That's Michael Celizic To You, Bitch

Mike Celizic: such a bad sportswriter that even when he's right, he still manages to be wrong. In an article he wrote for MSNBC.com, Celizic defends the Houston Texans for taking Mario Williams instead of Reggie Bush. Now, first off, let me acknowledge that Mike Celizic is right. In principle. It was the right pick for the Texans to not take Reggie Bush, because they are reasonably set at running back with Dominick Davis and their team is so bad that a position of relative strength like running back should be ignored in favor of filling a more pressing need.

You could of course make the argument (like I did all along but for some reason Charley Casserly wasn't interested in what I had to say) that the Texans should have traded down to a spot like #4 to a team that really wanted Bush (like the Jets) and acquired additional picks to add team depth and then still taken blue-chip Virginia OT D'Brickashaw Ferguson to improve the worst offensive line in football.

But, that's neither here nor there. The task at hand is examining how one sportswriter can be so foolish that he can be right and wrong at the same time. Here we go.

Think about all the Super Bowl teams and all the great defenders who defined them, from Bob Lilly to Mean Joe Greene to Lawrence Taylor to Ray Lewis to Richard Seymour.

Think about all the Super Bowl teams and all the great offensive players who defined them, from Bart Starr to Sober Joe Namath to Joe Montana to Doug Williams to Emmitt Smith/Troy Aikman/Michael Irvin to Brett Favre to John Elway/Terrell Davis to Kurt Warner/Isaac Bruce/Torry Holt/Marshall Faulk to Tom Brady.

Also, I'd like to congratulate Mike Celizic here for being the only idiot in America ballsy enough to put Richard Seymour in the same class as LT, Mean Joe, Bob Lilly and Ray Lewis. Also, I don't care what your definition of 'defining a team' is, you'll never tell me that Richard Seymour defined the Patriots Super Bowl champion teams.

Anyway, I understand his point, that good defenses are important, but come on. It's not just defense and cherry picking good defenders from Super Bowls past is not a way to convince anyone of who to take in the Draft.

By taking Williams, the Texans' defense is set. Put him at end and fill in with complimentary pieces. They go from a so-so defense to one that makes offensive coordinators tear their their hair out, just like that.

Man. I wish Mike Celizic hadn't said this. If he hadn't, I'd be sleeping right now instead of looking at Team Defense stats on ESPN.com from 2005. But he did, and all we can do is deal with it and move forward as a nation united against Mike Celizic. Anyway, consider this:

Dwight Freeney and the Indianapolis Colts: 11th in the league in total defense in 2005.
Patrick Kerney and the Atlanta Falcons: 22nd in the league in total defense in 2005.
Michael Strahan/Osi Umeniyora and the New York Giants: 24th in the league in total defense 2005.
NFL Legend Richard Seymour and the New England Patriots: 26th in the league in total defense in 2005.

All of the above are teams with one (or in the Giants' case two) kick-ass defensive lineman who were assumedly surrounded by at least 'so-so' players in 2005. As you can see, these teams obviously didn't have Mario Williams and therefore didn't make offensive coordinators pull their hair out. The exception was the Panthers with Julius Peppers who were 3rd in the league in total defense. So, the conclusion is this: either Mikey C is wrong about the significance and impact that Williams will have, or he thinks that Williams is going to have the same type of impact that Peppers does (who, by the way, was surrounded by guys like Dan Morgan and Kenny Lucas who are not just 'so-so' players).

Also, I'm not sure I'd call the defensive personnel on the Texans right now 'so-so.' In fact, the 31st ranked defense from a year ago would probably be more accurately characterized as 'shitty.'

Anyway, Mike C talks for a while longer and before it's all said and done manages to make everyone who agrees with his point hate him for making them look like his accomplices in this war crime of a sports article.

Last fun thing: my favorite argument in the article is when Celizic asks what would happen if Reggie Bush injured his knee if the Texans had taken him. What?!?! You've just spent valuable time convincing me that Mario Williams is the more valuable player for Houston. So, uh, Mikey, what would happen if Mario Williams hurt his knee? How does saying that one player could injure his knee (remember: he's not saying that Bush is more likely to injure his knee than Williams, he's just saying it's possible) tell me that I should take someone else?

That's it, I'm going to bed. I'll get you for this, Celizic.