09-13-2015, 12:39 PM
(09-12-2015, 10:54 PM)RoyleRedlegs Wrote: The hardest part is, when you try to be balanced about it both sides come at you and it is impossible to have a real discussion.
A problem I have had for years is that if I dispute a claim that player/coach X is "the worst in the league" then I am called a homer who thinks none of our players can do any wrong.
While I am sure that the same thing is true with every team there are certain players that get a bad rap with the home fans. And once that mythology gets woven into the talk radio and message board communities it is hard to shake. Fans here will deny it now, but for years when leon hall was playing at an elite level many people here still hated on him because he "struggled with speedy receivers". And it took Whitworth a few years of elite play before he even got the respect he deserved from his own fans. He was one of the best LTs in the league for years and I would still see people here calling for him to be moved back to guard because he "struggled with speed rushers". Justin Smith was an elite player who got treated like trash by a lot of people here. Gresham was not great, but he was another good player who was treated like a bum. Some people here would argue that a couple of years ago when we had a top 10 rush defense 3 of our front 7 were the worst in the league at their position (Peko, Geathers, Maualuga). Kyle Cook showed up on the "Pro Bowl Snubs" among national media, but around here he was horrible.
So, while you will never see me saying that Cook, Geathers, Maualuga, Peko, and Gresham are anything more than good solid starters, I often get accused of that. And it is just because I defend them against claims that they are "the worst in the league".
I think all fans see their players as the worst because they see them on a regular basis and see the same problem over and over again. But while watching other teams we see the same number of mistakes, but they just seem random. You have to watch the same team repeatedly to see the patterns, but there are lots of other players on other teams who have patterns of worse play. We just don't see those players mess up on a regular basis.
