2008 Football Outsiders Awards

by Phildopip on Feb 10, 2009 1:59 PM PST Comment 43 comments

The good folks over at Football Outsiders posted the results of their Annual Awards. I urge all of you go mosey on over there and check out the results.

The Seahawks cleaned up in a couple of categories, including most underrated offensive player, with John Carlson and Leonard Weaver coming in at #1 and #2 respectively; most underrated defensive player, with Brandon Mebane using his huge ass to crush the competition. He accounted for 30.5% of the total vote, with the #2 player (Asomugha) accounting for only 5.6%.

And, once again, Field Gulls takes home the prize for favorite team-specific website or blog. Congrats to John Morgan, Scruffy Lefty, the newcomers Doug Farrar, and abender20, and of course Shrug for making this website totally awesome.

Edit by John Morgan: Thanks everyone and special thanks to everyone who makes this community great. I'm taking my wife out to dinner.

A place to bury strangers.

0 recs | Comment 43 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

You stole and modified my tag you jerk.

by BrianL on Feb 10, 2009 2:00 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Lovingly modified it.

I will smash your face into a jelly.

by Phildopip on Feb 10, 2009 2:33 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Huzzah for the shopkeep!

I mean, for Fieldgulls!

This is a good community we have here, it’s nice to get some solid conversations about football. Good work, all!

by jimmimoose on Feb 10, 2009 2:46 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Awesome stuff

A little disappointed that Seahawk fans got accused of ballot-stuffing (although the jokes might have been a little tongue and check).

I don’t think Walter Jones got votes for “best offensive lineman” by a lot of seahawk fans, my guess is people that watch the game as casual fans still view Jones as the best Left Tackle in the game.

I think you could make a strong case for John Carlson as the most underrated offensive player, he hardly got any attention in the national media and still put up outstanding numbers for a rookie TE on a bad offense.

Obviously a lot of Seattle fans went on and voted and it shows in the results, but I don’t think the results are too far fetched. It’s not like we were voting Shaun Alexander for MVP and Brian Russell for underrated player.

by MFAN on Feb 10, 2009 2:54 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Aaron contacted me

I guess Field Gulls contributed a huge portion of the votes, so thanks.

by John Morgan on Feb 10, 2009 3:09 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I don't understand why people refuse to believe Walter Jones is still a beast left tackle.

- He gave up 1 sack to Mathias Kiwanuka which wasn’t his fault because he was blocking him like normal but Seneca Wallace was in with his huge dropback.

- 2 sacks to sack leader DeMarcus Ware, on a fractured knee.

- Dominated edge rushers like Trent Cole, Joey Porter, Jason Taylor, Aaron Schobel, and others.

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

by Fearless Frog on Feb 10, 2009 3:09 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I would have agreed with you after 2007

when people started to get down on him, and the “reports of demise” so to speak were somewhat exaggerated. There was a clear difference between 2004, 2005, and 2007. But back in 2004, 2005, he was such a standout pass blocker that some people actually said he was closer to average as a run blocker, crediting Hutchinson. The next two years showed he was also near the top as a run blocker.

But last year was different, and to me the sacks aren’t indicative of anything. They happen. And he even still has been pretty good with edge rushers, speed guys, which is probably the most prominent aspect that analysts judge tackles by (and rightly so).

I think his pass protection is still good, and remains his biggest strength. The biggest decline I saw, though, was on blocking on the second level, blocking to the inside. Kickout blocking for runs was still pretty stout.

I think it was the Miami game, and there were three almost embarrassing blocking attempts made by Walt on the second level, two for draws, and one I think was some kind of end around for Koren or something, I can’t quite remember. They weren’t particularly effective, but they didn’t blow the play up, either. It was just the lack of grace or demonstrable technique that shocked me the most, it really looked like he didn’t know how to block angles in space.

It’s kind of a moving target, anyway. Once everyone catches on to Walter Jones not playing well, it’s easy to overstate it. It’s definitely there, and not likely to go away, but he’s still pretty good, and more than good at the most important aspects of his job.

by jacobstevens on Feb 10, 2009 4:26 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Awesome results.

Besides Mebane, Seattle as a fanbase seems to be pretty unbiased. We didn’t really vote for our players in disproportionate numbers.
I can’t beleive Peyton Manning won the best commercial. Hasselbeck’s Myoplex would have won if he were an option. Either that or his chunky soup.

Does anyone know how many people in total voted? I can’t tell if it’s just a few thousand or much higher?

by LantermanC on Feb 10, 2009 3:18 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I loved Peyton's commercial.

The weather here is SWEET…

I will smash your face into a jelly.

by Phildopip on Feb 10, 2009 3:21 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I loved them too.

I’m glad it won best commercial.

by MFAN on Feb 10, 2009 3:23 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I Like That One

Not only that, but my wife likes that one, and she doesn’t watch much football. It’s a classy commercial, and it still gets a chuckle out of me when I see it.

by robbbbbb on Feb 10, 2009 4:40 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Speaking of Myoplex, does that stuff work? That ish is real cheap in bulk at Costco.

I’d give it a flier based on Hass’s endorsement alone, but I’m cash-strapped and don’t want to switch from my Protein chocolate shake things unless I have to.

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

by Fearless Frog on Feb 10, 2009 5:00 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I just have the Myoplex chocolate protein shake from costco and like it. Its a good deal also.

