - The 2010s: Geoff Schwartz’s All-Decade NFL Team

Episode Date: November 26, 2019

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Jeff Shorts of Smarter Than You is brought to you by GameTime, your new go-to app for the best deals on last-minute tickets. Did you know NFL ticket prices tend to drop right before the game starts? Going to catch the 49ers at Baltimore this weekend, the biggest game of the season so far. Go to the GameTime app to get your tickets at the last minute. GameTime tracks prices in real time from thousands of trusted sellers that shows you all the best last-minute deals with prices up to 60% off. It only takes two taps to get your tickets right to your phone. More than 12 million fans have downloaded the GameTime app

and discovered the fastest, easiest way to get into the game. So head to the App Store or Play Store now to download GameTime and score awesome deals on last-minute tickets. Well, I'm the best corner of the game. When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that's the result you're going to get. Don't you ever talk about me. Who was talking about you? Welcome to Jeff Schwartz's Smarter Than You, special Thanksgiving edition.

Thank you guys for tuning in today as you're driving around going to your Thanksgiving celebrations. I am Jeff Schwartz. Alongside, as usual, Gabe Goodwin. We have a special show for you today. We are going to talk about the 10s. Are we calling this the tens, the teens? What are we calling this era, Gabe, this decade? I think it's the, I don't know.

The tens feels right to me. This decade. This decade. 2010. I wanted to laugh at the teens, but I think that's actually more accurate. I think it's the teens. 2010 to 2019, all decade team. We're going to go over the best players at each position.

We're going to put together a team. We're going to go over the best players at each position. We're going to put together a team. We're going to have some fun with this. Gabe is going to argue with me throughout the way. You don't know that. I might just think you're dead on. You don't know. Except offensive line where you have nothing to say. I won't say anything about that. That's going to be my position to argue about. Even though there are actually one position on the offensive line

that's worth debating a lot. So we'll have fun with that. How are you doing, Gabe? I'm doing really good. I'm excited for Thanksgiving. I'm glad that subscribers of The Athletic have stuck with us and learned a few things with this show. Hopefully they've enjoyed the format. This is a little different for us, but I think you'll get smart about looking at the last 10 years of football. So this is a fun one while you're killing some time around the holiday. It was fun for me to go back and think about this team. And there's some obviously some very easy suggestions, but there's also guys that will pop up as we go through this.

You're like, wow, that player did this and that player did that. And how much do we count Super Bowls or regular season wins and what teams have done? And also looking back and just seeing there are some players I didn't realize were still playing in the beginning of this decade. There were two players, especially on the defense in the secondary, which we'll get to, where guys were still playing like in 2013 and 2014. So pretty fun to do this.

Do you want to start with the quarterback who I know, Gabe, you're going to hate this selection, but it has to be done, the quarterback of all-decade team. Well, go ahead. Tell us who you think it is. I could tell you some other names. It is Tom Brady, and there's no question about it um when you win as many super bowls as he has they've now been to eight eight uh a few changing games in a row um they've won a straight

afc titles he's won three super bowls in the last four seasons um he is the greatest quarterback of all time he is the greatest quarterback of this decade okay he's obviously in the conversation for greatest quarterback of all time even someone like me who cannot stand the Patriots has to admit that I'd say he is the greatest quarterback of all time but that's based on a body of work that spans two decades two decades in which I would say he's probably not been the best quarterback in either so you know he's obviously very good he's top two or three for 20 years now and probably he'll be in the conversation next damn decade the way it's looking but i don't know if i'm ready to give him

this decade jeff i've been to a situation game i think every single season is decade i mean when you put it that way, it's hard to debate. But don't you want to even, for one second, just consider a few names? I would consider Drew Brees. Okay, there you go. I mean, Drew Brees, his completion percentage, almost 70% in his career. Absolutely wild. 45,000 yards.

He's led the NFL in passing at the beginning of the decade and completion percentage at the back end of the decade and completion percentage of backing on the decade very efficient quarterback uh look if he and if he had um the patriots defense and bill belichick and that's not to say sean payne is a bad coach you know maybe he is you know winning more super bowls that he than he has that's that's an important point you just made though remember again br Brady in this this current decade, it's his second full decade with the coach and system that he's been playing. And naturally, he's playing at a very, very high level. I think it's there's something to be said for Breeze Aaron Rodgers, who statistically has been better. He doesn't have as many rings, but he's got one.

