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First of all, Abraham played in 67% of the Falcons defensive snaps, not 13%. I'm assuming he meant 13% less than Clayborn. But Abe played so few and Clayborn so more because Abe has other good DEs on his team, Clayborn does not.

Secondly, Peters and Price? Really. They aren't even the best DTs on their respective teams. The exact same can be said of DeCoud at safety.

Thirdly, Brent Grimes not getting any love, really? The dude absolutely balled this year, but because of the whole perception of the interception, people aren't giving him enough credit.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcsouth/post/_ ... -defense-2

Defense wasn’t a strength in the NFC South in the 2011 season. In fact, it was a big problem for the New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and only an occasional strength for the Atlanta Falcons.

But there were some solid individual performances. With that in mind, let’s roll out the All-NFC South defense.

Defensive end: Charles Johnson, Panthers. He got his huge contract in the summer, but didn’t take the money and disappear. Johnson came through with nine sacks and also played the run fairly well.

Defensive end: Adrian Clayborn, Buccaneers. Yes, I’m taking the rookie over Atlanta veteran John Abraham. I know Abraham ended up with 9.5 sacks, but 3.5 of them came against Jacksonville and rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert. Abraham was ordinary most of the season and was on the field for only 13 percent of Atlanta’s defensive snaps. Clayborn finished with 7.5 sacks. He also was on the field for about 80 percent of Tampa Bay’s defensive snaps, showed he can rush the passer and played the run well. Not much went right for the Bucs in the 2011 season. But they hit on their first-round draft pick.

Defensive tackle: Corey Peters, Falcons. He started in 2010, but was only a run-stuffer then. Peters emerged into a complete defensive tackle in his second season and showed signs he can generate a pass rush in the middle.

Defensive tackle: Brian Price, Buccaneers. Off the top of my head, I was preparing to go with Atlanta’s Jonathan Babineaux or New Orleans’ Sedrick Ellis. Then I looked at their statistics and I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I’m going with Price, who quietly put together a nice season. He finished with three sacks and was one of the few Bucs who played the run well. More importantly, Price made a nice comeback from surgery on his pelvis and played through the pain of an ankle injury for most of the second half of the season.

Linebacker: Curtis Lofton, Falcons. In a year in which Carolina’s Jon Beason was hurt and New Orleans’ Jonathan Vilma slowed down, Lofton emerged as the NFC South’s best middle linebacker.

Linebacker: Sean Weatherspoon, Falcons. The second-year pro might now be the division’s best all-around linebacker. Weatherspoon is a playmaker and plays with an attitude that the rest of Atlanta’s defense needs to copy.

Linebacker: James Anderson, Panthers. With Beason and Thomas Davis going down early, Anderson was the bright spot in Carolina’s linebacker corps.

Cornerback: Jabari Greer, Saints. He often gets overlooked, but this guy is the best cover corner in the division.

Cornerback: Chris Gamble, Panthers. Gamble got benched by coach John Fox at the end of the 2010 season and his career appeared to be on the downside. But Gamble got a fresh start with coach Ron Rivera and bounced back with a strong season.

Safety: Malcolm Jenkins, Saints. He didn’t make as many big plays as I think he’s capable of, but Jenkins is an enormous talent. If the Saints can add a pass rush, the big plays will flow for Jenkins.

Safety: Thomas DeCoud, Falcons. He was benched briefly early in the season, but DeCoud seemed to get the message that he needed to play better. He finished the season with four interceptions and 86 tackles.

I've refused to copy and paste or even comment Pat's work anymore because i've gotten sick of him. He's really useless and you could tell in his writing.

Here's PFF's All-NFC SOuth team. Saints dominate offense. Falcons dominate defense.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2 ... outh-team/

2011 PFF All-NFC South Team
January 26th, 2012 | Author: John Breitenbach

I’m not sure if this article wouldn’t be better titled “All-Saints offense” and “All-Falcons defense” because of the majority each team is featured in those respective units.

