If American Football Was An Olympic Sport - Your Squad

Paully D

Bare with me

Seen this idea on another forum and thought it would be interesting to put on here.

Here's the deal:

If American Football was an Olympic sport, say like basketball, who would you have in your squad?

Rule: Must have 53 players (any number at each position as long as every non-special teams slot has at least one backup).

My squad:

Offence:

QB: Tom Brady, Backups: Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees
RB: Adrian Peterson, Backups: Maurice Jones-Drew, Ray Rice
WR: Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitz, Andre Johnson, Backups: AJ Green, Roddy White, Hakeem Nicks
TE: Rob Gronkowski, Backups: Jimmy Graham, Tony Gonzales
LT: Jake Long, Backup: Joe Thomas
LG: Carl Nicks, Backup: Ben Grubbs
OC: Nick Mangold, Backup: Jeff Saturday
RG: Marshal Yanda, Backup: Jahri Evans
RT: Eric Winston, Backup: Tyson Clabo

Defense:

DE: Jason Pierre-Paul, Jared Allen, Backups: Elvis Dumerville, Trent Cole
DT: Ndamukong Suh, Haloti Ngata, Backups: BJ Raji, Vincent Wilfork
OLB: DeMarcus Ware, Terrell Suggs, Backups: James Harrison, Tamba Hali
MLB: Ray Lewis, Backups: Patrick Willis, London Fletcher
CB: Darelle Revis, Patrick Peterson, Ndamhi Asamough, Backups: Brandon Flowers, Champ Bailey
S: Ed Reed, Troy Polamaulu, Backups: Adrian Wilson, Nick Collins

Special Teams:

K: Sebastian Janakowski
P: Andy Lee
KR/PR: Devin Hester

davyjose

No peyton? Really?

davyjose

Or Chris Johnson?

matthew8

davyjose wrote: »

Or Chris Johnson?

After last season the argument isn't whether he's top 3, it's whether he's top 10. Lots of Ravens bias there Paully, Yanda and Lewis wouldn't be near my team

eagle eye

Offence:

QB: Tom Brady Backups: Tebow, Tebow
RB: Tebow, Tebow Backups: Tebow, Tebow
WR: Tebow, Tebow, Tebow Backups: Tebow, Tebow
TE:Tebow Backups: Tebow
LT: Tebow Backup: Tebow
LG: Tebow Backup: Tebow
OC: Tebow Backup: Tebow
RG: Tebow Backup: Tebow
RT: Tebow Backup: Tebow

Defense:

DE: Tebow, Tebow Backups: Tebow, Tebow
DT: Tebow, Tebow, Backups: Tebow, Tebow
OLB: Tebow, Tebow Backups: Tebow, Tebow
MLB: Tebow Backups: Tebow, Tebow
CB: Tebow, Tebow, Tebow Backups: Tebow, Tebow
S: Tebow, Tebow Backups: Tebow, Tebow

Special Teams:

K: Tebow
P: Tebow
KR/PR: Tebow

Donnelly117

davyjose wrote: »

Or Chris Johnson?

seriously? i could think of at least 10 backs id pick over CJ.

eagle eye

Donnelly117 wrote: »

seriously? i could think of at least 10 backs id pick over CJ.

Really? How many others do you know that have four straight seasons over 1k yards and have averaged over 1400 yards per season?

matthew8

eagle eye wrote: »

Really? How many others do you know that have four straight seasons over 1k yards and have averaged over 1400 yards per season?

I prefer Foster, MJD, Rice, Peterson, Forte, McFadden, Charles, Mendenhall, Jackson, Gore, Jackson, McCoy, Murray, Turner and Sproles, and that's when I'm not counting the borderline guys.

eagle eye

matthew8 wrote: »

I prefer Foster, MJD, Rice, Peterson, Forte, McFadden, Charles, Mendenhall, Jackson, Gore, Jackson, McCoy, Murray, Turner and Sproles, and that's when I'm not counting the borderline guys.

Lol Murray? Based on how many games? And you have Jackson twice there. And putting Mendenhall in there is ludicrous. I wouldn't have McCoy or Forte anywhere near his class and McFadden is wonderful when he is not injured which is a hell of a lot of the time.