He's got one of the best quarterback seasons of all time. Your guy, Russell Wilson, deserves consideration. I mean, you can choose Brady, but it's not a no-brainer. It's not a no-brainer if you just – it depends on stats. I mean, Matt Stafford has put up a ton of stats in this decade. I mean, are we going with stats? Are we doing – I mean, I feel like the Super Bowls and everything else. It seems very clear.

This is Tom Brady, but I know you hate Tom. It's okay. I don't hate Tom necessarily. I just agree that he is. He is number one in this. Okay. All right. Let's give you Tom running backs harder.

Where are you going with running back? So I don't think it is to me. The number one is Adrian Peterson. All right. I was with the Vikingsikings when he had 2 000 yards um he had just missed setting the all-time rushing record that season by i believe about seven or nine yards it was actually really the last game of the year we had to win the game we're playing the packers week 17 um we need to win the game to then play the packers again in the wildcard round on Saturday.

And so we had to make sure that we won the game, but also try to get him the rushing record as well. In this decade, 112 games, 9,300 rushing yards, 4.6 per attempt. Now, the receiving is not really there. That's not really what he does. He's not a dual-purpose guy. But he was the best running back for years at that position. And some of these other guys have yards, but were never the best at the

position for as many years as he was. Okay, so there's really no point in trying to argue that Adrian Peterson wasn't great, or that 2012, the year you're talking about wasn't unbelievable. But for a body of work, this decade has been mostly a disappointment remember this is this is seasons missed to injury seasons missed to suspensions uh new teams bouncing around like yes his best in this decade is the best of anyone's but there hasn't been much good actually in the last several years the adrian Adrian Peterson most people think about is just a few years ahead of that. Correct, but I will say he made an all-pro team in 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2015. Obviously in 2012 he was the MVP.

I think in this decade team you can be so good at certain points. We're going to get to some players later on that have been so good the last half of the decade that they're on this list i think that what he did in the first half of the decade is is so incredible he should be on here as number one running back but i will say looking through this this one guy leshawn mccoy by the way his numbers he's put have you realized this game he's had,000 rushing yards in this decade. He's had 3,400 receiving yards. He's my second-best running back in this decade, in my opinion. So he's the guy I would have argued is number one. And it surprised me until I looked into it also.

His best years are all within the decade. And we're right now starting to see him fade a little bit. years are all within the decade and we're right now starting to see him fade a little bit um but but the reason i think i would choose him just barely over ap or even marshall lynch would be i think he's doing now what running backs will do for the next decade right so i think that a christian mccaffrey type um is more modeled after a guy like leshawn mccoy than adrian peterson i think the era of Adrian Peterson guys is ending as we're as we're seeing you know this week with Todd Gurley is sort of the next coming of Adrian Peterson doesn't really work anymore I I feel like now you got to be able

to catch the ball you got to be able to run in different types of schemes and LaShawn McCoy was a little ahead of the curve on that um he was ahead of the curve on that and that obviously puts him kind of ahead of um of uh of Adrian Peterson because he was a of the curve on that. And that obviously puts him kind of ahead of Adrian Peterson because he was a dual threat guy. Adrian Peterson has never been that guy, right? And I think if Sean McCoy had maybe started his career five years ago, he'd be in a different stratosphere. Like we think of him much differently than we do now.

And I think that the ability to do multiple things out of the backfield is now appreciated. It was not appreciated when Adrian Pearson came in the NFL. Even the start of the decade, it was not appreciated. One guy that I just want to throw out there. He's not going to get this. But Jamal Charles, in his career, is number one all-time in yards per attempt from a running back. 5.4 an attempt. He got hurt a bunch, but he is fabulous as a running back,

and he should be mentioned here. He's not going to win this award or put him on the decade team, but just throw that mention out for him. I think he's worthy of mention, and I would only only say this and it's not necessarily fair to him but it seems to me that almost everyone who's run behind that chief's offensive line for the last 10 or 15 years really going back to priest holmes almost everyone who's run behind that line has looked pretty damn good and anytime you have two or three running backs who weren't who weren't expected to be great run for a thousand yards a year every year i i wonder if maybe they're a little bit more

