The 10 Most Over hyped Players in the NFL
Written by Robert Littal
Overrated is defined as: To overestimate the merits of; rate too highly. While
Over Hyped is defined as: To promote or publicize to excess. To be an overrated
player in the NFL in layman terms means you are a Ryan Leaf. A player that we all
rated to highly only to figure out very quickly that you and I could have been a better
QB in the NFL. An over hyped player in the NFL is a player who is a very good to
legendary, but flaws are often overlooked and ignored by the mainstream media. It is
my job as one of the last truth tellers in sports media to present to you the Top 10 over
hype players in the NFL.
10- Michael Vick
Michael Vick is one if not the most exciting players in the NFL. One of the few
players that all sports fans would use their rent check to see. He is the central
ingredient to the Falcons long-term success. When he is on the field the Falcons win
70% of their games when he is not only 30%. So the question begs why is he on the
over hyped list? Simply put while he is a phenomenal athlete he is not a very good
QB. He has a career passer rating 77.3 and a career completion % of 53.9. It is a
testament to Vick’s athletic ability that with such limited passing skills that he took the
Falcons to the NFC Championship last year. His #1 *** kisser Steve Young will tell you
he is progressing nicely, but our eyes see otherwise. At some point in his career his
legs and body will not be able to carry him (you are seeing evidence of that right now)
and his arm is going to have to be the difference. That is something Young figured
out, but will Vick?
9- Champ Bailey
It is not Champ’s fault that he is on this list, but the media who in their cliché world
like to throw around phrases that do not really apply anymore. The phrase they have
attached to Bailey is “Shut Down Cornerâ€Â. In today’s NFL there is no such thing as a
shut down corner. The reason why is because the rules are so heavily slanted toward
the offense there is no way that a corner can shut down the opponents top WR. Case
in point in the first Monday night game of the season Philly vs. ATL DeAngelo Hall
covered Terrell Owens most of the game. During the game John Madden and Al
Michaels praised Hall for his ability to shut down Owens. Owens stats from that game,
7 receptions for 112 yards. In the NFL today that is considered shutting a star receiver
down. Bailey is a very good corner, but numerous receivers have torched him over the
last year and a half. I will repeat this till the day that I die that last true shut down
corner was Deion Sanders circa 1991-2000.
8- Ray Lewis
Here is the hypocrisy of the NFL. Ray Lewis was on trial for double murder.
Regardless of the situation, he was around an incident where two people were murder.
To save himself he plea bargains and rats out his associates (they are eventually are
found not guilty). Now if you ask a hundred media personalities who is a better person
Ray Lewis or T.O. I guarantee you 100 would say Lewis. I like Ray Lewis, but he gets a
free pass because he is Ray Lewis. I dread when the Ravens have a Sunday Night
Game on ESPN because I swear their announce team are his children the way they
idolized him. Please don’t mike him because I don’t really take well to sermons. All
these points would be moot if his play on the field matched the praise that he is getting
off the field. It is obvious to anyone who cares to watch that he has lost a step or two
and teams are no longer afraid to run right him. At this point in his career he cannot be
considered one of the 5 best LBs in the game.
7- Brett Favre
When Brett Favre retires an argument could be made that he is one of the
greatest Quarterbacks of all time. In my personal list of greatest QBs he ranks 5th
behind Montana, Marino, Elway and Otto Graham. The truth be told he has made so-
so wide receivers into Pro Bowlers and less than great teams into division champions.
He has won games single handily and has overcome personal tragedy to play the
game at its highest level, but from the time he threw that incomplete pass to Mark
Chumra on 4th down to give Elway his first Super Bowl win he has been the primary
reason they Packers have not made it back to the Super Bowl. It is a catch-22 situation
in the fact that without Favre the Packers would have never been in the position to get
back to the Super Bowl, but that does not excuse the fact that it has been Favre’s
mistakes that have cost them time after time in big games. Favre is one of the
“Untouchables†in the sports media. Peter King wants to have his love child and the
ESPN crew treats him like the Pope (sans Michael Irvin). He was applauding for
interfering in Javon Walker’s contract squabble when all other players who have done
the same thing in the past were chastised. In fairness to Favre he does not seek out
the attention, but the media coverage of the tragedies in his life often overshadow that
other athletes and individuals who deal with these same type of issues everyday.
6 – The Denver Running Back System
Tell me if you have heard this before. “The Denver Broncos could take a guy off
the street and turn him into a thousand yard backâ€Â. If you believe the hype the Denver
Broncos running back scheme reinvented the running game. Of course that would be
false. The Broncos have a very effective running system which is a combination of
zone and cut blocking. They have been in the top 10 in rushing for the last 5 years
and have consistently had a thousand yard back. Unfortunately while effective it is not
ground breaking. Last year for example there were 18 running backs that had more
than 1000 yards in the league. So it would reason that it is not difficult to find a back to
get you a thousand yards. Denver has had two backs Terrell Davis and Clinton Portis
go over 1500 yards. Most would agree that while the Denver system helped them in
getting those yards most would also agree it takes elite back to reach 1500 yards. Last
year only 5 backs broke the 1500-yard mark. The research suggest that the Denver
scheme is only as good as the backs that are in it. An average back will crack 1000
yards, but a great back will be around the 1500-2000 range and that is true of most
RBs in the NFL regardless of what team they are on.
