CBS Sports Releases Annual "Overrated/Underrated" List

Underrated is for sure Greenway and the “experts” will pick on Allen because he didn’t amass 20 sacks.

Polamalu? seriously. I think Ben Roethlesberger would be the most overrated. Just look at the beginning of last season. they went 3-1 (almost 4-0) w/o him. they are built around their defense. Yes, Big Ben can stretch plays and makes a lot of plays, but the steelers proved they can win without him. Polamalu, look at 09 compared to 10. exactly what you said, their defense looked completely worthless when he wasn’t on the field.

but this is a Vikings page, so i’ll bring it back. I do agree that Chad is the most underrated player in the vikings, and i’d venture to say he may be the most underrated linebacker in the NFL.

As for overrated, i do disagree with the Jared Allen assessment. dude is good. if our secondary would have been able to cover a receiver, he would have had an even better year.

my overrated player of the vikings goes to Ray Edwards. Yea, he had a breakout campaign in 2009, and he did pretty well in 2010. but i contribute most of that to the other three men on that line. when you have Kevin and Pat Williams, and Jason Allen lined up, most offenses have to devote a lot of attention to them. Something’s got to give, and Ray thought he could reep the benefit to a nice big contract. and when it didn’t happen, he started whining about it. I don’t think he has nearly the success he’s had in his career w/o someone like Allen on the other side

I mean if it was a factor of age wouldn’t he be less successful as the year went on? So he’d have a good start then peter out as his age started to take a toll on him. don’t know just doesn’t seem all that logical.

Honestly I would say our most over rated player last year was Favre. Flame on!

i get that the fans want to only praise allen as the king of whatever, but the article was an overall list with choices for each team. it’s not like this guy is an expert in each roster, he just wants hits on his website.

i think the most overrated is going to go to one of the top rated players on any team, that means like 3-4 guys per team would really only qualify. who are the “top rated” players on the vikes roster from last year? maybe, favre, adrian, jared, winfield, the williams sisters. i wouldn’t count rice, cuz he was injured. i wouldn’t count shiancoe or mckinnie either, because i don’t think they are perceived as dominating players.
am i missing anybody? well, for this little list of top rated guys i’d go…

favre – overrated, cuz he stunk it up, but the o-line did too, and we were light on receivers.
adrian – not overrated, i thought he did well, though not quite up to his billing status.
jared – overrated, for the slow start and is not a dominant run stopper…but not terribly overrated, imo.
winfield – not overrated, he is a pros pro, imo. plus, nobody ever rates him high in pass protection anyway.
phat-serena – overrated, but he is old and no longer on steroids. so what do you really expect.
kev-venus – not overrated, he wasn’t as dominating, but he also was not as hyped as jared, imo.

but, i’d say the o-line should get the “overrated” monicker, based on the pff articles and favre’s weekly beatings.

last year was Steve Huchinson. He’s been a mauler for a long time, but I thought his injuries really caught up to him, and he was just average last year.

I love the guy, and if he’s healthy he’s a beast. But I wonder if he’s at the point in hus career where he can stay relatively healthy for a full season anymore.

Is that Jared Allen is “overrated,” but people want to talk about Clay Matthews like he’s the second coming of Lawrence Taylor.

Matthews had 13.5 sacks last year. Jared Allen had 11.

Six of Matthews’ sacks came in the first two games. . .over the last fourteen games, he had 7.5 sacks, and only once had more than one in a game (he had 1.5 against the Redskins). Hell, in the first Packers/Vikings game, dude had one tackle, and that was it.

Over the last fourteen games, Allen had ten sacks, two games where he had multiple sacks (one with 2.5, one with 2), and a stretch of six straight games where he had at least one.

Allen and Matthews had the exact same number of tackles (60). Matthews had one more forced fumble (2 to 1), while Allen had one more interception (2 to 1), and they each had the same number of INTs returned for touchdowns. Allen also had two more passes defended (6 to 4).

So, ummmmmm. . .why is Allen “overrated” and Matthews is the second coming of Christ and in the running for the Defensive Player of the Year award again?