PFW annual player rankings and predictions.

[windward]

Who led the NFL in TDs? TO. And for that he is only 13? BS.

First of all, he didn't lead the NFL in TDs. Secondly, he also led the NFL in drops. He led the NFL in distractions. At times he was a very good player -- great even. Other times he was a non-factor. On the whole, it was very clear that TO was not the difference-making player he was at previous stops. He rarely dominated games.

And understand that a 13th ranking out of 64 starting WRs isn't terrible. TO is a very good, at times great, starting WR in the NFL. This ranking acknowledges that fact.

Vick better then Romo? MORONIC.

Maybe. Maybe not. Fact is no QB should be ranked in the top tier after 10 starts.

Sean Taylor over Roy after LAST year? IDIOTIC.

Newsflash: ROY didn't have a good year. His flaws against the pass are obvious. Again he is still ranked very high despite those obvious flaws.

A Pro Bowl punter and solid FG man and we have a C at ST? DUMB.

"Solid FG man?" What? Grammatica was on the street when he was signed. For a reason. He failed at several stops before having an OK few game stretch with Dallas. He's not secure by any means. Dallas drafted a kicker for a reason.

Dallas has no juice at all from its return game, question marks (again) at kicker. Pretty decent coverage units and the best punter in the game. PFW are tough graders across the board so a C is not unreasonable at all.

15 better LTs then the Hotel? Who wrote this- Forrest Gump?

I would agree Flo is probably in the top 12. He should be up a couple spots. A minor issue. He isn't a great LT anymore.

Anyone who cannot realize that most of this is totally wrong knows NOTHING about Football.

More likely, the fans who are crying about these rankings are ridiculous homers.

The reason Grammatica struggled for a few years prior to 06 was due to aleg in jury He had an excellent camp that normally would have secured a player a starting spot with the Pats (who elected to go with the younger Gostkowski,an up an coming klicker in his own right) Whent the Cowboys picked up Grammatica, he went 7-9 and was automatic inside 40. (Not to mention his clutch game winner against the Giants.)

 

[Vintage]

IIRC, Sean Taylor led the league in TD's given up and missed tackles.

Thought that AdamJT13 had posted that once upon a time or it was in an article.

I am not claiming Roy was perfect last year.

But thank God he wasn't Sean Taylor last year.

 

[HanfordDixon]

frankly hanford, you are wrong. Sean Taylor ranked 3 spots higher then Roy.
And you think that is not totally screwed up? That makes Sean Taylor a top 5 Safety. After LAST YEAR?

I don't know what kind of game-to-game season Taylor had so I can't comment on that one. Judging by their reputation and how well these rankings are for the most part and always are by PFW, I trust their process a lot more than I do biased Commander-hating, Dallas homer fans.

Romo has shown more in 10 games then Vick has in 6 years.


[SIZE=+0]Well, actually he hasn't. I love Tony, but not even close. Vick has been to multiple Pro Bowls, became the first QB to rush for 1,000 yards, led his team to a Championship Game and spent six years as one of the most exciting playmakers in the NFL. Now does that mean he's a top 10 QB? Probably not. He certainly has a lot of well-decumented flaws as well.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0]It is nearly impossible to compare Romo to Vick. Not only does Romo have but 10 games under his belt, but Vick is the most unusual QB in the league.

PFW does its best to compare them anyway and for the record, they receive the exact same rating. I would take Tony over Vick, inexperience and all, but that doesn't mean this ranking is out of whack at all. Vick has accomplished things in this league. Tony has 10 games. Seems fair to rate them equal.

As regards ST, obviously your lack of research shows. Check stats as regards KR and PR. Gramatica was up there as regards accuracy. WIth a Pro Bowl punter, and the other facts YOU need to look up maybe you will get the picture.

[SIZE=+0]Maybe you should check the facts yourself before telling someone else to do the same. Grammatica wasn't "up there in accuracy." Yeah, he made a game-winning kick and that was huge. But he played five ******* games and hit 6-8. That 75% average would top only 6 kickers in the entire NFL.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0]Grammatica was dumped by Tampa Bay, New England and Indy before getting a chance in Dallas. He hit 75% of FGs in five games -- good for 26th in the league percentagewise -- and you people think Dallas is solid at kicker. C'mon.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]
Dallas was in the bottom third of the league in punt returns. They were pretty good in kick returns. All in all, an average group with a lot of room for improvement.

I am no fan of TO, but if you cannot see how bad that ranking is then you are totally lost. TO is at worst a top 10 WR. Leading THE NFL in TDs in RECEPTIONS is a very significant stat.

Actually it just means I'm not a homer. Yes, TD receptions was an area he excelled. How many were meaningful? Owens piled up a lot of garbage stats last year. Many of his TDs came in blowout games against inferior teams -- 4 against Houston and TB alone -- or in games that Dallas was blown out.

He had as many significant, huge drops as he did clutch TD receptions. That is what you are missing. A great player must play great. It's that simple.

TO is a very good player who had a very good year.

If you still think its off-base, just look at the players and coaches who vote the Pro Bowl. Owens wasn't in that game for a reason. He didn't have a great year, regardless of the stats.[/SIZE][/SIZE]

 

[HanfordDixon]

The reason Grammatica struggled for a few years prior to 06 was due to aleg in jury He had an excellent camp that normally would have secured a player a starting spot with the Pats (who elected to go with the younger Gostkowski,an up an coming klicker in his own right) Whent the Cowboys picked up Grammatica, he went 7-9 and was automatic inside 40. (Not to mention his clutch game winner against the Giants.)


Woulda, coulda, injured... All well and good and I hope he is the answer. I truly do. But until he has at least one good year in a row, he is what he is for ranking purposes.