5- Jamal Lewis
When talking about the best backs in the NFL Jamal Lewis name often comes up
and to the life of me I do not why. Actually I do, it is because he had one of the
greatest seasons that a running back has ever had when he ran for 2066 yards in
2003. Alas one season does not make you great. Jamal is a very good running back
that was instrumental in the Ravens winning their first Super Bowl, but since his 2000-
yard campaign he has been average at best. Last year injuries and the feds limited
him to 1006 yards and this year his yards per carry is under 3. Lewis is said to be
upset at the Ravens for not offering him a contract extension after his stint at OZ.
Once again a Ravens player runs afoul of the law (I don’t care if he was innocent or not
it was his decision to take the plea agreement) and expects everyone to act like it didn’t
happen, I sense a theme here. At this moment he looks like a shell of his former self
and if I was a general manager he would not get a dime from me and I would send him
packing.
4- The entire Detroit Offense
Joey Harrington is garbage, Kevin Jones does not run hard all the time, Roy
Williams has the big head, Mike Williams is too slow to separate from DBs and Charles
Rogers would rather hang out with Smokey and Big Worm from the movie “Friday†than
help the team win. Matt Millen is the worst GM in football and he got a contract
extension. In the word of the late great Vince Lombardi “What the hell is going on
around hereâ€Â. It starts with Harrington who is too sensitive to be a quarterback in the
NFL. I can’t get on him too much cause they player picked ahead of him David Carr is
not doing much better. The Lions have about 50 million tied up in these 5 players this
year and they are not getting 50c worth of production. In essence they have a big
mansion with a lot of nice shining things on top of an unstable foundation. The Lions
have never invested in the offensive line, which makes it difficult for the Harrington and
Jones to feel comfortable. The fact is until Millen is fired and Harrington is replaced the
Lions will continue to be the laughing stock of the league.
3- “Mr. Privilege†Chad Pennington
Here is a little secret about Mr. Privilege. He has had 3 good months of football in
his career and those 3 months will net him by the end of this year 22 million dollars.
For the rest of his career he has either been hurt and has been garbage. Their was
talk about him being the next Joe Montana, but it he has been close to Joe Millionaire
seeing that he is a fraud. To put it in perspective his “good†year was when the
Raiders were good and the Patriots were thought to be one hit wonders. He has the
audacity to tell us in the media that it is a privilege to watch him play. No Chad, it is a
privilege to be the first person to view the Britney Spears sex tape or to see the Janet
Jackson sunbathing video (email me for link), but not to watch a QB whose arm is
weaker than Paulie Shore.
2- Roy Williams
A great safety is defined as a player who is a sure tackler and make plays in
coverage. Roy Williams is neither. Even though the talking heads would lead you to
believe that Roy Williams is the best or 2nd best safety in the game the reality is he is
not even in the top 10. There is a big difference between being a “hard†tackler and a
“sure†tackler. Williams is a hard tackler, but the amount of tackles he misses does not
compensate for that. The reason the “Horse Collar†rule is named the “Roy Williamsâ€Â
rule is because when you are missing tackles the last thing you do when someone is
running past you is to grab them from behind. While his tackling is average at best, his
coverage skills are among the worst in the league. He has already been beating by
our count 5 times for plays over 30 yards this year. He has no feel for angles or the
instincts to cover either a 3rd WR or a TE in the slot. His botchery of the cover 2
scheme is one of the main reasons the Cowboys are not undefeated. At this point of
his career a move to linebacker would be an intelligent move. If not he will continue to
be a liability to the Cowboys defense.
1- “Medium†Ben Roethlisberger
The stats will do the talking for me on this one:
AFC Divisional Playoffs: 17-30 181 Yards 1 TD 2 INT (one ran back for a TD)
AFC Championship: 14-24 226 Yards 2 TDs 3 INT (one ran back for a TD)
Steelers vs. Patriots 05 12-28 216 Yards 2 TDs
In the three most important games of his career he has come up anything but
“Bigâ€Â. While others want you to believe the Steelers are winning because of Ben the
truth is they are winning in spite of him. The stat that I normally use to clearly illustrate
my point is that they Steelers ran the ball 62% of the time last year which would make it
easy on any QB especially a rookie whose only job is to make an occasional throw off
play action. The new stat to clearly illustrate my point that Ben is nothing but a place
holder in the Steelers offense is he has only thrown the ball more than 25 times in 3 of
18 starts. The times he has been called upon to win games he has blown them. You
would think after 18 starts he would be comfortable in the pocket, but ask defensive
coordinators and they will tell you he has happy feet and becomes rattled if his first
read is covered. It is more impressive to me when a Carson Palmer, Eli Manning, or
Drew Brees takes a team that is on the downslide and bring them up as oppose to a
QB who is just a caretaker to a team that was already good. On top of that there has
been several published reports that Ben’s ego has gotten bigger than his game. His
refusal to wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle even though that is his decision
shows that he is more about Ben then he is about team. In 10 years when they are
talking about the great QBs that came out in the years 2000-2005 his name will not be
among them and if you do not believe that then you really cannot handle the truth.
