Tony P. brought up another good point in the Pro Football Hall of Fame 2010 Senior List post–since we’re coming up on the 2009 season, we might as well start looking forward to the Team of the Decade for 2000-2009.

So Andy and I put our heads together. We looked at past All-Decade teams and did some quick and dirty research on the past decade’s post-season profiles. Several positions had a glut of superstars while others were lacking. So we decided to not focus on naming a specific number of players from any given spot but on recognizing players with sustained stretches of great play.

Feel free to let us know what you think.

Offense
QB: Tom Brady
QB: Peyton Manning
Comments: Guys like Brett Favre, Drew Brees and Daunte Culpepper popped up a couple times but Brady and Manning are clearly the class of the decade.

RB: LaDainian Tomlinson
RB: Shaun Alexander
RB: Edgerrin James
Comments: Curtis Martin, Larry Johnson and Brian Westbrook garnered consideration but these three guys had greater consistency and longer stretches of greatness. Marshall Faulk’s great days were behind him by 2002.

WR: Marvin Harrison
WR: Terrell Owens
WR: Chad Johnson
WR: Randy Moss
Comments: Considered Torry Holt, Reggie Wayne, Steve Smith, and Hines Ward.

TE: Tony Gonzalez
TE: Antonio Gates
Comments: Jason Witten popped up more than we expected but these two were a cut above in terms of Pro Bowl appearances and All-Pro teams.

T: Jonathan Ogden
T: Orlando Pace
T: Walter Jones
T: Willie Anderson
T: Willie Roaf
Comments: This was one of the toughest positions to judge so we took five. There were several others whose names popped up in post-season awards but none that stood out like these guys.

G: Steve Hutchinson
G: Alan Faneca
G: Will Shields
Comments: Brian Watters and Marco Rivera also had spells of greatness but they didn’t last as long as the three we selected.

C: Kevin Mawae
Comments: Four other guys stood out: Matt Birk, Tom Nalen, Olin Kreutz, and Jeff Saturday all had similar postseason profiles. None matched Mawae and singling out one or two of the four proved difficult.

Defense
DE: Michael Strahan
DE: Jason Taylor
DE: Richard Seymour
Comments: Julius Peppers and Dwight Freeney are also great players with an opportunity to crack the team with productive 2009 seasons. Jared Allen has been great the last two years but his career hasn’t stacked up with the other five players … yet.

DT: Kevin Williams
Comments: Warren Sapp popped up a lot at the beginning of the decade but not much in recent years. Albert Haynesworth, Kris Jenkins and Jamal Williams have all had stretches of greatness but due to injuries, inconsistency, and the occasional meat-grinding of opponents’ faces with cleats, all three have also completely disappeared at times.

LB: Ray Lewis
LB: Derrick Brooks
LB: Zach Thomas
LB: Joey Porter
LB: Brian Urlacher
Comments: Lewis and Brooks exhibit the sustained greatness that will move them from this discussion to the Zoneblitz Hall of Fame discussion threads the day they announce their retirements. Zoneblitz has always contended that Urlacher is somewhat overrated, but you can’t argue his postseason profile. Keith Brooking, James Farrior, Keith Bulluck, Shawne Merriman and DeMarcus Ware also warranted discussion but didn’t quite match the five we named.

CB: Champ Bailey
CB: Ronde Barber
Comments: Ty Law, Patrick Surtain and Sam Madison were also in the mix. There have been a lot of “very good” players but sustained runs of excellence at this position have been more rare than we expected.

S: Ed Reed
S: Troy Polamalu
S: Brian Dawkins
Comments: Adrian Wilson gets little notoriety playing for Arizona but he is approaching this level. Rodney Harrison also has had great moments during the decades but also has been injured far too often.

Special Teams
K: Adam Vinatieri
K: David Akers
P: Shane Lechler
P: Todd Sauerbrun
Returner: Dante Hall
Returner: Devin Hester

Coaches: Bill Belichick
Tony Dungy
Bill Cowher
Comments: I’d watch out for Mike Tomlin as a possible coach of the 2010s.