bill and tom's excellent adventure
(the only draft that matters)
((to us))
(((part four)))


day four: defensive line

i don't want to say that i'm giddy over my first three selections, but let me say this. after three rounds, team bill has taken arguably the best offensive player ever and arguably the best defensive player ever off the board in rice and lt. team tom, on the other hand, has taken a guy that can't tackle and a white guy. granted, these are rather superficial observations, but i'm afraid i currently have the upper hand, no?

today, we stay on the defensive side of the ball and get deep into the trenches with our first defensive lineman selection.

given how much publicity my church gets on the blog, it makes total sense that i should have a "minister of defense" on my squad.

i'll take reggie white.

"country strong". i am not sure i had ever heard that term before i heard it directed toward white. what a great term. ndamukong suh, in the present nfl, is the only guy that currently comes close to doing to offensive lineman what i remember seeing white do to offensive linemen. white had this "club" move that he'd use on guys where he'd position himself in a way to get his right arm under a guard or tackle's left shoulder and he'd just throw him, literally toss aside another 300 lb. human being, away from the proceedings on his way into the backfield. it was unreal.

on his way to the hall of fame, white made 13 pro bowl teams and 10 first-team all pro teams. he won 2 defensive player of the year awards from the d-line. and he was named to the all-80's and all-90's all-decade teams. he was also rated the #7 player of all time by nfl.com.

whaddya think, tom?

chris: I am going to leave the "white guy" comment alone. My team will speak for itself when this is all said and done. As my first Defensive Lineman, I will select Bruce Smith. See stats below:



112 Tackles for Loss
200 Sacks - 2 more than Reggie
46 Forced Fumbles
15 Fumble Recoveries
2XNFL Def Player of the Year
4XAFC Def Player of the Year
11 Pro Bowls
12x All Pro
1987 Pro Bowl MVP
1980's All Decade Team
1990's All Decade Team

sorry. i meant to say "white guy that doesn't play quarterback or offensive line".

solid pick. in the 4-3, i don't know if i can discredit this selection without my tongue firmly planted in my cheek.

two things, though, that i will say since these two guys are standing next to each other on our draft podium. to your stat of his 200 sacks being 2 more than reggie, let's also acknowledge that those 2 sacks came in forty-seven more games played. it's probably unfair to compare them in that way, since white was more of a tackle and bruce smith a more traditional rush end, but it was bruce smith's primary job to rush the passer, and, per game, reggie still did it better than he did.

also, you could run at bruce smith. in fact, teams purposefully ran at bruce smith because his tendency was to fire upfield leaving massive running lanes on his side of the line. on the other hand, teams ran away from reggie white. his ability to swat linemen away at will was too disruptive to consistently run in his direction.

bruce smith was a great defensive end, a hall of famer for sure. reggie white was a freak.

another note. i sold reggie white short in my first blurb. he actually won three defensive players of the year, one more than bruce.

chris: Jesus Christ.......I never said Reggie wasn't good. You got the first pick, I took the second best pass rusher out there.

(ed: that sounds like another concession. i'll take it.)