replaceable which is sort of the kind of thing you often say but but that was they were they were different offensive lines okay we'll teach us a little bit about that then because i mean we don't need to get hung up on jamal charles he's a nice player they're just different offensive lines literally different players obviously different players, obviously. Different players, yeah. Different coaches, different schemes. I agree with you there. I mean, for example, you put Tony Pollard right now

as a backup running back for the Cowboys behind this offensive line. He's going to rush for 1,000 yards, right? I understand that. So to your point, that makes sense. All right, let's go to the tight ends. Keep this moving along. These are interesting.

I think the easy answer is Gronk, right? I think we can see this year with him not in the lineup what it's done to the Patriots. They have no middle of the field threat. They have no blanket security blanket for

a Tom Brady. 115 games, 521 receptions, 79 touchdowns, 15 yards of reception in 2011 or in the decade, 90 receptions, 1,300 yards, 18 touchdowns. Now, he had injuries, which is one thing we use with Adrian Peterson. But, I mean, number one, it's got to be Gronk. Yeah, I don't want to argue against Gronk. It also helps him, unlike some of the guys we're going to talk about. You know, his career lines up perfectly with the decade.

He comes into the league in 2010. He's immediately impactful. He has his best years in the middle of the decade. He wins rings. He changes the position. There's really no point in arguing against him. The previous decade would be more interesting, right? There you have Gonzalez and Gates, guys who kind of established the need for a tight end

in the league. Why do you think it is that the tight end position has sort of become way more of a pass catching position in this decade? Well, if you look at Jimmy Graham right now, Jimmy Graham's a great example, right? 638 receptions in this time period. Jason Witten obviously has 670. He's the all-time leader in receptions for tight end. But Graham, you're getting – so we're seeing a transition in the NFL. It makes the Ravens as they won on Monday night and we watched them kind of run over the Rams. They've kind of gone the opposite direction.

They've gone all in on rushing the ball. they've kind of gone the opposite direction. They've gone all in on rushing the ball. And where the NFL has gone kind of all in on passing the ball and all in on smaller players because they're getting those players from college. They're getting better passers from college now. They're getting smaller linebackers. They're getting smaller tight ends as these offenses now throw the ball so much. So a tight end now is now a wide receiver weapon because you put him

against a safety or a linebacker and no one can cover these guys. Currently, Travis Kelsey is big and can move where no one can guard him. Tony Gonzalez would have been amazing now. All these guys would have been even better as a pass catcher because no one can guard Tony Gonzalez. We saw part of this decade, obviously. No one can guard Antonio Gates. It's a mismatch with the guys you're getting from college

that are smart defenders against these tight ends. That's why. Okay. Well, I mean, I think this one's one to pick up time on. Gronk's the winner. Yeah. There's another few guys that are worth mentioning, but I think you hit on Graham.

I mean, Kelsey's interesting. It comes along a little too late. The guy who's going to be a fun conversation for next decade and we'll definitely be talking about throughout the rest of the season on our normal Tuesday and Thursday shows will be Kittle up in San Francisco. He's a fun one to talk about, but he hasn't done enough yet. No, he might be for the next decade. We're still doing this podcast, and we have millions of listeners per episode.

I think that's right. So let's talk wide receiver. Wide receiver. So we'll pick two. And the two that stood out to me were larry fitzgerald the uh ageless wonder who no matter what offense he's in no matter what quarterback he he plays with all he does is put up numbers um the best route runner just so smooth, great hands, consummate pro. To me, no-brainer number one. Now, number two on this list is very interesting.

I would say it's Julio Jones, but I think you can make a case for Calvin Johnson, for Demarius Thomas, for Antonio Brown. I think number two to me feels like dealer's choice. Yeah. Well, hold on. So I want to just point out that Larry Fitzgerald, who has played every year,

you know, for this whole decade and then one of the better receivers out there has definitely not ever been the best receiver in the league at any point in the last decade. He could have had that claim for a bunch of seasons in the previous decade. He's just been a pretty good receiver for the last bunch of years. So you're giving him consistency, which means like Frank Gore or somebody should have been in the conversation and running back.

