All-Time Texans Team – Defense – MLB
Jul 22, 2008 All-Time Texans, Awesomeness, DeMeco Ryans
I thought about avoiding this one until the very end. Not for the sake of suspense, mind you, but because it is difficult as hell and that difficulty is totally different than choosing the least-smelly turd at each safety position. I mean, you have two candidates who played in entirely different systems, but both of whom looked like the best defensive player on his team nearly every snap.
Damn.
Double damn.
OK…deep breath…obviously, the two candidates are:
Jamie Sharper
DeMeco Ryans
What is there to say here? Sharper gave us 441 tackles, 11.5 sacks, 12 passes defended, and 6 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 0 INTs and a TD in three seasons. Ryans has given us 284 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 14 passes defended, 3 forced fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries, 2 INTs, and a TD in two seasons.
I’m not going to lie; I was tempted to cheat and do two separate posts, one for ILB and one for MLB, and use the excuse that it was a different position altogether. But that would make me a namby-pamby pussy. So, instead, I forge ahead and choose…
umm…
DeMeco Ryans. By a hair.
Here’s the reasoning: Sharper was the RILB in a 3-4 that never featured a human being that could even pass for a NT, meaning that more or less every running play came right at him. Of course, the counter-argument is that the lack of NT meant that there was more potential for an O-lineman to get to the second level and block him. I’ll concede that, but raise you the fact that DeMeco hasn’t exactly had a murder’s row of DT talent in front of him (save for Amobi for about 12 games), and has faced a similar obstacle. However, due to the nature of the 4-3, plays are not funneled to DeMeco as readily and he has to use his impressive sideline-to-sideline speed to make plays. THAT is why he stands out when you watch the game–he literally is everywhere. Sharper, while very good, did not have to do that much side-to-side work.
Add to that DeMeco’s better play in pass defense and give him one bonus point for knocking the holy goddamned fuck out of Kerry Collins and scoring his first career TD at my first live Texans game and DeMeco wins. I expect, as time passes, the discussion won’t even be quite so tight.
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July 22nd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Yeah I agree with you Matt. For the first three years of the franchise I remember watching the defense (because the offense never really stayed on the field too long) playing and seeing sharper play after play. I mean you really dont see him coming until he makes the tackle. But with Demeco he’s everywhere on the field! Its amazing to watch the game live and seeing Demeco flying everywhere. I vote for Ryans. Hands down.
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July 22nd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
LOL – the first thing I thought of when I read the headline of this story was that ass-kicking DeMeco dropped on Kerry Collins. I love it when defensive players single-handedly wreck a play, and end up scoring the ball on their own. Sack, forced fumble, recovered fumble, touchdown. POW MOTHAFUCKA!!
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July 22nd, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I think in this situation you have to decide if both players switched places, would one of them be more dominant in the others place? I dont think sharper could anchor the current Defense and IMO Demeco would have had Pro Bowl stats during sharpers run. Remember Sharper’s defenses were on the field a higher percentage of the time than the current group due to offensive ineptitude. Ideas?
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July 23rd, 2008 at 8:58 am
@Txnpwrlifter: Agreed, and a nice way to think about the comparison.
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July 26th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Demeco if you have to do MLB only. I actually don ‘t think it’s a copout to just say “LB” and choose 3 of them. Sharper not being on the all time team is a travashamockery