Vote Brandon Mebane

by John Morgan on Jan 27, 2009 4:10 PM PST

This is the Mebane sidebar so it doesn't get buried.

Second half malaise suffocated my Pro Bowl campaign for Brandon Mebane. Mebane is my favorite player and the true heart of Seattle's run defense. Football Outsiders is running its annual awards and I would like Mebane to make a strong run for "most underrated defensive player in the NFL". Mebane is a true one tech, the kind of defensive tackle that demands double teams on almost every snap and frees surrounding playmaking talent to make plays. This season, Mebane added a sick first step and made some plays of his own. He tied for the team lead in sacks, and unlike Darryl Tapp's sacksplosion against Milford Brown in 2007, Mebane was consistently effective. His recorded a sack or split sack in six games. Mebane just turned 24 and in 2008 only cost ~550k against the cap. He's already a star level talent and an exceptional value. The kind of building block a great defense is built atop and truly underrated, undervalued and unknown by all but the hardcore. Do him and me a solid and show him some love.

An indication of how undervalued Mebane is is his lack of publicly available highlights, but once upon a time he did this...

And it was good.

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Comments

Remember when you didn't like the Mebane pick?

Seems like 10 years ago.

by MFAN on Jan 27, 2009 4:20 PM PST reply actions

Seems like yesterday to me. >_>

Not trying to take the high road or anything, because I felt the exact same way. At the time I thought his ceiling would be a decent player, not a burgeoning superstar.

"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."

by Fearless Frog on Jan 27, 2009 4:58 PM PST up reply actions

Yeah

I learned an important lesson about trusting scouting reports.

by John Morgan on Jan 27, 2009 5:21 PM PST up reply actions

How is Paul Soliai anyways?

I remember everyone being high on him. Him and Alan Branch.

by LantermanC on Jan 28, 2009 10:37 AM PST up reply actions

VOTE "SUBWAY 5 DOLLAR FOOTLONG"

for most goddam annoying commercial (along with Mebane of course as underrated defensive player).

by redwolf75 on Jan 27, 2009 8:35 PM PST reply actions

Why wasn't 'G' an option?

by LantermanC on Jan 27, 2009 9:18 PM PST up reply actions

What the hell is "G"!?

by BrianL on Jan 27, 2009 9:54 PM PST up reply actions

Gatorade

and a ridiculously bad commercial

Honestly, that commercial wouldn’t be that horrible if they didn’t put Lil Wayne as the voice over.

by aerozeppelin on Jan 27, 2009 10:29 PM PST up reply actions

Seriously?

That’s what G is? Gatorade!?

by BrianL on Jan 27, 2009 10:54 PM PST up reply actions

That's little Wayne?

I keep hearing that he’s the number one selling artist or whatever, and he writes a column for ESPN. He is one annoying POS.

by LantermanC on Jan 28, 2009 8:02 AM PST up reply actions

It's actually Lil' Wayne... right. You can tell it's him because he speaks English like Argentinians speak Spanish.

I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!!! I DRINK IT UP!!

by abender20 on Jan 28, 2009 8:06 AM PST up reply actions

I put 'little' on purpose actually.

I can understand nicknames like Big Pun, or Fat Joe, but I’m guessing Wayne is over 5’4" so he’s not so little.

Anyone else not get that Argentinian joke? I would have put like an Irishman speaks English (or I guess like an American speaks English if your’e actually English), or like a Taiwanese speaks Chinese.

by LantermanC on Jan 28, 2009 8:11 AM PST up reply actions

...Or, a how a pretentious douchebag speaks English.

That’s Lil Wayne for you.

"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."

by Fearless Frog on Jan 28, 2009 9:07 AM PST up reply actions

I lived in Argentina

I got the joke and here is a little explanation.
LL and Y in spanish is pronounced like a Y but in Argentina, it is SH.
V are overly pronounced like Bs. Thus a word like “villa” which would be pronounced vee-ya is actually pronounced bee- sha in Argentine. A huge difference. Abender20 I love the cultural awareness. 10 points in my book.

by Built2Spill on Jan 28, 2009 4:44 PM PST up reply actions

I voted for...

SAAAAAAAVED BY ZEEEEEEEEEEEROO!

"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."

by Fearless Frog on Jan 27, 2009 9:24 PM PST up reply actions

I did as well.

I will smash your face into a jelly.

by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jan 28, 2009 2:06 PM PST up reply actions

I voted mcdonald nuggnuts...

I assume that’s the one with the R&B commerical where the guy asks the girl why she’s so stingy and wont’ share?

by LantermanC on Jan 28, 2009 3:01 PM PST up reply actions

I love that commercial.

by John Morgan on Jan 28, 2009 3:07 PM PST up reply actions

Don't be stingy...

I will smash your face into a jelly.

by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jan 29, 2009 8:42 AM PST up reply actions

nuggnuts are...

