Peter King: Anthony Spencer = All Pro

[TheRat]

OLB Anthony Spencer, Dallas.
Upset special here. No outside linebacker has been as disruptive when the games were biggest: six sacks, six tackles for loss, 14 quarterback pressures in the last six weeks.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/01/04/awards/index.html#ixzz0bfADjUNh


The other one went to... D-Ware!
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[gmb85]

Go Spencer! Was it him that lost his helmet and still made the play?

 

[Cover 2]

Go Spencer! Was it him that lost his helmet and still made the play?

Hatcher

 

[AbeBeta]

Spencer was a beast yesterday. I was laughing to myself last night about how people were calling him a bust. Jenkins too.

 

[TheSport78]

Spencer was a beast yesterday. I was laughing to myself last night about how people were calling him a bust. Jenkins too.

I gotta eat my crow I was one that said Spencer was too inconsistent to be a starter, and he kind of was at the beginning of the year but he has stepped it up like whoa. I also wanted Scandrick to start; man I don't know if I can finish all this crow. :laugh2:

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Whoa. I didn't expect that. Great look for Spencer. I've been of the belief that if Spencer ever got the sacks down he was just as dominant as Ware is and he's not the pass rusher Ware is but there are some things that Spencer does well that Ware doesn't do as well him. I think Spencer is the better player against the run.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

I gotta eat my crow I was one that said Spencer was too inconsistent to be a starter, and he kind of was at the beginning of the year but he has stepped it up like whoa. I also wanted Scandrick to start; man I don't know if I can finish all this crow. :laugh2:

That's the thing though. Spencer has had a solid season. He just didn't get the pass rush. He didn't have the sacks so it was hard to make a case for a OLB playing good in the 3-4 but didn't have any sacks. That being said he was always solid against the run. Good in coverage.

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

I dont know why you peopke hate on King. Hes all over us this year

 

[RS12]

Spencer was a beast yesterday. I was laughing to myself last night about how people were calling him a bust. Jenkins too.

I came around on Spencer in the GB game, since then he has been lights out. I think the Cowboys best defender since mid-season.

 

[AbeBeta]

I came around on Spencer in the GB game, since then he has been lights out. I think the Cowboys best defender since mid-season.

He was great all year, just not putting up the sack #s.

 

[Future]

He was great all year, just not putting up the sack #s.

/end thread

I'm surprised that he made king's all-pro team though. Is there really no better OLB out there? I find that kinda hard to believe.

 

[Cover 2]

He was great all year, just not putting up the sack #s.

Yeah, I was wrong about Spencer. I was kind of conflicted about it because I remembered Levi Brown and Joe Thomas saying that Spencer was the hardest person they ever had to block in college, so I knew he had to be good.

At the same time though, he wasn't getting any sacks, and usually sacks are a good guage of how much pressure someone gets. So I went with the "he was underperforming" route. If I'm going to be wrong though, I'm glad it was about a player being better than I thought.

At least I got Mike Jenkins right.

 

[gmb85]

Hatcher

I knew it was either Spencer or Hatcher. Still can't put the faces with the names. LOL

 

[AbeBeta]

I knew it was either Spencer or Hatcher. Still can't put the faces with the names. LOL

they do wear numbers.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Good to see more and more people taking notice of Spencer.

 

[casmith07]

Count me among the (few) Zoners that said to be patient with Spencer and that he needed to get used to being a full-time starter instead of a spell OLB.

 

[Jarv]

I had my doubts about Spencer early in the year, although I didn't post them here. Even though I didn't post him I'm still in line for my serving of crow

 

[WoodysGirl]

Other SI Peter King Dallas blurbs

Leaders of the Pack

Dallas (NFC 3 seed). Cowboys are classic hot team at the right time, with a mature quarterback, Romo, and a bookend pass-rush team, Anthony Spencer and DeMarcus Ware, that's bordering on Freeney/Mathis in its impact this season. Shutting out the Eagles Sunday and holding DeSean Jackson to 62 rushing/receiving/returning yards, Dallas made me think it's ready for prime time. No big injuries either. Cowboys will be a very tough out.

The Fine Fifteen

1. San Diego (13-3). It isn't like you get anything for finishing the regular season atop the Fine 15, but the Chargers are playing the best of any team in football as the second season begins.

2. Indianapolis (14-2). Watching Curtis Painter, you can see why everyone in the Indy organization is so paranoid about Peyton Manning getting hurt.

3. Dallas (11-5). No team in football wants to play the Cowboys right now, not after they've knocked New Orleans from the ranks of the unbeaten and shut out two straight division foes.

4. Green Bay (11-5). I can almost say the same thing about Green Bay as I said about Dallas. Past three games: 36, 48, 33 points. Arizona's wary.

5. Minnesota (12-4). Vikes needed that. Big. And with seven touchdown passes in the past six Minnesota quarters, Favre has put the Favre-can't-play-in-December stuff to rest.

6. Philadelphia (11-5). Well, they used to have the most exciting offense in football.

7. New Orleans (13-3). Think of this: The Saints will take the field for their first playoff game having not played a very good game in 47 days.

8. New England (10-6). How amazing is it that Matt Cassel won 11 games last year and didn't make the playoffs, and Brady won 10 this year and did?

9. Arizona (10-6). Totally meaningless game for the Cards, because they could gain nothing and lose nothing by the time the Vikings won. I wouldn't read much into the Cards playing vanilla and getting rolled over.

10. Cincinnati (10-6). "I don't know what's going on with these Bengals,'' Cris Collinsworth said on the NBC game last night. Go figure an offense with all starters except for Cedric Benson playing, and looking so bad that it was 27-0 by the half.

11. Pittsburgh (9-7). What a weird, weird season. The Steelers need two things above all: a retooling of the offensive line and some way to keep Troy Polamalu healthy for 16 weeks.

12. Baltimore (9-7). Well, the Ravens survived. Now they have to travel to Foxboro and play a suddenly vulnerable Pats team, though New England hasn't lost at home this season.

13. New York Jets (9-7). Not sure where to put the Jets, but that was such a dominating performance, and the Jets look like they can run on anyone now.

14. Carolina (8-8). My favorite player in the past month? Well, other than Jerome Harrison and Romo, it'd have to be Julius Peppers. He made a tremendously athletic interception to cap the Panthers' win over New Orleans. Watch the video. It's one of those circus kind of catches that you wonder how it ever happened.

15. Houston (9-7). The Texans finally won a big game they needed to win ... and probably ensured Gary Kubiak will come back in 2010.


Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/01/03/mmqb/2.html#ixzz0bfHdm6Gm
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[alancdc]

I gotta eat my crow I was one that said Spencer was too inconsistent to be a starter, and he kind of was at the beginning of the year but he has stepped it up like whoa. I also wanted Scandrick to start; man I don't know if I can finish all this crow. :laugh2:

Hot sauce and some cajun seasoning will help!

 

[Hoofbite]

Spencer was a beast yesterday. I was laughing to myself last night about how people were calling him a bust. Jenkins too.

That a scary thought to think of a person in front of their computer screen laughing like a maniac.