2008/12/29

Pittsburgh Panthers All-Time NFL Roster


On the day before the Panthers take on Oregon State in the Sun Bowl, we decided to come up with the Pitt Panthers all-time football roster, as I believe that it is one of the best. This roster is simply based on a players professional performance in the NFL, so their college play does not factor in. It is basically like coming up with a pro-bowl NFL team, but each player represents the college that they went to. And after some research, I believe that Pitt has one of the best teams of any college. Here is the roster--

OFFENSE
QB - Dan Marino
RB - Tony Dorsett
RB - Curtis Martin
WR - Larry Fitzgerald
WR - Antonio Bryant
TE - Mike Ditka
OL - Mark May
OL - Bill Fralic
OL - Jimbo Covert
OL - Russ Grimm
OL - Ruben Brown


DEFENSE
DE - Chris Doleman
DT - Tony Siragusa
DT -Sean Gilbert
DE - Hugh Green
LB - Joe Schmidt
LB - Rickey Jackson
LB - Marty Schottenheimer
CB - Darrelle Revis
CB - Shawntae Spencer
S - Hank Poteat
S - Anthony Dorsett

Head Coach - Pop Warner

Key reserves: Craig "Ironhead" Heyward, Jeff Christy, Mark Stepnoski, Jeff Otah, Gerald Hayes


If you break down the roster, there are some strengths and weaknesses. The offense looks to be one of the best of any college, with hall of famers at the QB, RB, and TE position. Dan Marino is arguable the best pro quarterback ever, definitely top five. At running back, you feature two of the six rushers in terms of rushing yards all-time. No other team would have that solid a combo at quarterback and running back. The offense also features the first NFL tight end hall of famer in Mike Ditka, and also features all five starting pro-bowl offensive lineman. If there is a weakness on the offense, it is at wide receivers, but the two starting wide receivers are both currently 1000 yard receivers this football season, with Larry Fitzgerald going over 1400 for the 3rd time in his career, and Antonio Bryant going over 1200 this season, his 2nd 1000 yard season of his career.

The weakness of the Pitt team appears to be the defense. The front 7 is pretty good, especially at defensive end and linebacker. This Pitt team features two of the top ten players in the NFL in all-time sacks, in Chris Doleman, and Rickey Jackson, and also features a hall of famer in linebacker Joe Schmidt. We all know how important it is in today's NFL to get pressure on the quarterback, and this Pitt all-time team would be able to do that. The weakness on the Pitt defense comes in the secondary. Darrelle Revis is one of the best young cornerbacks in the game, but at the other cornerback, and safety positions, this team shows some weakness.

All in all, I think if you were to make an NFL pro-bowl team based on where the players went to college, Pitt would be one of the best. The Pitt offense may be the best offense there is, and Pitt would easily destroy notable rivals Penn State or West Virginia. In fact, I welcome anyone from another school to make a similar list, and we can see which team is better.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

pitt is the shit. Even though we hjave no QB currently, its all good. The all-time team would destroy everybody.

Anonymous said...

Pitt could've used some of those players in yesterday's Sun Bowl, and I don't even mean in their prime...Hell, Marino could have run out of a luxury box onto the field in a three-piece suit and beverage in hand and done a better job than the slop currently masquerading as QBs for the Panthers. Hell, even Mr. Green after a full night of Yuenglings could produce a better showing... That was a total embarrasment to the legacy of Panther football! The Inquirer had it right: "3-0! Oregon State Wins Epic Snoozer." Going against a Beavers squad missing both of its best players, the Rodgers brothers, Pitt could only come up with 178 total yards! And McCoy only 85! Maybe if genius Wannstedt (AKA Mr. Mediocre) had given McCoy an adequate number of touches, the result might have been different. Guess Mr. Mediocre enjoys the sight of passes wobbling aimlessly through the air like wounded ducks, falling to the ground nowhere near a discernible receiver. Wannstedt was a failure coaching in the NFL, and he's proving to be one for his alma mater as well. But at least he and his squad made history: this was the lowest scoring major bowl game in 50 years (1959 Cotton Bowl, Air Force vs TCU, 0-0) and the lowest scoring Sun Bowl since 1940 (Catholic U vs. Arizona State, 0-0). Oregon State Beavers raise their bowl record to 5-0; Panthers drop to 10-15. All Pitt football has on its side right now is its proud history, and I'm afraid that with Mr. Mediocre at the helm, that's the only glory they'll have for quite some time. Thank God for hoops! Undefeated Panthers vs. Hoyas on Saturday -- now that's worth watching!

Anonymous said...

Alright Dr. G, while I obviously have no excuse for the Pitt game yesterday, we did make some strides this season. 9-4 overall, 2nd place in the Big East isn't great, but it is our best season in a few years, and we are getting there. McCoy stated he would be back next season, although I'll believe it when I see it, but if he comes back we will again have one of the best RB's in college football. As for the game yesterday, our QB play is beyond embarrassing. We would run McCoy on 1st down for 7 yards, then throw 2 straight incomplete passes. Or we would run McCoy on first and second down for 4, and 3 yards, and then throw incomplete on 3rd down. McCoy cannot be blamed, when our QB went 7-24, for 50 something yards. Either way, a disappointing end to the season no doubt, but there were some positives this season. I'm just glad that the all-time Pitt roster would get out on the field and destroy an all-time Penn State roster.

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Thanks for this article, really useful piece of writing.

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Pitt is useless, he does what he thinks will benefit him and always cause trouble for other players. Hope he understands this. Post something new about this too. Thank You