Sure, but do we take into account that he didn't have Matt Ryan or he didn't have Peyton Manning or he didn't have Big Ben? I mean, he had a bunch of schmoes playing quarterback for a lot of this decade. I guess I can't argue with that. He mostly had schmoes. A couple years of Carlson Palmer, right? A couple years of Warner was against the previous decade. A little bit of Warner, a little bit of Palmer, and then Schmotown ever since.

So, all right, so we're going to award him some extra points. You mentioned Calvin Johnson. Now, he had a great, great, great bunch of years. I guess if you go with Adrian Peterson, you can go with Calvin Johnson. I mean, why not? Except I think there's more guys deserving of being maybe second in this than there were for the running backs. You know, by the way, Calvin Johnson accounted for 31% of Matt Stafford's career passing yards. I would have guessed it was like 71%. Thank you, Zuri, producer extraordinaire, for giving some of these stats.

This is incredible. I do think this is a fun conversation to have. Julio Jones has been fabulous. But you look at Antonio Brown in this time. 131 games, 1,100 yards. yards in playoff games he's been great 51 51 receptions 537 yards he led the nfl in receptions at 14 and 15 receiving yards in 14 and 17 and touchdowns last year seven time pro bowler now the problem is he's he's crazy right now so how much do you do you count that into the situation unlike jul Julio Jones who's just stable as they come

yeah I mean Brown made it all the way to the end of the decade before he let the wheels come off so you know I think he's got to be in there I I would I would say there's this whole middle pack of guys right that are like that great group of players to take in a PPR league in fantasy and you mentioned a couple um Demarius Thomas uh Andre Johnson had a bunch of good years this decade and now we're seeing Hopkins in Texas uh in Houston rather doing the same I mean yeah I it's like it's a tough call I guess physically speaking forget the numbers for a minute when you just look at like guard ability who's harder to cover Julio Jones or or calvin johnson because the answer to that is who i think you put in it's calvin right yeah yeah he had fewer productive

years um and you know he left the league kind of in his prime um but i it seemed like no one knew how to cover him and julio jones has had great years every year but like you know he's semi stoppable i'd go I'd go Calvin. And if you insist on keeping Larry in, then Antonio's out. I'm okay with Calvin Calvin in here. I think to your point, when we go through this list, is who was the best at the position? Calvin Johnson was the best at the position for many years.

For many years. If Adrian's in, Calvin's in. I think that's our standard. I think that's fair. Adrian, I mean Fitzgerald and Calvin Johnson. Okay. I'll go with that. Okay.

Offensive line, here we go. I'm going to go get a snack. Have fun. We'll go with tackles first. This is very easy. It's Tyron Smith, the Cowboys, and Joe Thomas of the Browns. Tyron Smith is, I tweeted this out this weekend, at Jeff Schwartz from the game with the Patriots and the Cowboys on Sunday.

I mean, Tyron Smith looks like you make him in a factory. His arms go down to his mid-thigh, maybe his knees almost. He's got long hands, huge arms. He wears that Don Joy knee brace on his arm. That's how big his arms are. He's amazing. His problem has been injuries. I mean, that's been a problem of his.

And he's been mostly healthy for a while now. He's made four All-Pro teams, six-time Pro Bowler. He's incredible. He's incredible. He's up there. Obviously, Joe Thomas. We know Joe. Ten seasons in the NFL.

He'll walk right into the Hall of Fame. First ballot Hall of Famer is my assumption. He made nine All- teams, 10 pro bowls. And look, some of those obviously were years before the decade started. But nonetheless, Joe is up there. Do you have any objections to those two? No, no. I mean, those are the two that even the lay person like me would be able to come up with yeah i'm more curious about kind of some of these next so and i will say i

want to throw like like jason peters for example just kind of played in the wrong era like he is a hall of famer in my opinion the eagles left tackle he just kind of played in this era where by the way the nfc east has had like the three best left tackles for like a long period of time now right tyron smith um You asked me outside Joe Thomas, I would say Tyron Smith, Trent Williams, and Jason Peters. My second team tackles would have been Peters and I would have gone with Joe Staley, I believe. All right. So guard to me again, not very hard. Zach Barn and Marshall Yanda. Marshall Yanda,

another night he's the Ravens right guard. He gets no respect, by the way. I mean, offensive lineman, no. During the game against the Rams, a bunch of offensive linemen text me and be like, dude, Yanda is locking up Aaron Donald. Yanda is so good, folks. He can play right guard, right tackle. He can go left guard. In two years, he went to left guard, played left guard all season.

