Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

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03 Jun 2009

NFL's Meanest Player

Pete Prisco says that the NFL's meanest player is Harvey Dahl.

Posted by: Bill Barnwell on 03 Jun 2009

20 comments, Last at 16 Jun 2009, 11:34am by chadtower

Comments

1
by Dr. Mooch (not verified) :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 11:24am

"Richie Incognito, G, St. Louis Rams: . . . When he's focused, he can be a good player."

Also, when he carefully studies physics, he can win a Nobel Prize.

5
by Temo :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 1:28pm

That's not really fair. I can be really focused, but I will never be a good NFL lineman.

I bet there's a lot of guys out there who are super focused and committed who got cut for sucking.

10
by Pat (filler) (not verified) :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 3:50pm

The other side of the analogy doesn't work, either. They don't give Nobel Prizes for being a competent physicist. They give them for extraordinary insight (and in a lot of cases, luck for being right), and that's not the kind of thing that you just 'get' from hard work.

2
by Dice :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 11:39am

Was happy to see Cortland Finnegan on that list.

3
by Key19 :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 11:50am

I see Vick did not make the list.

4
by starzero :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 12:48pm

vick isn't playing, and i'm not sure he's as nasty on the field as he's considered off it.

i'm kind of surprised to see bob sanders there. sure he plays hard, but i don't think of him as mean.

15
by Rich Conley (not verified) :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 11:57pm

After seeing sanders try to cripple Moss 2 years ago, I think he deserves to be there.

Moss was lying prone with the ball, and Sanders dove into the small of his back, helmet first.

19
by shake n bake :: Fri, 06/05/2009 - 3:16pm

If you are talking about the play I think you are (and a video would be nice if you aren't), Sanders dove low at him like he does for a lot of tackles, Moss went down on his own and it ended up with Sanders putting a hit on Moss when he just needed to be touched down. If you want to criticize Sanders (and a lot of other DBs) going low in a way that prevents them from being able to pull up, then fine, but calling it an attempt to cripple is way over blowing it. Sanders dove before it was clear Moss was giving up on any YAC. I'm not even sure the play was flagged.

6
by TomC :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 1:44pm

Liked the piece a lot, and great fodder for a nice long discussion when there's nothing else to talk about.

Agree about Sanders --- I don't think I've ever seen an obvious cheap shot from him.

I was a bit surprised to see that no Bucs made the list. I hate that team, especially the O-line, and they're not even in the Bears' division anymore.

8
by shake n bake :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 2:09pm

I guess it's just intimidation factor putting Sanders on there.

If you've listened to him interviewed it's even harder to call him mean, he's pretty soft spoken and toes the party line/doesn't stir thing up in the press.

7
by Drunkmonkey :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 2:03pm

Perfect timing for the article and Rodney Harrison's retirement, eh? When I saw the link, I was thinking it was just going to be some article written in honor of Harrison retiring, but was surprised to see he's not even mentioned in the article at all.

9
by ChicagoRaider (not verified) :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 2:47pm

No Raiders on the list. How the mighty have fallen. Only ticky-tack penalties now, and so many of them.

11
by Anonymous Coward (not verified) :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 4:54pm

It's really a pretty bad list, Polamolu and Sanders play the game with intensity and hit hard all over the field but they are far from the meanest players in the league.

Guys like Trueblood and Wilfork would be much more reasonable choices

12
by BigCheese :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 5:53pm

Not to mention the fact that he says Ed Reed is the best player out of all of them. Better than Sanders, Polamalu and Wilson? Really?

He's probably still better than Incognito though...

- Alvaro

13
by Jimmy :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 7:13pm

He might well be he does get way more turnovers and he hits pretty hard when given the chance, scores with quite a few of them too. I'd take a turnover over a big hit any day.

14
by shake n bake :: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 11:15pm

If we are picking a mean safety I'll take Adrian Wilson. Linebacker sized and has a personal foul title or two under his belt.

18
by BigCheese :: Thu, 06/04/2009 - 3:34pm

My mistake. I would agree Ed Reed would be in the discussion, were he even on the list. What he actually said, and what I was mocking, was that Ray Lewis is the best player on the list!!!!

And here I compiled all these stats to show how neither the 2008 nor the career (and much less the career average) Ray Lewis comes even close to Polamalu and Wilson (he is around Sanders' level though), specially in scoring. Darnit!

- Alvaro

20
by chadtower :: Tue, 06/16/2009 - 11:34am

Yeah, Trueblood is definitely nasty. I see it every week.

16
by MilkmanDanimal :: Thu, 06/04/2009 - 12:46pm

Jeremy Trueblood was one of the first names that sprung to mind, and he's not listed.

17
by Neoplatonist Bolthead (not verified) :: Thu, 06/04/2009 - 1:11pm

Stroud only got honorable mention? Sanders doesn't belong on that list*; Polamalu probably isn't a top-ten guy. Where's Kevin Mawae? Richard Seymour? Albert Haynesworth? What about Kris Dielman? He's meaner than Merriman (Merriman is more dangerous... ask Priest Holmes... but Dielman is meaner).

* Sanders and Finnegan should be put at the top of a list of the ten toughest little guys, along with MJD.

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