I'm not saying Johnson is the best but you can't just pick last season and base everything on that. Over the course of the last four seasons he is undoubtedly top 5.

eagle eye

eagle eye wrote: »

Really? How many others do you know that have four straight seasons over 1k yards and have averaged over 1400 yards per season?

and brett farve threw for over 3000 yards for 18 years but im not bringing him

matthew8

eagle eye wrote: »

Lol Murray? Based on how many games?

I'm not saying Johnson is the best but you can't just pick last season and base everything on that. Over the course of the last four seasons he is undoubtedly top 5.

It's running back though. I saw him last year, infact I noticed it the year before too, Chris Johnson is no longer CJ2K. He's lost "it" imo. And once a running back looks bad the last 3 seasons are forgotten. I would count Murray because he's an up and coming star who succeeded where Felix Jones couldn't. He can catch passes out of the backfield too and he has a good work ethic, he took his big chance really well.

For me, Chris Johnson is now a RB who can succeed and have great games against terrible run defenses, but not much else. I looked at him last year and that's what I saw.

Donnelly117

Off the top of my head Adrian Peterson (would have easily beaten 1000 yds without his injury) and is a far better back then CJ. Id also pick Frank Gore, Maurice Jones Drew, Stephen Jackson, Ray Rice, Arian Foster over him. CJ had a shocking season last year due to being lazy, cant even get the guy to throw a block...

ReacherCreature

The lists seems very contemporary and based on form i.e the most recent season. There's a lot of running backs you'd take above Johnson based on what they've most recently produced. If the Olympics was in the morning and based on how the players have been would you take Johnson? You'd take him based on his career but I doubt you would otherwise.

davyjose

Cj and manning make it on any and every 53 man squad there is. Anything else is controversy.

Unless of course theyre hurt. But neither are. Adrian Peterson, on the other hand...

davyjose

CJ reminds me of Moss. Phones it in when not arsed, but on their day awesome.

Paully D

Davy, with regards to Manning, I've only started watching the sport properly last season and therefore literally have never even seen Manning take a live snap. Perhaps he should be there, but I don't think I should include someone I've never even seen play a live game, especially when there's 3 top quality QB's available anyway.

Of course there's Ravens bias there Matthew, and for good reason :pac:

Get your squads posted all!

Donnelly117

davyjose wrote: »

Cj and manning make it on any and every 53 man squad there is. Anything else is controversy.

Unless of course theyre hurt. But neither are. Adrian Peterson, on the other hand...

If I was picking a team to play in the morning, CJ would be no where near it... The point of the thread was to pick a team to play the olympics, so a players current form is whats important...CJ's current form is average at best. Id pick a running back that had a good season this year (McCoy, Rice, MJD, Foster) not one that racked up 2000 yds a few years ago.
As for manning, again on current form I would not pick him over Brady, Rodger or Brees. One big hit could end his career...

mjd would tear it up with a good qb

ReacherCreature

davyjose wrote: »

Cj and manning make it on any and every 53 man squad there is. Anything else is controversy.

Unless of course theyre hurt. But neither are. Adrian Peterson, on the other hand...

Taking an event from Peterson's season but ignoring the same thing for Johnson. It's illogical.

ReacherCreature

Kimber Teeny Pea wrote: »

mjd would tear it up with a good qb

MJD had 1600-odd yards with Blaine Gabbert as QB last year...if he had Brady, Brees etc., he'd hit 3000!

eagle eye

ReacherCreature wrote: »

Taking an event from Peterson's season but ignoring the same thing for Johnson. It's illogical.

Do you guys know anything? Adrian Peterson is injured, thats what Davyjose was saying.

ReacherCreature

eagle eye wrote: »

Do you guys know anything? Adrian Peterson is injured, thats what Davyjose was saying.

Eh.

Peterson is injured as of now.

Johnson is relatively, statistically, and comparatively poor as of now and the most recent season.

Even though he'd bust out a 1k season, there are better running backs on form.

eagle eye

ReacherCreature wrote: »

Eh.

Peterson is injured as of now.

Johnson is relatively, statistically, and comparatively poor as of now and the most recent season.

Even though he'd bust out a 1k season, there are better running backs on form.

Its not just an event from Peterson's season, its an ongoing issue.

On Johnson, it wasn't his best season by any stretch but everybody has a lesser season at some stage. To still have 1k yards and for people to say it was a bad season shows just how good the guy is.