He is a monster from Iowa. He just flies off the ball. Great technique base just mean as can be uh you know no technology right no twitter no instagram nothing just old school lineman zach marn for the cowboys um the second he came in the nfl he's been one of the best linemen in the nfl and so those are my two guards okay i like those picks. I like that you came up with a guy who I barely know anything about in the end. I thought he was like a backup guitar player or something. Yeah, dude. Yeah. There's a monster dude. Yeah. Yeah. Well, listen, anyone playing on that line for the Ravens right now is making a case that they're doing something

right. Let me ask you this before you give us a center, um, there, I will have an opinion. We always sort of say, and i just said it earlier about jamal charles and we've certainly talked about quarterbacks in this way yeah you know but any any quarterback any runner behind that line would look great and i think in general football wisdom people allow you to say that that's sort of common sense is it possible it's the other way around as well like are there linemen who end up looking great because of something the quarterback is doing? I would suspect that Peyton Manning is so aware of where he is on the field, he can kind of cover his own blind spots, no?

So a great answer to this would be Nate Soldier, who went from New England to the Giants. So in New England, he basically knew Tom Brady would stand about seven yards in the pocket. And in the Giants, he goes, Eli's at nine and a half yards. Well, it's a big difference that that two yards will get you sacked. Here in Tom Brady, you're not getting sacked there. Now, this is one example. It's not always true. Trent Brown was in New England last year.

He's playing great in Oakland now. I mean, that's just an example. Yes, they can make you look better because they don't drop as deep. And it makes it to where you don't have to pass block. It's not as difficult. So who would be the quarterback? And if your answer is Brady, help me not, you know, jump off something. But who is the quarterback who makes linemen look the best?

Phillip Rivers. Really? Yeah. So he just makes himself look like crap? I would say like old Phillip Rivers, like not like the last year or two. Yeah, okay. But he like sits in the pocket

like none other quarterback I've ever seen. Huh. You know what? You don't always surprise me. That's a really surprising one. So the guys who've blocked for Phillip Rivers, some some of them were probably great but a few of them are maybe average and end up looking good because he knows what he's doing in there that's cool all right who's your center um so this one's interesting um i tend to look to look at alex

mack here um who's played obviously the, the entire time of this decade. He's been really, really good. But then I kind of started doing some more digging. And I think Marquis Pouncey might be the guy to put in here. He's been the made five all pro, seven-time Pro Bowler. He's been really good. And he might be just a tad better than Alex Mack.

This is the one position in the offensive line where I think there's a couple guys that could have been really considered for this. I would still lean a little bit Alex Mack. I think Pouncey is right there. I think Ryan Khalil is right there as well. And then, you know, there's Kelsey and Travis Frederick. There's a lot of good centers. This position was

much tougher to do than the other ones. Okay. Well, Pouncey, I like that choice because he's been consistently good throughout the whole decade, which is our standard here. His prime is this decade. And he's been the center of a line that has been very very good at run blocking and pass blocking like they've been a consistently great offense

at in both ways the whole decade from from what i can tell so that he makes sense i i the previous decade i think i would have made a big argument for ke Mawai. Thoughts on Kevin Mawai? Fantastic. He played like 180 games in a row without missing at the start. Yeah, a lot of them were for the Jets. Yeah, Kevin Mawai is fantastic. He just made the Hall of Fame because he was great the last two decades, not this one. That's right. No, Kevin Mawai is fantastic.

All right, so let's get to um defensive line so this is what i did with this position because i think this i think we have this the way we play kind of hybrid defense now so like von miller for example because you're outside linebacker we're not playing that game here all right so what we're doing is we're choosing – I'm going to put three defensive tackles in this and then two outside – two pass rushers. Now, we can make it to where we do like four defensive tackles and four pass rushers. So that includes outside linebackers and defensive ends.

