NFL Network's "Top 100 Of 2010" Officially A Farce

The man they call "rovibe" pointed this out in the comments, and though he meant it as a dig at Ray Edwards, in another way it highlights what a complete farce the NFL Network's "Top 100 of 2010" list has already turned into. Of course, anyone who watched the first installment knew it was a farce when the guy that was ranked #100 was announced. For those of you who haven't heard yet, it was Redskins' quarterback Donovan McNabb.

You remember Donovan McNabb, right? The guy who was benched by his coach because he thought Rex freaking Grossman was better in the two-minute offense? The guy who had a quarterback rating of 77.1 and threw more interceptions (15) than touchdown passes (14)? The guy that could have led the Redskins past the Vikings at FedEx Field in Leslie Frazier's first game as coach if he hadn't underthrown a wide-open receiver by fifteen yards? Oh, and if I didn't mention it earlier, he got benched for Rex freaking Grossman.

Yeah. . .apparently only 99 of the 16-1700 players in the National Football League in 2010 were better than that guy, so you know they set the bar pretty high right from the start.

Access Vikings reported (in rovibe's link above) that only two Vikings made this list of the NFL's 100 best players in 2010. . .Adrian Peterson is the obvious one, and Jared Allen made it as well. That means there was at least one very, very notable Vikings' omission from the list.

(Here's a hint. . .big freaking picture of him at the top of the post.)

Yes, apparently there were at least 100 NFL players. . .including Donovan McNabb. . .that were better in 2010 than Minnesota Vikings' cornerback Antoine Winfield. According to this list, anyway. . .a list which, if I haven't already pointed it out, is a complete freaking joke.

We highlighted how great Winfield's 2010 season was here once already. According to Football Outsiders, the average pass thrown in Winfield's direction in 2010 netted 3.8 yards, a full yard less than the next best figure on that list. He was also tied for the highest "Success Rate" in the NFL for cornerbacks with some guy named Darrelle Revis, who I've heard is a decent cover guy as well.

Another "alternate stats" site, Pro Football Focus, did their top 100 of 2010, too. . .you can read all five parts here, if you'd like. . .and theirs, unlike the NFL Network's list, actually makes sense. Their top 100 has Winfield as the 32nd best player in the NFL in 2010, and the third-highest rated cornerback on the list. Surprisingly, the two guys in front of him were not named "Revis" and "Asomugha," but rather Kansas City's Brandon Flowers (#22) and Denver's Champ Bailey (#19). So, by PFF's measure, Antoine Winfield. . .not Tramon Williams, not Charles Woodson, not Asante Samuel, not Brent Grimes, not Charles Tillman, not Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and not anybody else. . .was the best cornerback in the National Football Conference in 2010. (For the record, Nnamdi Asomugha was #36, and that Revis fellow didn't appear on PFF's list at all.)

In addition, Pro Football Focus points out that Winfield a) didn't allow a touchdown all year, and b) didn't allow a reception of longer than 27 yards all year. At last check, that's pretty impressive, too.

But Antoine Winfield isn't one of the NFL's 100 best players. Certainly not. That's just foolish talk. I mean, he's damn sure no Donovan McNabb, I can tell you that much. Yes, I get that the "players" voted on this, and apparently asking NFL players to vote in an NFL players' poll is a lot like asking college football coaches to vote in a college football poll.

I wonder if Michael Vick got to cast a ballot for this thing. . .if he did, you can damn sure bet that he put Antoine Winfield's name on there, considering that you could make a pretty compelling case that #26 single-handedly cost the Philadelphia Eagles a first-round bye in the 2010 NFC playoffs because he spent a Tuesday night in Philly making Vick soil himself.

By the by. . .while the NFL Network's list only has two members of the Minnesota Vikings on it, the list at Pro Football Focus has six. . .Percy Harvin, Chad Greenway, E.J. Henderson, Kevin Williams, Antoine Winfield, and Adrian Peterson all made it. But what do those guys know? I mean, they only watch every single game and all that.

Honestly, I don't care if Peterson ends up at #1 on the NFL Network's list. Don't get me wrong, he won't. . .the guy could rush for 2,000 yards and cure cancer in the same year, and because he's a Viking he'd still be lucky to crack the top 20. . .but the absence of a player of Antoine Winfield's caliber completely invalidates their entire list.