ReacherCreature

And Johnson's slump is an ongoing issue until he bounces back...

This is getting tedious.

eagle eye

ReacherCreature wrote: »

And Johnson's slump is an ongoing issue until he bounces back...

This is getting tedious.

Yeah whats tediious is that you call a 1k season a slump.

davyjose

ReacherCreature wrote: »

Eh.

Peterson is injured as of now.

Johnson is relatively, statistically, and comparatively poor as of now and the most recent season.

Even though he'd bust out a 1k season, there are better running backs on form.

he's rehabbing a torn acl. Regardless of recent form, cj is in better shape as a rb. Right now. Thanks eagle for spelling it out. Didnt think that would be necessary.
TBH id have AP as my starter and CJ and Jones Drew behind. Everyone else is light years behind.

davyjose

Paully D wrote: »

Davy, with regards to Manning, I've only started watching the sport properly last season and therefore literally have never even seen Manning take a live snap. Perhaps he should be there, but I don't think I should include someone I've never even seen play a live game, especially when there's 3 top quality QB's available anyway.

no perhaps about it. Ah hopefully youll see next season.

He might even make your 2016 team

Syferus

davyjose wrote: »

he's rehabbing a torn acl. Regardless of recent form, cj is in better shape as a rb. Right now. Thanks eagle for spelling it out. Didnt think that would be necessary.
TBH id have AP as my starter and CJ and Jones Drew behind. Everyone else is light years behind.

Arian Foster and Matt Forte are very much as good as any of them right now.

davyjose

eagle eye wrote: »

Yeah whats tediious is that you call a 1k season a slump.

People are comparing him to his own crazily high standards and not even realising it.

davyjose

I can see the argument, in fairness. But leaving a 2000 yard running back off your team is a bold decision.

matthew8

eagle eye wrote: »

Yeah whats tediious is that you call a 1k season a slump.

Did you see him last year? He played a bunch of absolutely awful run defenses but when he wasn't playing against awful run defenses he was awful. Worse than a lot of backup running backs. And if you get 260 carries it's expected you can get 1000 whoever you are.

eagle eye

matthew8 wrote: »

Did you see him last year? He played a bunch of absolutely awful run defenses but when he wasn't playing against awful run defenses he was awful. Worse than a lot of backup running backs. And if you get 260 carries it's expected you can get 1000 whoever you are.

The Titans offensive interior was shocking last year, they've already signed Steve Hutchinson and I'd expect them to do more work to improve that area. There was no room up the middle for Chris Johnson to run, somehow he still managed to pick up 1k yards after an abysmal start to the season. He averaged 4.4 ypc from week 4 onwards.

As said by davyjose, he is being compared to the ridiculous standard he set for himself. Adrian Peterson for me is the best back in the league, in 2009 when Johnson had his 2k year there were people saying that CJ was the best back in the league and I was told I was wrong about AP. I still see AP as no.1, MJD is no.2 for me and CJ is next.

People get carried away by one season, be it a good or a not so good one, and these days its all now, now, now with a lot of people and whats even worse is fantasy football seems to have a major bearing on the way some people think about who is good and who is not.

HigginsJ

Team Ireland:

QB: ROG, Sexton, Rory Best
HB: Brian O'Driscoll, Keith Earls, Gooch (Darren Sproles role)
FB: Richard Dunne
WR: Shane Horgan, Tommy Bowe, Paul Hession, David Gillick
TE: Kieran Donaghy, Benny Coulter, Paul O'Connell
OT: Donnacha O'Callaghan, Cian Healy, Matthew Macklin, Andy Lee
OG: Mike Ross, Jamie Heaslip, Donncha Ryan, Rhys Ruddock
C: Seamus (WWE),

DT: Tony Buckley,
DE: Stephen Ferris, John O'Shea, Tadgh Kennelly, Tommy Walsh

LB: Sean O'Brien, Bryan Cullen, Paul Galvin, Darran O'Sullivan

CB: Karl Lacey, Marc O'Se, Paddy Barnes, Michael Foley,

FS: Setanta O'Hailpin, Sean Og O'Hailpin

SS: Graham Canty, Andrew Trimble

K: Stephen Cluxton

P: Rob Kearney

Spongey1975

HigginsJ wrote: »