So, Gabe, which one do you think is better, four defensive tackles or three and like four pass rushers? Because I think there's four that stand out to me as far as passers we can include on this well okay so listen dopes like me know all the defensive ends and are going to be able to name them but this show is about making people a little smarter so why don't you you know geek out a little bit so let's do the big boys in the middle let's do let's do these are three guys roasted out to me like right away as far as being the best interior offensive interior defensive lineman okay jj watt okay you're putting him on the inside yeah because he it's one of those

things where he plays d tackle and defensive end i'll just put him as like all-purpose defensive lineman jj one is that better i'm here sure yes. All-purpose defensive lineman, J.J. Watt. Fine. I think most of us view him as like an interior offensive lineman. I think he was good enough to win the MVP. I believe that was in 15 or 14. He's had 92 sacks, 154 tackles for a loss, and 204 quarterback hits in 104 games.

He's been pretty hurt in this decade, especially the back end of this. So what's really interesting too is I'll say what makes him great is two things. All right. One is his ability to, to burst at the end of his rush. So a lot of guys get close to the pass rusher

and just can't finish the last part of it. All right? But his ability to go from, like, I beat the tackle to I am now making the play is what sets him apart from other defensive linemen, in my opinion. And then secondly is he didn't always do what was actually called on the play so

as offensive linemen we look at the defense right we look at the at the linebackers the safeties and we can see where guys are coming from right and it helps us so if a safety is down to let's say jj watt side and they're oh they're pressuring and jj watt's playing over the guard it's over the outside shoulder the right guard and the right guard goes oh okay here comes a pressure JJ Watts gonna cross my face try to go into the a gap from that b gap to the a gap that's where he's supposed to be that's what 99% defenders would do in the NFL not what what would go behind your back and because he was so quick remember I told you about finishing the play right he was able to get back in his gap before the running back got there or the quarterback or someone else got there.

And he was able to not follow the rules of the defense because he was that good of a player. Okay, that's – I mean – It's hard to explain it without film or podcast. No, I get it. I do get it. You've sort of helped us understand that in the past. Okay, so he's one.

Two is Aaron Donald. I do get it. You've sort of helped us understand that in the past. So, okay. So he's one, two is Aaron Donald. I know it's, it's back half of this decade, but he's amazing. Like, does this know we've watched him play now for five years? Like he's been the pro bowl since he was a rookie in 2014. He's been all,

all four straight, all pro teams and counting 20 and a half sacks last year. He's amazing. I don't know what more to say. It is about Aaron Donald. It's incredible. Yeah, I guess. I mean mean that'd be easier to agree with just blanketly since everyone agrees he's one of the best players really ever at that position it's just that right now the rams d doesn't look so good and and he's the biggest you know part of the d so

but yeah fine aaron donald seems like a good choice for the interior. I think we can go with that. Alright, the next one for me that's going to be off the beaten path, I think a little bit, for defensive tackle is Haloti Nata. Haloti

is... I don't know if he's going to get a lot of Hall of Fame votes, but he probably should. He was the kind of unspoken anchor of that defense with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. And Ray has said many times he would not be able to do his job without Haloti. I put Haloti in college. I've seen him physically do some things that I didn't think were possible

of a man of his size, run down, running backs from behind. I mean, he almost broke RG three and a half in that, in that, in that game where he got hurt. Um, I, I think he's so underrated. I think people in NFL will tell you that, that he is deserving of being in the hall of fame. He probably won't because he's not a flashy guy, right? He's not a sack guy. Um, don't 26 sacks in this decade. But, dude, he is a monster, and I just want his name to be recognized here. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I think he had a few good years before this decade began.

Yes. And as you said, he sort of wound it down just within the last couple of years. But this is your show, and you just mentioned him. And he certainly has been. When those teams were great, he would get the love. So, okay. So you put some shine on Haloti. That's good.

Are we missing anyone on the defensive line, or are we moving to linebackers? I think we're moving to outside linebackers slash defensive ends. Yeah, this is where the game has changed. So now there's a bunch of guys who run around and attack quarterbacks. So we'll start with a pure defensive end, and that's Julius Peppers. Whoa, okay. In this decade? He had 78 sacks this decade.

