Four Pro Bowlers; The Best Team?
By John White
We start with this – there are four Carolina Panthers headed for Honolulu after the season to play in the Pro Bowl – Julius Peppers and Jordan Gross are starters while Steve Smith and Jon Beason are reserves.
That’s great but I gotta ask one question – Why is DeAngelo Williams not on the roster? Clinton Portis was named as a reserve. That’s great, right? Not so fast!
Williams is only 108 (1337 to 1229) yards behind Portis and has managed that in 67 fewer carries (291 to 224). That means that Williams has a much better average per carry than does the loud mouthed Portis – 5.5 to 4.6. Meanwhile, where it really counts, D-Will has 14 rushing touchdowns while Portis has only 7.
Portis does have 5 more receptions than Williams and 86 more yards but still hasn’t reached the end zone on a reception and Williams has been to the scoring promised land twice.
FINAL STAT: 11 to 7. Carolina has 11 wins and Washington has 7. Therefore, it’s easy to make the argument – and be 100% correct – that Williams has been more valuable to his team than Portis has been to his.
Don’t worry, Clinton. The Panthers will be in the playoffs and you and your head coach will be sitting back home playing games on your Wii systems.
————————————————————————————-
Finally, Justin Tuck might be playing a mind game with our Panthers. He told reporters on Tuesday that he thinks highly of Carolina.
“They really have imposed their will on teams. And they still play great defense and their running game looks superb right now. It kind of looks like our running game early in the year.
“Obviously, that’s where we want to be at. My motto has always been, ‘To be the best, you have to beat the best.’ And right now, Carolina is probably the best team in the NFL. They look that good to me.”
We’ll find out who the better team is on Sunday, Justin. Hang on. The Panthers will arrive soon enough.
Let’s hope Carolina can prove Mr. Tuck right.