Team Ireland:

QB: ROG, Sexton, Rory Best
HB: Brian O'Driscoll, Keith Earls, Gooch (Darren Sproles role)
FB: Richard Dunne
WR: Shane Horgan, Tommy Bowe, Paul Hession, David Gillick
TE: Kieran Donaghy, Benny Coulter, Paul O'Connell
OT: Donnacha O'Callaghan, Cian Healy, Matthew Macklin, Andy Lee
OG: Mike Ross, Jamie Heaslip, Donncha Ryan, Rhys Ruddock
C: Seamus (WWE),

DT: Tony Buckley,
DE: Stephen Ferris, John O'Shea, Tadgh Kennelly, Tommy Walsh

LB: Sean O'Brien, Bryan Cullen, Paul Galvin, Darran O'Sullivan

CB: Karl Lacey, Marc O'Se, Paddy Barnes, Michael Foley,

FS: Setanta O'Hailpin, Sean Og O'Hailpin

SS: Graham Canty, Andrew Trimble

K: Stephen Cluxton

P: Rob Kearney

Could possibly run the USA team close but the numerous personal fouls called on Sheamus would cost Ireland dear (sorry ref i didnt know you couldn't kick people in the head, oops )

At least we'd get a silver medal

UCD AFC

I would send the best college students from the previous year for Team USA, just to make it more interesting, only have time to start off my selections now, probably finish it later


QB : Andrew Luck ; RGIII & Tannehill
HB : Trent Richardson ; Lamar Miller & LaMichael James
FB : Evan Rodriguez ; Chad Diehl
WR : Justin Blackmon, Alshon Jeffery, Michael Floyd, Kendall Wright, Mohamed Sanu, Rueben Randle.
TE: Dwayne Allen ; Coby Fleener

Syferus

I can just imagine Rory Best dropping back into the pocket, two hands and ball behind his head lofting up a deep pass for Tommy on the outside. What a beautiful image.

At least he'd be hard to sack.

Happy Monday

Eli Manning anyone?
And I am a Patriots fan!
Respect to this man.

Donnelly117

Happy Monday wrote: »

Eli Manning anyone?
And I am a Patriots fan!
Respect to this man.

Dont see Eli out performing Brady, Rodgers or Brees thb...

Syferus

Donnelly117 wrote: »

Dont see Eli out performing Brady, Rodgers or Brees thb...

I do.

Indeed he's done it to Brady on the only stage that matters twice and went to Rodgers' house and did it too so that's a pretty ridiculous thing to say.

matthew8

Syferus wrote: »

I do.

Indeed he's done it to Brady on the only stage that matters twice and went to Rodgers' house and did it too so that's a pretty ridiculous thing to say.

The superbowl is not the only stage that matters, and infact I think Brady played better than him in their most recent meeting, but he wasn't the one who was given the chance at a game-ending drive with a couple minutes on the clock.

JaMarcus Hustle

The idea of the thread is that Eli and Brady would have the exact same players around them. Given that, I'd pick Brady without a moments hesitation.

matthew8

My team, most of the choices come straight from the OP because I'm not bothered spending a long time.

Offence:

QB: Peyton Manning Backups: Tom Brady, Drew Brees
RB: Adrian Peterson, Backups: Maurice Jones-Drew, Ray Rice, Darren Sproles
WR: Calvin Johnson, Wes Welker, Andre Johnson, Backups: Larry Fitz, Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks
TE: Rob Gronkowski, Backups: Jimmy Graham, Aaron Hernandez
LT: Jake Long, Backup: Joe Thomas
LG: Ben Grubbs, Backup: Carl Nicks
OC: Nick Mangold, Backup: Jeff Saturday
RG: Marshal Yanda, Backup: Jahri Evans
RT: Eric Winston, Backup: Tyson Clabo

Defense:

DE: Jason Pierre-Paul, Jared Allen, Backups: Elvis Dumerville, Trent Cole
DT: Ndamukong Suh, Haloti Ngata, Backups: BJ Raji, Vincent Wilfork
OLB: DeMarcus Ware, Terrell Suggs, Backups: James Harrison, Tamba Hali
MLB: Patrick Willis, London Fletcher Backup: Jon Beason
CB: Darelle Revis, Joe Haden, Ndamhi Asamough, Backups: Brandon Flowers, Patrick Peterson
S: Ed Reed, Adrian Wilson, Backups: Troy Polamalu, Nick Collins

Special Teams:

K: Sebastian Janakowski
P: Andy Lee
KR/PR: Darren Sproles for the kickoffs and Patrick Peterson for the punts, especially in the 4th quarter/overtime

JaMarcus Hustle

Love the Joe Haden inclusion Matthew.