Okay. 78 and a half sacks. That's surprising to me. Yeah. This is one of the most surprising. He's fourth all-time in sacks. Do you realize that? I knew that he had to be up in the top 10.

I didn't realize fourth all-time. 78 and a half sacks in a decade where we're you know where we're putting in like let me pull up the stats here i mean we got um you know jj y 92 sacks and he's considered you know the best player that i mean he had pep had at 80 and that includes years where he probably wasn't that good um but dude he he just he was like 40 last year and still sacking the quarterback i i mean i support this pick i just he also played about eight years in the previous decade he did even better than he's um it's incredible i think that that it i maybe the bias i played against him a bunch in practice but i think he's that good dude he's that good so so give us like an anecdote or a story what was it like going up against him um well the thing about him is he could do whatever

he wanted like he could beat you inside outside he could hump move you the reggie white like one arm hump move pardon me he could what he could what hump move it's called a hump move so it's a reggie white did so reggie, like, come up to you, and then he'd take his inside arm, like, as he goes to bull rush you, and then just, like, take his arm and hump, like, club you with it almost, but not a club. He'd, like, hump you. Like, he'd, like, throw you by.

And when you can do all those things, it's amazing. I'll tell you my favorite Pep story, and this is in 2010, so part of the decade. We were playing. He went to the Bears after being in the Panthers for the first two years i was in the nfl and there was a play where um i had to cut him so he could cut block him right take his legs out and it was a screen pass and our coach told us hey we're not going to run this play to jewish pepper's side and he would move sides but mostly on my side um at right tackle because he's just too athletic. He's going to make us look stupid.

So, of course, we called the play anyways, right? And he played off my cut block, tipped the ball to himself, and intercepted it while I laid on the ground. At least he didn't hump you. It was amazing. At least he didn't hump you. It was amazing. Yeah, I remember my only Julius Peppers sort of memories are him doing something crazy like jumping in the air,

tipping a pass to himself, and very clearly doing it on purpose, coming down with it, and then turning into a running back. And I feel like that happened a bunch of times in his career. So, all right, Julius is in. Give us some other linebackers slash pass rushers. So, Vaughn Miller is, I mean. Sure. And the decade was for him.

I mean, it was perfectly timed. Exactly in here. You know, I think that considerable here, and I need to pull his stats for this decade alone, but Terrell Suggs is definitely up there. and I need to pull his stats for this decade alone. But Terrell Suggs is definitely up there. I don't know quite. I'm going to pull his stats to make sure that a lot of them are during this decade.

Yeah. But he's been unbelievable. But again, I want to make sure that a lot of this is in this decade because obviously this is important to do. Yeah, I mean, he had 14 sacks, 10 sacks, 12 sacks. He's been injured a bunch of years too. Yeah, I don't know if you should include him in this decade. I think he was obviously a huge part of those unbelievable Ravens defenses and then became kind of the Ray Lewis of the defense as Ray moved along.

But yeah, I don't know. Can I give you an outside-the-box defensive end? How about Chandler Jones? Okay. 89.5 sacks during this time, and that includes, by the way, his first year we had six. Remember, he was drafted in 2012, so he missed 10 and 11. Yeah.

So he has 89.5 sacks at defensive end outside linebacker. I think I would rather have him in over Cameron Wake or Suggs. I would go with Peppers, Miller, and Chandler Jones. Did we – perhaps I missed it or we've not categorized this correctly. Did we miss Khalil Mack? Are we not putting him in? I think Miller is better than him. Okay.

Vaughn is. And Chandler too? Or are you just saying that Chandler has more good years within this decade I think he has more good years within this decade okay I like that squad I mean Khalil Mack only has 53 sacks this decade yeah no I he's one of the I mean you know this keep coming up but it's like he's gonna his prime is gonna be right at the end of this decade and into the beginning of the next so he doesn't really fit into an all-decade team but he's gonna be a hall of famer one day all right let's move along so give me some cornerbacks um all right so this is this is not

i will be honest this is like not my forte like i don't really um you don't really um do many secondary players but i think for defensive backs, Richard Sherman is definitely up there during this time period. And then this is now a question about kind of like how we view the back half at this time, the early part of this decade or the back half, like what matters more. Darrell Rivas was really, really good, the best cornerback for a couple years at the beginning of the decade. Obviously did not make it the entire decade. Or to go with Pat Peterson, who's basically played the entire decade at such a high level uh those to me are the three choices

