NFL Week 16: I knew Scott Zolak wore this number, and that's just sad.

Great. Now watch film of them in their primes and see just how large the gap is.

 

Yeah. I wasn't saying Fletcher was as good, or better, than Lewis in his prime. Just that the stats caught me off guard a little bit. But I don't think that gap is as large as you think it is.

 

Yeah, London Fletcher has spent almost all of his 14-year career playing for horrendous defenses that allowed teams 10-20 more plays per game (thus more chance for tackles). I think this game up a few years ago too and he was found to be the king of being around the pile and getting assists. According to pro-football-reference, last year he had 96 tackles and 70 assists, and this year it's 64 and 54.

By contrast, Lewis in 1999 had 131 tackles and 37 assists.

 

Exactly. Lewis is in the discussion for best inside linebacker in NFL history. Fletcher is a nice player, but he's not anywhere close to that level.

 

Yeah. Fletcher has definitely been a complier of tackles in the way you described. Even though I've loved rooting for him on the Skins, he doesn't change games like Lewis has, which wasn't my point to begin with.

But yeah, you're right about that.

Again, it's weird to look at those two statlines and see how similar they are on the surface.

Boswell mentioned it in his WaPo online chat yesterday. Said if Fletcher isn't a HOFer, they should rip down the building. Not sure I'd go that far, but he's been a very, very, very good player. HOFer? Meh. Doubtful.

 

London Fletcher a HOFer? And one that absolutely must be there for the Hall to have any credibility? Boy. I don't think I had even considered that.

Boswell's going to go unrequited in that quest, I think. Ranking defensive players can be difficult, but I would guess the average Hall voter could think of at least 10 inside linebackers from this era that he/she believes were better than London Fletcher, whose list of career awards includes one second-team All-Pro selection and two Pro Bowls.

 

What ho love for Jim Flunkett? (oh wait he did have some success with that OTHER team.)

Niners did get a bit conservative with the Pats, but the Pats got a huge gain on each of those 4 TD drives so that lengthened the game quite a bit.

I'm really worried about the status of Justin Smith (elbow; MRI results pending); that guy makes everything go.

 

London Fletcher is respected.

Ray Lewis is feared.

 

Maybe teams run at him because they don't fear him, they don't think he can catch them and while he may make the tackle it's 6 yards from the LOS. Tackles can be misleading. Ray Lewis attack the ball and the ball carrier alot closer to the LOS than Fletcher does. Fletcher lets the play come to him and that means his tackles come after the ball carrier has gained yardage. The same way inteceptions can be misleading. Champ Baily is a great corner, one of the best ever, but he's tied for 26th place on the all time INT list. Maybe they don't trow it his way much

 

I understand how football stats work. Thanks, though.

 

I haven't seen it mentioned, but during the 2002 season Favre also had an LCL injury (incurred, coincidentally, against the Redskins. He didn't miss the next game, but the schedule was smiling, as the Packers had their bye the week after the injury. He returned to beat the Dolphins in a Monday night game and was fine the rest of the season. However, with a young future superstar and no consecutive-games streak on the line, I would think the Redskins would be wise to be cautious.