ESPN Power Rankings: Willis #1 LB

Originally posted by crabman82:
every great defender has that 1 year where they are clearly the best defensive player in the game, deion in 1994, derrick brooks in 2002, ed reed in 2004, etc. i'm hoping willis has one of those signature years coming up.

Gotta get to the playoffs so he can make some impact plays on a large stage.

Willis is the suckage

Originally posted by lamontb:

Originally posted by crabman82:
every great defender has that 1 year where they are clearly the best defensive player in the game, deion in 1994, derrick brooks in 2002, ed reed in 2004, etc. i'm hoping willis has one of those signature years coming up.

Gotta get to the playoffs so he can make some impact plays on a large stage.

it has nothing to do with the playoffs, all the great defensive players had their 1 stand out season where they were clearly the best defensive player in the game, for example strahan won it in 2001 on a 7-9 team, reggie white on a 7-8 team, cortez kennedy on a 2-14 team. its got nothing to do with the playoffs at all, right now willis is in a group of very talented elite defensive players, to truley be special he needs a season where its clear amongst all the best defensive players hes the clear cut best def player that year. i look forward to him having that year sometime soon

Originally posted by crabman82:

Originally posted by lamontb:

Originally posted by crabman82:
every great defender has that 1 year where they are clearly the best defensive player in the game, deion in 1994, derrick brooks in 2002, ed reed in 2004, etc. i'm hoping willis has one of those signature years coming up.

Gotta get to the playoffs so he can make some impact plays on a large stage.

it has nothing to do with the playoffs, all the great defensive players had their 1 stand out season where they were clearly the best defensive player in the game, for example strahan won it in 2001 on a 7-9 team, reggie white on a 7-8 team, cortez kennedy on a 2-14 team. its got nothing to do with the playoffs at all, right now willis is in a group of very talented elite defensive players, to truley be special he needs a season where its clear amongst all the best defensive players hes the clear cut best def player that year. i look forward to him having that year sometime soon

But those are defensive ends that rack up sack numbers. For a middle linebacker in a 3-4 he's gonna need to be on a larger scale to get those votes. He isn't in a position to have have many sacks or int's. and those are the glory stats for defenders. For a mlb you need to make plays in the playoffs on a large scale so everybody takes notice. Leading the league in tackles means nothing to most ppl. Ray Lewis had plenty of standout seasons but was an MVP in years that he added playoff performances on top of his regular seasons. That's why the majority of the time the defensive MVP either leads the league in sacks or int's.

Pwilly is the truth.

P Willy FO SHIZZLE !!!

Originally posted by lamontb:

Originally posted by crabman82:

Originally posted by lamontb:

Originally posted by crabman82:
every great defender has that 1 year where they are clearly the best defensive player in the game, deion in 1994, derrick brooks in 2002, ed reed in 2004, etc. i'm hoping willis has one of those signature years coming up.

Gotta get to the playoffs so he can make some impact plays on a large stage.

it has nothing to do with the playoffs, all the great defensive players had their 1 stand out season where they were clearly the best defensive player in the game, for example strahan won it in 2001 on a 7-9 team, reggie white on a 7-8 team, cortez kennedy on a 2-14 team. its got nothing to do with the playoffs at all, right now willis is in a group of very talented elite defensive players, to truley be special he needs a season where its clear amongst all the best defensive players hes the clear cut best def player that year. i look forward to him having that year sometime soon

But those are defensive ends that rack up sack numbers. For a middle linebacker in a 3-4 he's gonna need to be on a larger scale to get those votes. He isn't in a position to have have many sacks or int's. and those are the glory stats for defenders. For a mlb you need to make plays in the playoffs on a large scale so everybody takes notice. Leading the league in tackles means nothing to most ppl. Ray Lewis had plenty of standout seasons but was an MVP in years that he added playoff performances on top of his regular seasons. That's why the majority of the time the defensive MVP either leads the league in sacks or int's.

the defensive player of the year award is voted on before the playoffs, if a DT on a 2-14 team can win the award i am pretty sure willis can too without making the playoffs, hes a great player but needs to step his game up a bit to justify a #1 ranking, to me its not about national exposure its about more splash plays like his td's against stl and seattle in recent seasons

well, duh.

Originally posted by crabman82:

Originally posted by lamontb:

Originally posted by crabman82:

Originally posted by lamontb:

Originally posted by crabman82:
every great defender has that 1 year where they are clearly the best defensive player in the game, deion in 1994, derrick brooks in 2002, ed reed in 2004, etc. i'm hoping willis has one of those signature years coming up.

Gotta get to the playoffs so he can make some impact plays on a large stage.

it has nothing to do with the playoffs, all the great defensive players had their 1 stand out season where they were clearly the best defensive player in the game, for example strahan won it in 2001 on a 7-9 team, reggie white on a 7-8 team, cortez kennedy on a 2-14 team. its got nothing to do with the playoffs at all, right now willis is in a group of very talented elite defensive players, to truley be special he needs a season where its clear amongst all the best defensive players hes the clear cut best def player that year. i look forward to him having that year sometime soon

But those are defensive ends that rack up sack numbers. For a middle linebacker in a 3-4 he's gonna need to be on a larger scale to get those votes. He isn't in a position to have have many sacks or int's. and those are the glory stats for defenders. For a mlb you need to make plays in the playoffs on a large scale so everybody takes notice. Leading the league in tackles means nothing to most ppl. Ray Lewis had plenty of standout seasons but was an MVP in years that he added playoff performances on top of his regular seasons. That's why the majority of the time the defensive MVP either leads the league in sacks or int's.

the defensive player of the year award is voted on before the playoffs, if a DT on a 2-14 team can win the award i am pretty sure willis can too without making the playoffs, hes a great player but needs to step his game up a bit to justify a #1 ranking, to me its not about national exposure its about more splash plays like his td's against stl and seattle in recent seasons

Yep as good as Willis is, I agree that he is more consistent than he is impact making. He has shown regular flashes of his impact making abilities. When he is consistently racking up impact pays he will be the unquestioned best defensive player in the NFL.

It's scary to think of Willis getting much better, though I have no doubt he will.

It's great to see that Willis is getting the national recognition he deserves! Let's just hope this guy gets a few chances to show his stuff in the SB. IMO Willis is not only the best LB in football but the best defensive player in football. Thank God we locked this guy up long term.

Seemed like a fitting time... ;-)

Willis just tweeted about the rankings, here's what he said:

"Thank you 2 the nfl power rankings. Truly a blessing. Thank u for my fans and supporters over this time. Ima stay hungry I promise. A ring!"

Glad to see that Willis is getting the props that he deserves!

Actually for those of you who say willis needs to make a few more impact plays.... or can be on a losing team are a lot more wrong than right. Bob sanders was not the best defender when he won and it can easily be argued the same for polamalu HOWEVER they were on winning teams with great records. Of course there are exceptions but as a mlb they dont get the sacks or ints to sway voters enough. Willis should of got the defender of the year last year......his numbers WERE BETTER than ray lewis the year he won it but the niners were an 8 - 8 team and there were other defensive players that had more turnovers but it can be argued that willis is and was a better defensive player than a sanders or polamalu.

We all know that if we as well as almost any nfl team could pick one player on d as the best player willis would be it more likely than a harrison or even matthews as evidenced by he poll. He is the most consistant and also the best defender in the league and he will be the reason along with davis harbaugh iupati and hopefully a decent qb along with gore that we will be in the playoffs and hopefully advance and get our sixth ring soon

Anybody surprised?