The ones were the chick is like serving mcnuggets with toothpicks in them at a party. Or where the people have the wedding cake made out of mcnuggets.

by Mr_Nate on Jan 28, 2009 7:30 PM PST up reply actions

that mcnugget cake is seriously one of the most disguisting foods i've ever seen

by aerozeppelin on Jan 29, 2009 2:31 PM PST up reply actions

You can at least look away from those commercials and not still be aurally offended.

The “Saved by Zero” ads got stuck in my head for DAYS.

I will smash your face into a jelly.

by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jan 29, 2009 8:42 AM PST up reply actions

Tell yourself: The Mute button is my friend.

by Misfit74 on Jan 29, 2009 9:21 AM PST up reply actions

SAVED BY ZERO! SAVED BY ZERO!

"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."

by Fearless Frog on Jan 29, 2009 11:00 AM PST up reply actions

Let's get some recs on this fanpost so it gets to the "Recommended Fanposts" area.

by BrianL on Jan 27, 2009 9:53 PM PST reply actions

I trust Cal players, Tedford has a great program. Oh yeah, i am biased by being a Cal fan but how can you argue this list of players: Desean Jackson, Brandon Mebane, Justin Forsett, Marshawn Lynch, Nmandi Asomugha, Tony Gonzalez, Andre Carter, Ryan Longwell, Scott Fujita, Aaron Rodgers, etc.
That is why I advocate Alex Mack and Zach Follett for the upcoming draft! Sometimes programs breed good players.

by Built2Spill on Jan 27, 2009 10:34 PM PST reply actions

Haha.

by brayden04 on Jan 28, 2009 1:03 AM PST up reply actions

Nate Longsh... oh, no nevermind.

I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!!! I DRINK IT UP!!

by abender20 on Jan 28, 2009 8:00 AM PST up reply actions

We've talked about this before

Maybe when I have time, I’ll put together a list of players that were drafted, their college, their conference, their positions, the number of starts they had, and the number of pro bowls they went to (unless there is another measure of ’success’) and see if there is any pattern, or if it’s just noise.
Or maybe JM can do this, since he has such an affinity for not sleeping.

by LantermanC on Jan 28, 2009 8:04 AM PST up reply actions

Well, I'm at 1990 so far.

This is taking forever. I’m just copying and pasting from wikipedia, since I’m not sure where to find stuff to export to excel. profootball reference maybe?

by LantermanC on Jan 28, 2009 9:39 AM PST up reply actions

It might be easier to use current players.
I am surprised nobody has thrown the QB argument against Tedford. Here is a list of QBs that he has coached: Trent Dilfer, Akili Smith, Joey Harrington, Kyle Boller, Aaron Rodgers, Billy Volek and AJ Feeley. While initiately the list contains some major busts Akili Smith, Joey Harrington, and Kyle Boller. It also has a solid lists of backups, Joey Harrington, Billy Volek, AJ Feeley, and Trent Dilfer. I know I am not supposed to have my own counter argument.

by Built2Spill on Jan 28, 2009 4:58 PM PST up reply actions

The only solid backup out of those is Volek, and Dilfer back in the day.

"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."

by Fearless Frog on Jan 28, 2009 6:52 PM PST up reply actions

No love for AJ Feeley?

by Built2Spill on Jan 28, 2009 7:15 PM PST up reply actions

Definitely not.

"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."

by Fearless Frog on Jan 28, 2009 7:46 PM PST up reply actions

I vote yes for Feeley.

But then again I still think Harrington and Boller are good players. Boller > Air McNair for sure

by LantermanC on Jan 28, 2009 7:55 PM PST up reply actions

I think both are serviceable backups. They can win a game or two but will not be starters again.

Unfortunately, that is what was said about Warner, Collins, Griese, Garcia(after his time in Detroit) and Frerotte. I still thinks Frerotte sucks though.

by Built2Spill on Jan 28, 2009 8:45 PM PST up reply actions

Frerotte does suck.

The problem was the Brad Childress is a coach.

by Misfit74 on Jan 28, 2009 10:23 PM PST up reply actions

It's not like Tarvaris Crapson or Brooks LOLlinger were much better alternatives.

"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."

by Fearless Frog on Jan 29, 2009 11:00 AM PST up reply actions

maybe they shouldn't have let Thigpen try to slide to the practice squad...

by Misfit74 on Jan 29, 2009 11:52 AM PST up reply actions

Yeah, that was odd.

My Viking fan friends said he looked promising and that if he was herded on the PS he would undoubtedly be snatched up.

"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."

by Fearless Frog on Jan 29, 2009 12:53 PM PST up reply actions

Nah, I just went back to 1970, because that's when the modern draft.

I wanted to break things up by not only positions, but also offense and defense, so I had to use vlookup for that, but the problem with that is some people are listed as Defensive Lineman, some are Defensive tackle, and some are Defensive Line, so I had to put all three.
As for schools, I wanted to add conferences, but all the I-AA schools are annoying as hell.
Lastly, looking up probowls and starts is going to be a bitch, considering I have 12,000 lines of data, but work has been fairly slow this week, so we’ll see.

by LantermanC on Jan 28, 2009 7:58 PM PST up reply actions