Kudos for the All-Decade Team being released today. I have no idea when that was supposed to happen, but during these trying times, it was good to see it. Now, people can knock-down-drag-out arguments on-line for a few hours. That should be alright to watch. As a Dolphin’s fan, there was only one realistic name that there was a possibility of seeing on that list and that name was Cam Wake. But, as I expected, he didn’t make it and it appears Cam Wake got snubbed.
Looking at the other defensive ends, you have Calais Campbell, JJ Watt, Cameron Jordan, and Julius Peppers. All these guys were absolute killers on the field and wreaked havoc all over the place. All these guys are outstanding, but one of these guys doesn’t have the stats that Cam Wake had during the decade. That person is Julius Peppers. Thanks to Bleacher Report for making such a fine graphic.
You can’t really argue with those numbers. Every which way Wake had a better decade. And Wake put up the better numbers during this decade in 14 fewer games.
But like I said, I’m not surprised that he wasn’t included on this list and I’m definitely not shocked Peppers got it over him. Why is this? There’s a couple of reasons. Julius Peppers played eight seasons before this decade and he was awesome. Peppers was a freak of nature seven seasons before Wake made it to the NFL. So, I’m thinking that even though Wake had a better statistical decade they’re giving it to Peppers sort of a totality of production.
Another reason is that Peppers was on winning teams where Wake wasn’t. Not because of Wake’s doing, the Dolphins stunk up the joint often during this past decade. Because Wake was never part of a team that did any kind of winning. He’s sadly very forgettable to anyone who doesn’t watch the Dolphins as we do. I understand it’s tough to hear that, but I feel that is the truth. It’s like the Zach Thomas vs. Brian Urlacher debate. One guy has better stats, but the other was much more well known.
I don’t want this to turn into a “the media hates the Dolphins” conversation because I strongly don’t think that’s true. My stance on that stupid argument is why would the media talk about a team that’s, typically, only in the news for doing or being linked to an embarrassing or ridiculous situation? When Miami starts winning, and I think that’s in the very near future, folks will talk about the Dolphins.
In the meantime when discussing Cam Wake getting snubbed, understand he did. He should have gotten it over Julius Peppers. By the letter of the law, he was better for the duration of that particular decade. Peppers just had the better career. But, if you have a non-biased brain in your skull, you knew he wasn’t making it. We’ll just have to remember the good ole days when Wake was destroying everybody in sight.
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