yeah peters i mean i'm obviously a revis guy but i think he's one of those guys that gets hurt by being really great a few years before this started and not a factor the last several years um peterson it feels like has been not many guys have been a lockdown cover corner for year after year after year. And I feel like I always hear his name. And if memory serves, like, he was doing a lot of punt returning back in the day, like, scored a lot of touchdowns on defense. I like his choice, but I don't remember him ever being on a team that mattered. So it's harder to go with that. But what about, you know, guys right now

who are starting to turn into something? What's it, Trey White in Buffalo? We got Jalen Ramsey in LA now. Stephon Gilmore. Gilmore, of course, sure. A few guys who've come on later in the decade. Any of them worth consideration for this sort of make-believe award we're giving out?

Well, Stephon Gilmore, I think, is definitely up in that conversation. You know, young corners, who else? Well, let me ask you this while you think, because we talked about how a quarterback can make a lineman look good. We know that the defensive front can make a lot of cornerbacks look good. So who are some guys who maybe, not that you don't think they're great or whatever, but guys who get a lot of reputation,

but are actually benefiting from killer defensive line play and linebacker play that's and Revis was not one of those guys necessarily like Revis had a great defense around him but he just played guys one-on-one and kept that side of the field quiet yeah that's not really that's not really like I don't i don't have a great answer for that okay i respect that yeah also you know you know you're ducking me but that's fine i don't do this position man i don't have a great i don't have a great answer by the time it's up to the cornerbacks you've already done your job you're you're ready to get catch your breath like i'm just like i mean we saw the linebackers yet the way. I think there's three middle linebackers

I want to get to. Oh, I thought you were kind of like, you're going into the Keekly territory now. Oh, yeah. So safety, Earl Thomas to me

is up there and then probably for this decade, Eric Weddle, like for the entire time he's been in the NFL, in this decade where Ed Reed

and Paul Malu were more previous decade. Yep. That's right. So linebackers, I just want to give a shot because I think Luke Keekly is incredible and I don't think people really know how good he is. The Carolina middle linebacker and he,

whatever iteration of this team you want to have as far as how you list these players, he needs to be on there, a middle linebacker. I don't think there's much debate there. It feels like he has 14 tackles a game. Bobby Wagner does as well. Okay. And I wish Patrick Willis would have stayed healthy

because I think he deserves to be on this as well. But he just wasn't very healthy. I loved him in his prime. Yeah. He came to ESPN once and threw a water balloon in the face of my colleagues, and I loved him even more for it. So that's bonus points for him. He came to ESPN once and threw a water balloon in the face of my colleagues, and I loved him even more for it. So that's bonus points for him.

And then kickers, who cares? No, no, don't talk about that. Yeah, and the head coach. We know who the head coach is. Hold on. Who's the head coach? Oh, it's Bill Belichick. Okay.

Do you want to get creative here? Just like Brady is an easy choice, but he's been doing it forever yeah let's get creative who we go with uh well i don't know sean payton yeah but i mean he he went seven nine three years in a row okay i mean the creative guy is andy reed who um you know one in philly one in kansas city with alex smith has now won in Kansas City with Patrick Mahomes, but he hasn't won that big game. Yeah, I know. And Belichick wins all the damn big games. All right, look ahead to the next decade.

Which coach? Right now, you have to bet on one coach, and don't say frigging Belichick. One coach to be the all-decade coach next decade. Kyle Shanahan. Okay. He's getting there. He's getting there, yeah. Okay.

Jeff, I think we covered it. I think we did, bud. We didn't even fight too much. I mean, you know, it's non-controversial. I wish that Brady wasn't the guy, but, you know, I get it. You knew that was going to happen. So, I appreciate it. Well, thank you everyone for tuning in. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

I know I enjoyed my fried turkey as usual. All the fixings. I love this lovely Southgate. It's fantastic. It is nice because no one's got creative with it where I live. No, I'm sorry about that. Alright, we appreciate it.

We'll talk to you guys next Tuesday. Enjoy the holiday weekend. A weekend full of football. We'll get back to you on Tuesday. Have a great one