Syferus

Syferus wrote: »

I do.

Indeed he's done it to Brady on the only stage that matters twice and went to Rodgers' house and did it too so that's a pretty ridiculous thing to say.

eli did not beat brady the giants beat the pats what i will say is brady was the man in 4th quarters for a while elis the fella you want in there now maby bring eli and only play him in the 4th q

Vikings

matthew8 wrote: »

The superbowl is not the only stage that matters, and infact I think Brady played better than him in their most recent meeting, but he wasn't the one who was given the chance at a game-ending drive with a couple minutes on the clock.

Really? I would have thought quite the opposite.

Brett Favre had a phenomenal year with the Vikings in the 09/10 season but came short of the Superbowl. Now most people have forgotten about his performances that year. Had he gone on to win the Superbowl, that season would have gone down in the history books immediately.

The big game is all that its about. Patriots perfect season? You get the idea..

bruschi

Vikings wrote: »

Really? I would have thought quite the opposite.

Brett Favre had a phenomenal year with the Vikings in the 09/10 season but came short of the Superbowl. Now most people have forgotten about his performances that year. Had he gone on to win the Superbowl, that season would have gone down in the history books immediately.

The big game is all that its about. Patriots perfect season? You get the idea..

Dan Marino.

Syferus

bruschi wrote: »

Dan Marino.

The exceptions prove the rule.

Every sport is weighted heavily towards the ultimate winner.

matthew8

Vikings wrote: »

Really? I would have thought quite the opposite.

Brett Favre had a phenomenal year with the Vikings in the 09/10 season but came short of the Superbowl. Now most people have forgotten about his performances that year. Had he gone on to win the Superbowl, that season would have gone down in the history books immediately.

The big game is all that its about. Patriots perfect season? You get the idea..

Sure the superbowl is the big one, but the only way you get there is if you win many more games during the regular season. It always matters. For the Giants this year they had a lot of big stages on which they had to perform, starting with when they played the jets. It was like they had 6 superbowls.

davyjose

bruschi wrote: »

Dan Marino.

In my opinion (and I've posted quite strongly on this in the past) Marino is the best QB to play the game. If the rules we have now existed in the 80's the guy would have multiple rings... but in saying that, the guy is not rated up there with Elway, or Montana, or Brady or Manning. It's a shame because he was so incredible, but rings count in people's perception.

Even if you win them waaay after your peak (like Elway did).

bruschi

Syferus wrote: »

The exceptions prove the rule.

Every sport is weighted heavily towards the ultimate winner.

but in a sport like American football, superbowl rings are an exclamation mark on a career rather than being the main factor in comparing players.

and I say this as a Patriots fan, one who thinks Brady is great, but I dont like the fact people will throw out the 3v1 ring argument when comparing to Manning. It certainly is a factor, and it is part of a debate, but its not the defininig piece of the debate, which is all matthew was trying to say above. You shouldnt measure a player soley on whether or not he has won a superbowl/game against an opponent. Again, you can use the Tebow debate here too. Tebow has been on winning teams where the opponant has had a much better QB, but by winning, it does not necessarily mean he is a better QB.

Vikings

Vikings wrote: »

Really? I would have thought quite the opposite.

Brett Favre had a phenomenal year with the Vikings in the 09/10 season but came short of the Superbowl. Now most people have forgotten about his performances that year. Had he gone on to win the Superbowl, that season would have gone down in the history books immediately.

The big game is all that its about. Patriots perfect season? You get the idea..

what about
ed reed
ladanian tomlinson
terrell owens
tony gonzales
champ bailey
dick butkus
earl cambell
eric dickerson
bruce mathews
warren moon
john randel
barry sanders
gayle sayers
oj simpson
bruce smith
fran tarkinton
derrick thomas
are you saying what they did in there careers does not matter because they didnt play in the big game a superbowl is nice but it does not make a player great it makes a team great