It’s not all good news for New Orleans, however, as three of their best players are set to become free agents. The fact the Bucs have just two participants here goes a long way to explaining why Raheem Morris no longer has a job. The up-and-coming Panthers have four entrants which, while still pretty poor, at least helps to avoid Tampa Bay’s embarrassment.

With that said, lets train our gaze on the PFF All-NFC South team for 2011.







OFFENSE

Quarterback: Drew Brees, NO

I’m struggling to find anything more to praise about Brees. He just does everything so well. Whether its avoiding the rush or throwing strikes deep down the field, he makes it all look so effortless. He made us question whether Aaron Rodgers was indeed the NFL’s best quarterback. That in itself is some achievement.



Running Backs: Darren Sproles and Pierre Thomas, NO

The former Charger proved himself a better version of Reggie Bush and even developed into a redzone threat to round out his game. Sproles’ unique speed & quickness combinations often serves to make linebackers look silly. Thomas reminds me a little of Fred Jackson and I have a feeling he could break out if given more of a role and was able to stay healthy. He’s incredibly difficult to tackle and has the kind of power that befits a man of much larger size.



Tight End: Jimmy Graham, NO

Graham isn’t much of a blocker, but then again, when you catch 99 balls for over 1300 yards and double digit touchdowns, does it really matter? If Colston is the master of tough grabs amongst receivers, then Graham is the master for TEs and his battle with Rob Gronkowski for the receiving record was a great story in the final few weeks of the regular season. When you’re a player fans think of as changing the game of football, you know you’ve got a good chance of making this team.



Wide Receivers: Steve Smith, CAR and Marques Colston, NO

Smith’s career revival is really something to marvel as he amassed nearly 1400 yards. He was surrounded by trade rumors last summer and the Panthers can only be ecstatic that nothing came to pass. His counterpart Colston takes some vicious hits and yet still only dropped a pair of passes all year. Colston’s ability to elevate and get the ball at its highest point is obscene, and only Calvin Johnson can really compete. Roddy White loses out as his numerous drops provide ample reason.



Tackles: Jordan Gross, CAR and Tyson Clabo, ATL

Gross had a very solid season for the Panthers, grading positively in every category. While 40 combined pressures sounds like a lot, he only allowed his QB to be knocked down 10 times while dropping back in pass protection often. As for Clabo, Atlanta’s decision to re-sign him proved to be a good one. Considering he’s the league’s fifth-best pass protector, he makes the line’s struggles on the left side that much more obvious.



Guards: Carl Nicks and Jahri Evans, NO

Nicks allowed pressure on just 12 separate occasions in 2011, an impressive feat. He may have the highest ceiling of all guards and it was only his lack of consistency that stopped him from being our top-ranked guard. Evans hasn’t quite lived up to his massive contract, but then that was always going to be hard. A good-but-not-great year for the Saints’ highest paid lineman.



Center: Todd McClure, ATL
McClure is another veteran who just does his job consistently well. There aren’t many offensive linemen who managed to avoid giving up a single penalty last year, in fact Kevin Boothe was the only other center to do so and that was in less than half of McClure’s snaps. A solid pass protector (no sacks allowed) and impressive run blocker, he well deserves his place.





DEFENSE

Defensive Ends: John Abraham, ATL and Michael Bennett, TB

The symbolic Falcon defensive end just keeps getting it done. There were few superior pass rushers this season than Abraham, who also held his own against the run. Partnering with him is a man who does a whole lot more than that in Michael Bennett. Only Terrell Suggs had a higher grade against the run and he had the advantage of 300 more snaps. That’s not to disparage Bennett’s pass rush ability either as he amassed a healthy 38 combined sacks, hits and hurries.



Defensive Tackles: Jonathan Babineaux and Corey Peters, ATL

It really hurt the Falcons that Babineaux was only able to play 500 snaps, as he is far and away their best defensive tackle. Eight QB knockdowns is pretty impressive for a guy that barely played half a season. Peters showed a lot of potential early on, but needs to be more consistent going forward. This really is a division lacking in quality tackle play.