He's an out-of-work kicker who was dumped by three teams before getting a five-game trial with Dallas -- during which he performed well enough to earn an invitation to compete for the job this year against a drafted kicker.

That's really all he is. And kicking is the most important part of special teams. It is the main area that can win you games or lose you games. So it is easy to understand why being unsettled at kicker brings down Dallas' overall grade.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

How in God's name can you throw numbers out the window when ranking players?

stats are meaningless, DUH!

 

[HanfordDixon]

I would disagree.

Stats are not meaningless. TO had one very big stat that kept his ranking down and kept him out of the Pro Bowl. He led the league in dropped passes and some of them were very crucial, high-profile drops.

Hopefully he can correct that problem and return with a vengeance.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Buschbaum died and since then you can tell less research and more hype and opinion went into thesethan anything Joel ever did.

Sean Taylor did indeed miss the most tackles of any player in the NFL, gave up the most TDs and had the honor of being the best player on the worst pass defense in the league.

And Hanford he rated TO where he did because of the off the field issues and not the dropped passes that you keep crowing about.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Stats are not meaningless. TO had one very big stat that kept his ranking down and kept him out of the Pro Bowl. He led the league in dropped passes and some of them were very crucial, high-profile drops.

Every WR has drops. Even if the best WR's in the game had half as many drops as TO that would mean TO had only 8 more drops for the season. That is one more drop for every 2 games played. BP and Zimmers idiotic defensive schemes cost us more games than any one extra drop for every 2 games played.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Would someone be kind enough to list the wide-receivers that they rated higher than TO?

Thanks...

 

[Alexander]

Every WR has drops. Even if the best WR's in the game had half as many drops as TO that would mean TO had only 8 more drops for the season. That is one more drop for every 2 games played. BP and Zimmers idiotic defensive schemes cost us more games than any one extra drop for every 2 games played.

The Commanders drop did for all intents and purposes caused us to lose.

But each and every drop thereafter was overmagnified and made out to be worse than it was.

He pretty much won us the Atlanta game, so he's at worst even.

 

[HanfordDixon]

Every WR has drops. Even if the best WR's in the game had half as many drops as TO that would mean TO had only 8 more drops for the season. That is one more drop for every 2 games played.

yeah and every WR scores TDs. But TO had the most drops in the league -- and some very high profile drops on national TV. One dropped bomb that directly cost Dallas a key game.

You guys want to know why Owens is ranked 13th, it's because of the drops, the distractions, the obvious decline and the injury concerns.

Lots of reasons.

I have to add once again that 13th is GOOD. 13th is high. PFW is saying Terrell Owens is a very good WR. Sometimes great.

 

[HanfordDixon]

Would someone be kind enough to list the wide-receivers that they rated higher than TO?

Thanks...

The order is wrong, but pretty close:

1. Chad Johnson
2. Harrison
3. Wayne
4. Holt
5. Steve Smith
6. Javon Walker
7. Boldin
8. Fitzgerald
9. Andre Johnson
10. Roy Williams
11. Lee Evans
12. Driver
13. TO
14. S. Moss

 

[HanfordDixon]

I would not trade Owens for Driver.

I really think TO should be above Driver.

Otherwise, I would trade him for any of the others.

 

[dallasfan]

A game changer scores TOUCHDOWNS!

TO and MBIII should be at the TOP. OMG what a stupid article.

I like Barber, but how high do you want to rank a guy who isn't even a starter?

 

[big dog cowboy]

He pretty much won us the Atlanta game

One dropped bomb that directly cost Dallas a key game.

TO's drops are overrated.

 

[HanfordDixon]

I don't think so. A WR's main job is to catch the ball. I believe TO had roughly 16 drops. One drop that surely cost Dallas a victory.

82 catches; 16 drops.

Not a good percentage.

 

[yazzmode621]

can someone with the mag post the Commanders info?

 

[Stash]

Javon Walker's tremendous over-ranking tells you all you need to know.

Less catches, less yards, a lot less TD's and he's somehow ranked at #7 - 6 spots above Owens.



I can pick out a ton of ranking blunders that have nothing to do with Owens as well.

 

[burmafrd]

Of course a redstink fan ( and it is clear that for all his protests Hanford is one) would be trying to downgrade any Cowboy player he can. TO is at worst a top 10 WR. Johnson, Williams, Driver and Evans are NOT better then TO. They might have had one or so better years, but as WRs go look around and ask coaches (leaving out the off field issues) if you had to go into a big game now which of those players would you choose over a HEALTHY (hanford keeps convienently forgetting his injury) TO for a big game.
Vick has had less great games in 6 years then Romo had last season.
Grammatica has shown himself when healthy (oncd again something the redstink deliberately does not mention) to be a top 10 kicker. He makes pressure kicks- which is even more important then percentage.
Dallas was near the top of the league in KR; top of the league in Punting; and their coverage teams were better then C as well. So all together they clearly were much above a C rating.

 

[HanfordDixon]

Javon Walker's tremendous over-ranking tells you all you need to know.

Less catches, less yards, a lot less TD's and he's somehow ranked at #7 - 6 spots above Owens.

You're not looking at the entire picture. I's really very simple. PFW has very clear criteria for ranking players and TO fell at No. 13 by that system. If you don't sgree with the system used, that's fine, but it's a very fair system. The best out there IMO.

Walker is 28 years old -- in his prime. He's a 6-3, 209-pound WR who had 89 catches for 1382 yards and 12 TDs in 2004. He had 67-1080-8 last year and should be back to full strength at the prime of his career.

He averages nearly 16 yards a catch and is one of the very best big-play WRs in the game. In short, he's in his prime (TO is in decline), averages 15.5 a catch (TO is at 13.5) and isn't a distraction to the team.

I wouls trade TO for Walker in a heartbeat.