Friday, December 18, 2009

Hines Ward: All-Decade WR?

Recently SI.com football writer Peter King posted his NFL all-decade team. I don’t always agree with King and his stuff may not be great 100% of the time but he’s a great football writer and I always read his stuff. And I don’t have any criticism at the moment of any of his selections. His most controversial pick is surely Hines Ward as one of his two all-decade wideouts (alongside Randy Moss). King passed up guys with more impressive receiving numbers, most notably Marvin Harrison and Terrell Owens. Now King knows the numbers and preemptively defends the Ward pick, highlighting Ward’s blocking ability and stating it was for a player “who produces and blocks and wins.” I kind of like the call. Yeah, I know T.O.’s caught a lot more TD’s but you can’t ignore the fact that three different teams decided they’d be better off without the guy even though he was putting up great numbers. How many other all-time greats can you name who were repeatedly told to get lost while still in their prime?

As for Marvin Harrison I think you have to adjust his career numbers down a bit because he played his whole career with maybe the greatest passer who ever lived. Notice how Peyton Manning’s in the midst of his greatest season even though Harrison's gone and was replaced by a rookie and a second-year guy with a French name and four career catches. Manning hasn't missed a beat.

Owens and Harrison were able to post bigger numbers than Ward in this decade not necessarily because of superior talent but because they played in better passing offenses. Or at least offenses that preferred to throw. Here’s how Harrison’s Colts ranked in passing attempts for each year of his career:

Marvin Harrison

YearRank
199615
199718
19981
199913
20008
20017
20025
20035
200415
200515
20066
200715
20085


Four times in the top five, seven times in the top ten, 12 times in the top half of the league.

Here’s Terrell Owens' teams:

YearRank
199611
199728
19985
19997
20004
200122
200210
200319
20049
20053
200620
200718
20088


Three top fives, seven top tens, eight times in the top half of the league. Now compare Hines Ward's Steelers:

YearRank
199822
199917
200029
200128
200216
200310
200432
200532
200614
200731
200820


Only once has Ward ever even played for a team ranked in the top ten for passing attempts (and that was just a tenth-place ranking!). Only three times has his team ever finished in the top half of the league. We can see he simply hasn’t had the opportunity to post the same kind of numbers year in and year out that Harrison or T.O. have. Ward’s played with a good QB for the past several years. He’s had other good receiving teammates (Burress, Holmes). So clearly the Steelers organization simply prefers to run the ball more than other teams. And therefore it’s only fair for Peter King to recognize Ward for his overall game and great productivity given the conservative offenses he’s played for. You can’t just give the nod to Owens or Harrison because they played on pass-happy teams. You’re supposed to be honoring the individual player, not his offense. It's not insane to prefer Ward.

2 comments:

Sidd said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sidd said...

Sidd said...
Love your analysis.
I am a big time steelers fan so I could be holmer but most important point by King was when he has Moss to stretch up the field he wanted somebody to complement him who can get in the middle, take hit and still complete that 3 rd and 8. That defines Hines ward career and I would take pyscho 86 any day over other wide receivers. Add to that his clutch play abilities which so many times we have seen totally invisible from harrison particularly in playoffs...I am glad ward finally got the QB who can pass, he already has 2 1000 yard seasons in 11th and 12th season and if he continues that combined with 2 superbowls, 1 MVP and multiple playoff yards, he will bea tough guy to be denied in HOF