January 22, 2009

The not-so-Super Team: 53 NFL greats that have never been to the championship game. (USA Today)

posted by BoKnows to football at 01:12 AM - 13 comments

The article is lengthy, but you can scroll to the bottom for a list by position.

posted by BoKnows at 01:14 AM on January 22, 2009

I wondered if any Jaguars, who came one game away twice, might make the team. No dice. The best prospects are left tackle Tony Boselli and wideout Jimmy Smith, two five-time pro bowlers who were cornerstones of the teams that reached the AFC championship twice. When Boselli was playing, he shut down Mark Brunell's blind slide as well as any tackle in the game.

posted by rcade at 08:08 AM on January 22, 2009

I know I will receive alot of flack but I question Tomlinson's
greatness. He refuses to play in the preseason, which makes him a slow starter
and he always seems to be hurt for the playoffs. Greatness is a player who is always there and will play hurt in the big games!!

posted by Doehead at 08:21 AM on January 22, 2009

I was happy to see they recognized how great a kicker Jason Hanson has been. He's deserved a better team for his whole career.

posted by apoch at 09:46 AM on January 22, 2009

There are some teams that are too well represented on the list, sorry to see.

Until a few days ago, Edgerrin James would have been on that list, and when he signed with Ariz, no one would have ever thought he would get to the SB from the Cards roster. He was just taking Emmitt's place in the aging RB's graveyard. Who knew?

To complete the "life is unfair" daily double, how about making up a list of the players that got to a title game who were least deserving of the opportunity?

I don't know where you start with that one.

posted by beaverboard at 10:02 AM on January 22, 2009

I wish I had read your first comment in this post, BoKnows, before torturing myself with that awkwardly-formatted — and written — piece.

posted by scully at 10:19 AM on January 22, 2009

Ugh...lots of Lions.

posted by NoMich at 10:57 AM on January 22, 2009

When Boselli was playing, he shut down Mark Brunell's blind slide as well as any tackle in the game.

I thought Brunell was a lefty?

posted by holden at 11:19 AM on January 22, 2009

You beat me to that, holden. I thought Brunell was a lefty as well so how is the left side his blind side?

Regardless, rcade is right on because while Boselli's career ended prematurely with shoulder injuries, he was a monster wall for the Jags in his short time there.

posted by BornIcon at 11:26 AM on January 22, 2009

My bad. I forgot Brunell was a lefty. That's weird ... I wonder why Boselli wasn't on his blind side.

posted by rcade at 11:47 AM on January 22, 2009

I'm no lineman so I don't know if it's not an easy transition to move from left to right tackle. Good question though.

posted by BornIcon at 12:40 PM on January 22, 2009

I read the blurb about Hanson, and the fact that he's never played in a playoff win, and had to look it up, because I coulda swore that he was on the team in 1991. But no, he was drafted in 1992. How sad are the Lions as a franchise, when a 17 year veteran was drafted AFTER their last playoff win?

posted by MeatSaber at 09:17 PM on January 22, 2009

I know I will receive alot of flack but I question Tomlinson's
greatness. He refuses to play in the preseason, which makes him a slow starter
and he always seems to be hurt for the playoffs. Greatness is a player who is always there and will play hurt in the big games!!

I kind of agree with your last point, but I'm going to give you some flack anyway. Tomlinson holds the record for touchdowns in a season, and that record doesn't even include his two passing TDs; plus he was a leading rusher for however many seasons blah blah blah.

I can understand him sitting out the preseason, and I think it might be the coaches call as much as Tomlinson's - there's really been no doubt the last few years that he was the starter - but I do think he could have gotten in there to warm up a bit.

As far as being injured for the postseason, I think he's just getting old, and by the time the rest of the Chargers got good enough to get the team into the playoffs consistently he was at a point where he was getting beat up by the end of the season. I think the Chargers probably had their best opportunity talent-wise a couple years ago, but lacked the maturity and professionalism to beat the Pats in the playoffs and advance. Since then, I think LT might just have lost it. No one can know for certain, but given the quality of their backups, the Chargers might have been better off with him sitting out rather than trying to play injured.

posted by LionIndex at 12:25 AM on January 23, 2009

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