Mattradamus's 15-Year Football Team Cont'd

All that is left of my team is the QB and the Safety positions. I will waste no time and get right into it.

I'm going to start with my quarterbacks on defense. When I think of safeties, I want a duo that can stop the run and the pass. Being afforded the luxury of being able to choose my two safeties, I'm going to choose a run stopper and a ballhawk to roam my secondary. My runstopper isn't the greatest safety to defend the pass but was known for his vicious hits over the middle and as a result put fear into any WR who dare go in his territory. My run-stopping/intimidator is Texas Tech alum, Dwayne Slay. While he doesn't have great accolades, he did bring bone crunching and brain jarring hits each and every Saturday in his one season as a starter. He is the only safety that I have seen affect a game to the extent that he did. Would you want to run over the middle against this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pPb1lD2dL8 or how about here? Make sure and watch the whole video as his highlight is the second one shown. keep your eye on the WR that he takes down and watch him get up and stagger back to the TEXAS TECH SIDELINE!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwl8yafutHY

To round out the defensive backfield, I need a ball hawk and my choice was obvious, Da U's Ed Reed! The 2x All American holds Miami's career interception record (21) and took 5 of those to the house, was the Football News Defensive Player of the Year and a finalist for both the Jim Thorpe and Bronko Nagurski award.

I think i'm set with a secondary (corners included) that will shut down any passing game. Other finalist included LeRon Landry and the late Sean Taylor.


Now to the position that will lead my team in battle. The QB position has seen some greats in the past 15 years. Some that were under consideration were Peyton Manning, Brady Quinn, Jason White, Carson Palmer, Eric Crouch, Phillip Rivers, Colt Brennan, Kliff Kingsbury (pioneered the Spread Offense), Drew Brees, Vince Young and Joey Harrington.


Below is a list of the accolades of my starting QB:
2× Archie Griffin Award Winner (2003, 2004)
Heisman Trophy Winner (2004)
Manning Award Winner (2004)
Johnny Unitas Award Winner (2004)
2× NCAA QB of the Year (2004, 2005)
BCS national champion (2004)
Walter Camp Award Winner (2005)
2x All-American


USC has turned out some great QB's in the last 15 years, but to me, Matt Leinart takes the cake. Looking at the team I assembled around, he is the perfect choice. A QB from a pro style offense that can hand the ball off, use the play-action, show great accuracy on his short routes to let his playmaking WR's "do work" and a decent enough deep ball to keep defensive secondaries on their toes.
Leinart rounds out my all-time, I mean 15-year team. Here again, was my starting lineup if you have missed it:

Offense:
QB - Matt Leinart - USC
RB - Adrian Peterson - OU RB - Ricky Williams - UT
WR - Peter Warrick - FSU WR - Larry Fitzgerald - Pitt
TE - Jeremy Shockey - Miami
OL - Tony Boselli - USC OL - Orlando Pace - OSU C - Rod Payne - Michigan OL - Joe Thomas - Wisconsin OL - Jake Long


Defense:
DE - Simeon Rice - Illinois DT - Glenn Dorsey - LSU DT - Warren Sapp - Miami DE - Tyrell Suggs - Arizona St.
LB - Andy Katzenmoyer - OSU LB - Paul Posluszny LB - Tedy Lehman - OU
CB - Charles Woodson - Michigan SS - Dwayne Slay - Texas Tech FS - Ed Reed - Miami CB - Champ Bailey - Georgia