NEEDS MORE FREEDOM!

by Scruffy Lefty on Feb 10, 2009 5:50 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

What does it do?

I’m a little confused by the Hasselbeck endorsement. Does it make you bulk up or lose your hair?

by SeaTownBlueDevil on Feb 10, 2009 5:56 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Haha

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

by Fearless Frog on Feb 10, 2009 6:07 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Its just a protein shake.

Easier on my stomach in the morning then eating something else.

NEEDS MORE FREEDOM!

by Scruffy Lefty on Feb 10, 2009 6:22 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The powder or actual shakes?

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

by Fearless Frog on Feb 10, 2009 6:06 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The powder.

NEEDS MORE FREEDOM!

by Scruffy Lefty on Feb 10, 2009 6:21 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

With Scruffy's ringing endorsement, I'm going to pick some up on Saturday.

I’ll let you guys know what I think in a couple of months.

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

by Fearless Frog on Feb 11, 2009 11:39 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

It tastes pretty good,

I mix it with frozen berries from costco, peanut butter, soy milk, water, ice cubes, frozen mangos, cottage cheese, flax seed oil, other protein powders, and it tastes great. Unfortunately, I always make an entire blender’s worth, and end up consuming probably 2000 calories in an hour.

by LantermanC on Feb 11, 2009 11:59 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Wow, all those ingredients at once?

That’s some serious intake you got going on. Any noticeable gains, or do you drink it just because it tastes good? <_<

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

by Fearless Frog on Feb 11, 2009 12:08 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Gain in weight? Or lifting amount?

I’m a runner and I eat a lot. Also my taste buds can put up with anything (I forgot that I sometimes put beets in there as well). No weight gain, I could lift more, but that might just be from the decrease in running.

by LantermanC on Feb 11, 2009 2:13 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Weight gain.

I don’t care if I lift more or not, I’m just trying to look good in tight t-shirts, heh. But I digress, we’ve been off topic long enough.

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

by Fearless Frog on Feb 11, 2009 2:55 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I think I would have voted Hasselbecks Expedia.com commercial as the worst if I had a chance.

by MFAN on Feb 10, 2009 3:23 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Great work this season John

by Nate Dogg on Feb 10, 2009 4:20 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

WEEEEEEE!

NEEDS MORE FREEDOM!

by Scruffy Lefty on Feb 10, 2009 5:49 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

This site rules!

I come here everyday to get my hawks fix and learn new stuff about the ins and outs of my favorite game from guys who know their stuff!Thank you all and congrats!

by AZ Hawk on Feb 10, 2009 8:33 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Is it just me, or does FO not seem to like Field Gulls that much because it won again?

I’m sorry if that’s our fault, John. :(

by Coach Owens on Feb 10, 2009 9:18 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I don't know...

They correctly realized that they DO want the support of good sites, just also had to realize that a few of the results were skewed because of the Seattle perspective. A survey is supposed to be unbiased, and this one obviously wasn’t. But a football outsiders survey CAN’T be unbiased.

They didn’t know how to react to it, but I don’t think that they were disliking us at all. Just saying to the other sites that they should work on getting more involved.

by cashless on Feb 10, 2009 9:33 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I think it's unbiased...

relative to the goal. It’s a popularity contest really, no matter what else FO might want it to be. I mean how many of us visit the sites for the Titans or Giants to make a comparison? Very, very few I suspect. So de facto, the most engaged fan base is likely to win. That’s the nature of popularity contests.

In that sense it’s an accurate reflection, and a pretty impressive statement about John and the rest of the FG crew. The people who come here really like it, and are inclined to say so. Considering that Seattle assuredly has one of the NFL’s smallest fan bases, if anything, the FO survey is biased toward sites for teams with big fan bases.

"Those who fear disorder more than injustice inevitably produce more of both." -- Rev. William Coffin

by dcrockett17 on Feb 11, 2009 5:25 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I think it's more a shining endorsement of Seattle fandom

We have some of the greatest blogs (USSM, Lookout Landing, FG) and most well-educated sports commentary in the whole blogosphere. I count myself blessed to be part of such an awesome community.

Is that the light at the end of the tunnel, or the headlights of an oncoming train?

by Benne on Feb 10, 2009 9:41 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Well, I'm not sure if they count as 'Seattle'

but Blazers Edge is also a great blog. I can’t believe how extensive every game recap is.

by LantermanC on Feb 11, 2009 7:51 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Unrelated, I don't think I'll ever be able to root for the Blazers.

The NBA is dead to me unless Seattle gets another team.

by redwolf75 on Feb 11, 2009 10:36 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Same here - and it really depends on what that team is.

It may be childish … but I want the SONICS back. Like how Cleveland got the 2nd Gen Browns. If the NBA tries to pawn off the Grizz or someone like that on us, or we have some stupid expansion team with lame name/logo like the NBA has been trending to, It would feel dirty or insulting, and I don’t think I could ever get into it again.

by jteckmann on Feb 11, 2009 11:16 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Any team that comes to Seattle will be called the Sonics.

Whether its the pawned off Grizz or an expansion team, the city of Seattle retains the rights to the name and logo of the Sonics. So there’s no way we’re gonna end up with the Seattle Snowblowers or something like that.

by SeaTownBlueDevil on Feb 11, 2009 11:24 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs