Oh please, the guy has little to no impact on a game.. You say he can take a wr away.. Well when a guy like Moss scores 2 touchdowns people will say he wasnt covering him.. Then what good is he if he wont cover the teams best guy.. He doesnt have half the impact Reed or Troy Polamalu has where the quaterback has to identify where they are on the field at all times.. To say hes the best defensive player in the NFL is just silly
He helps tons by shutting down about every teams #1 guy every game. The raiders defense was bad with him last year, but would have been much worse without him. I would say at least part of the reason thier running numbetrs are so bad is because no one wants to throw anywhere near this guy.
Asomugha was thrown at 25 times during the ENTIRE 2008 season. That's less than two times per game. In 2008, the Raiders defense, which is a top ten pass defense in terms of yards allowed, had the least amount of passes completed against them per game (16.6). To say that he has little to no impact on a game is "just silly". Have you ever heard of a matchup problem? Why in the hell would the Patriots want Moss to line up across from Aso all game? Receivers move in and out of the slot to get away from the teams top corner. ...and obviously quarterbacks are looking to find Aso before the play. They see who he's covering and almost automatically assume that wideout isn't going to be open.
Disagreed. This list focuses on individuals not the team. What Asomugha brings to the table is the hardest to replace because he plays his position pretty much perfectly. He gave up 140 yds and 0 TDs all of last season.... That is fucking ridiculous.
Last season alone makes him a candidate for the Hall of Fame. He's the best corner of our generation...yes, even better than Prime Time.
AGAIN, why throw at all against the raiders when the have maybe the worst rush defense in the nfl.. Theres been years the jets been top 10 in pass defense because they couldnt stop anybody on the ground.. That stat has more to do with the raiders unable to stop the run game and always being behind in the 2nd half
If Troy Polamalu went down the steelers would still have one of the 5 best defenses in the league, Aaron Smith means more to that defense than anyone other than Dick LeBeau
Good point. There's never been an irreplaceable CB in the NFL. If the front 7 can do the job you can put David Barrett back there and be ok and if they can't even Deion Sanders won't save you.
There's a difference between 5th and 1st. Think of it like this: Replace Troy Polamalu with our very own Eric Smith...how do the Steelers look now?
i actually can't really disagree with that comment. we're not talking about the "best player in the nfl" but most irreplaceable by their respective team. without peyton, that team is likely bottom 5 in the nfl. with him, they're perennial super bowl contenders. sounds like the definition of irreplaceable to me. i don't put tom brady ahead of him because we've seen that they can still be pretty damn good without him, although maybe not quite as good as they could've been.
If you put a decent starter on the Colts like Matt Schaub or Eli Manning, you wouldn't necessarily get the same results, but that offense would still be incredibly productive. How can it not be? One of the league's best offensive lines, Joseph Addai, Reggie Wayne, Anthony Gonzalez, Dallas Clark, and now Donald Brown. I know that Peyton Manning is the best passer* in the game, but he's not irreplaceable anymore. The Colts will be looking for his replacement in the next couple of seasons - he's 33 years old and his play will start to decline.
The reigning offensive player of the year should be on the list when you consider that his backups are Mark Brunell and Joey Harrington. The Saints would take a big hit if Drew Brees had to miss extended time due to injury. I would also consider Vikings under tackle Kevin Williams. After Albert Hayneworth, Williams has probably been the most dominant interior lineman the past two seasons.
yikes, that's a bit bold considering how dominant he's been over the past, oh 10 years. i can't disagree that schaub or eli wouldn't do a good job, but being the top of your class at such an important position would spell out irreplaceable to me.
last year our defense was only as good as he was. that says everything. also count the fact hes a top 5 interior DL no matter what system hes in. i think its more also about our complete lack of depth. if hes inured, the dropoff in talent is ridiculous. as was shown last year. im a proud owner of a jenkins jersey "lunchbox" is a beast.
You have to dig pretty deep to rationalize an irreplaceable player on a team that does that consistently bad. Same with a team like Detroit, they suck so bad that you just have to pick the best player on the team. But Nnamdi is so good that you can't leave him off the list.
