Charles Tillman will knock your balls out for you.

[flannj]

http://deadspin.com/charles-tillman-announces-retirement-with-incredible-vi-1783878093?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

I'll miss him. That's for sure.

This really bums me out.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

FYBC

[SKO]

He was the best.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

He was the best.

In one of his last years with the Bears it just struck me how uniquely talented he had been, over the course of his career, in an area which, to my knowledge, has never been a feature of a defensive player--interceptions *and* forced fumbles (and fumble recoveries).  Tillman didn't have an exceptional number of INT's for a D-Back but his FF's and FR's more than made up for it, IMO.  In his rookie year he shut down an in-his-prime Randy Moss and subsequently seemed to always be there when they most needed him (fuck YOU, Steve Smith, for leaving the one dark mark on his career).

All of this makes me think P'Nut'll eventually make the HOF, thus providing, not that we need it, validation that BC is in fact a complete moron.

[SKO]

He was the best.

In one of his last years with the Bears it just struck me how uniquely talented he had been, over the course of his career, in an area which, to my knowledge, has never been a feature of a defensive player--interceptions *and* forced fumbles (and fumble recoveries).  Tillman didn't have an exceptional number of INT's for a D-Back but his FF's and FR's more than made up for it, IMO.  In his rookie year he shut down an in-his-prime Randy Moss and subsequently seemed to always be there when they most needed him (fuck YOU, Steve Smith, for leaving the one dark mark on his career).

All of this makes me think P'Nut'll eventually make the HOF, thus providing, not that we need it, validation that BC is in fact a complete moron.

Steve Smith never really dominated Tillman so much as Lovie stubbornly insisted on playing zone and the sneaky little shit was always able to find the gaps. Over the corner, under the safety. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

That said, Tillman should absolutely be a hall of fame corner. The myth that he was somehow only a zone corner is the only obstacle. When asked to play man he was always one of the best in the league. He got more attention for it with the repeated pantsings of Megatron, and the rise of analytics in football and places like PFF giving him proper credit will hopefully help, because they lead the charge in saying that he was a shutdown corner who just happened to play in a zone defense, not a product of a system. If 2003 Charles Tillman was drafted by the Seahawks tomorrow there'd be no question of whether or not he was an elite shutdown corner.