Linebackers: Stephen Nicholas, Curtis Lofton and Sean Weatherspoon, ATL

Nicholas is a prototypical 4-3 strongside linebacker who defends the run well and has some pass rushing ability. I would say Atlanta should try to get him on the field more (he played just 286 snaps), but there’s no way he’s taking reps away from the other two. What a sophomore year it was for Weatherspoon who looked a far cry from the player who struggled so much in 2010. Lofton rounds out the group here and he’s a big reason why the Falcons are solid against the run despite their sub-par tackle play. It says a lot about this division that no player came close to challenging the Falcons’ trio.



Cornerbacks: Brent Grimes, ATL and Chris Gamble, CAR

The Falcons sorely missed Grimes when it came to playoff time and he was sidelined with an injury. He’s already developed into one of the league’s best corners and will likely command a king’s ransom on the open market. After a disappointing 2010, Gamble had something of a career renaissance allowing a QB rating of just 53.3. In the slot, we were forced to go with Captain Munnerlyn, a default selection. Great name mind.



Safeties: Malcolm Jenkins, NO and William Moore, ATL

Jenkins is a decent centerfielder whose range gave Gregg Williams a lot of scheme flexibility–just don’t ask him to cover Vernon Davis. Next to him, Moore has developed into a very solid safety. Health is his main problem as he just can’t seem to avoid getting nicked up.



SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicker: Connor Barth, TB – Had our third highest grade on field goals this season, only missed two kicks.

Punter: Thomas Morstead, NO – Netted 44.1 yards per punt.

Returner: Darren Sproles, NO – Our top-ranked returner overall, contributed on both kick and punt returns.

Special Teamer: Akeem Dent, ATL – Great on kickoffs, made 14 special teams tackles.

Just a couple of people's opinions, of course, but proof that TD and Smitty have actually assembled a decent defense and, as any of we geniuses who watched the team all year already know, that it was the strength of our team. OTOH, maybe a strong D in a division of weak defenses? The ineffectiveness of our allegedly high powered--or, confirmably, high dollared--offense was a season long puzzlement. Fair or not, Matt is going to feel heat moving forward. Some of these folks that you seem to see as JAGs, Pudge, seem to get higher regard elsewhere. It is pretty hard to A/B players and I personally don't watch enough other teams play to say who is better than who but I think our LBs and interior DL aren't too bad. I'm hoping Nolan can help us with our pass rush difficulties somehow.

I love PFFs's list a lot and giving the Falcons well deserved credit. Pat Y is a tool enough said. I'm not sure if I put Nicholas in there because he was hurt a lot and didn't make much of an impact. I'm happy he still noticed Babineaux because Babs still had some good games. He's starting to fade but their were games against good competition (Titans comes to mind) where he was a beast.

Yeah, for the most part our D has done what Smith's primary objective was--stop the run. Now, I don't know that his plan was to do this by giving up ten million yards in passing so teams say, "Why bother running?" but no matter how much the game changes I think that run the ball/stop the run is going to hold true as parmount. Do teams run to pass? Yeah, probably so, but you still gotta do it. But our line and LBs held point pretty well...certainly up the gut.

Well bnb, PFF's list is only reflective of their play this year. And so it should be no surprise that the Falcons defenders dominated the defense because the rest of the division had really bad defenses. The same applies to the Saints offense and the rest of the NFC South. But if you read what they wrote about the LBs and DTs in particularly, you do see that guys like Nicholas and Peters made the cut because the division doesn't have much else to offer thanks largely to injuries to Gerald McCoy, Jon Beason, and Thomas Davis. For the record, I never called Nicholas or Peters JAGs, at least not this year.

We have plenty of good players on our defense. What I've been saying is that we need more impact players. More guys that are at the top of their position, that opposing teams have to gameplan for and against. That's what we're going to need if we want our defense to go from its current level to one where it really gives teams like Green Bay and New Orleans fits. When the 3rd and 4th best players on your defense (Abe & Babs) are over the hill, that isn't a great recipe for success.