After reading the emotional reactions to Tom Coughlin four days after the Giants' meltdown against Philadelphia, I guess I won't vote for him for coach of the year, although ...
Almost every season, he belongs somewhere in the top five-to-10. As does Andy Reid, who is getting roasted for not challenging the "not down by contact'' call that led to the TD that gave the Giants a 31-10 fourth-quarter lead over Reid's Eagles. Imagine if the Eagles had lost ...
Anyway, as a voter on the NFL awards, I haven't made up by mind yet. For good reason. I used to help run the voting for the AP and in 1999, we counted ballots after 15 games. Brett Favre and Barry Sanders tied for MVP, then Sanders had a great final game and a bunch of voters would have changed, giving Brett one less trophy (he has three.)
But with the deadline Jan. 7, I'm thinking about it. And since it's fashionable these days to put thoughts out there for everyone to read (and rip), here are a few. Since there are seven awards, there are seven categories, not a dozen.
Michael Vick was fashionable early. Then Tom Brady was unanimous because he's the reason the Patriots are the best team in football -- 12-2 with him; maybe 7-7 without him? That's out of the playoffs, except in the NFC West.
But after last Sunday's fourth-quarter performance, I'm leaning toward Vick. Brady is Brady. He'll slice you apart painlessly. Cut you up so that when you look up, you're trailing 45-3. Yeah, Brady's an MVP. Always
Vick is more than an MVP. Rip Coughlin for ripping Matt Dodge, his punter, in full view of television cameras. Rip Coughlin (he did it himself) for not putting his "hands'' team on the field with a two-touchdown lead and half a quarter to go, thus letting Philly get an easy onside kick recovery. But credit Vick for doing things no other quarterback can do.
Example: it's 31-24 Giants with 2:50 left, and the Eagles have a third-and-10 from their own 12, a situation they've been in for most of the first three quarters and failed to escape. Vick is flushed from the pocket again, although to his left instead of the right, preferred by the defense. DB Aaron Ross seems to have him cut off. Whoosh! Vick's around him for 33 yards. A minute and a half later, Vick has thrown to Jeremy Maclin for the tying touchdown. (Coughlin also ripped Ross -- not by name -- for that play. Coughlin's is a decent man. That's what Vick can do to you.)
Brady couldn't make that play. Brady didn't make that kind of play against the Giants defense three years ago, which is why the Patriots never got to celebrate a 19-0 season.
Michael Vick is the MVP.
People keep promoting Philip Rivers as an MVP candidate. You shouldn't be MVP on a team that might not make the playoffs, even if it's because of special teams errors. In any case, he's not as valuable as Vick or Brady. But he has numbers. Numbers make you the offensive player of the year. So. Rivers is it. (You can always vote the MVP offensive player -- it's happened a number of times. I just don't like to do it.) Besides, he's had 17 different receivers this year. Or is it 27? And Vincent Jackson didn't play most of the year because he and A.J. Smith, the Chargers GM, were engaged in the contract standoff that Smith seems to get into every year with someone.
Addendum: the guy I'd really like to vote for is Roddy White of Atlanta, who has been the NFL's best wide receiver all year. But protocol says "nobody appreciates the Falcons,'' who are tied with the Patriots for the NFL's best record. So I'll make him runner-up. Or maybe Matt Ryan is runner-up. But you can't vote for a Falcon because then you'd be appreciating them, and they have to stay unappreciated through the playoffs.
Addendum II: I'd really also like to vote for Jamaal Charles of the Chiefs, whose 6.2 yards per carry is 1.2 better than anyone else's. But he's already been rewarded by a very big, new contract. No money goes with offensive player of the year, so I'm sure he'll be satisfied even if he doesn't win this.
There are some folks who are going to vote for Ndamukong Suh, a rookie, which will enrage the folks at Pro Football Focus, who rate every player in the league. They've been pointing out all season that Suh has flaws and doesn't deserve the acclaim he's getting.
Well, he won't get this award, which will go to Clay Matthews Jr. -- he was given the award at midseason by Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, when they were doing a game in which he was a monster. (Michaels puts someone -- deserving or marginal -- in the Hall of Fame weekly, so we disregard him; but Collinsworth has cred.) So, Matthews will win it. Or his genes will win -- his grandfather played way back for the 49ers; his father was a standout linebacker for 19 years; his uncle was an offensive lineman who made the Hall of Fame on the first ballot; and his brother is starting at linebacker for Oregon in the national championship game. And none of them seem to get hurt.
But my vote might go to Justin Tuck of the Giants. Tuck has "only'' 10 sacks, tied for ninth in the league -- and we all know that you measure defensive players by that number, which is often arbitrary (Matthews has 12 1/2, second to the 14 by Cameron Wake of Miami, but Wake is "less deserving" because he had to earn his stripes in the Canadian league.) Tuck was a third-round choice in 2005, which qualifies him, I guess. What qualifies him more is that a lot of the Giants' sacks come because teams are concentrating on him and Osi Umenyiora. What makes him even more deserving is the "C'' on his jersey. He is a very smart but not very loud guy who has turned into a leader to replace Michael Strahan and is one of the main reasons the Giants' defense turned around this year. Except, of course, in the last eight minutes against the Eagles.
And if it doesn't go to Matthews or Tuck it might go to Vince Wilfork of the Patriots, who like his offensive counterpart, Dan Connolly, might be able to return a kick 71 yards -- and Wilfork is 50 pounds heavier.
Also add Troy Polamalu of the Steelers (too often a candidate?) and another Atlanta guy that no one's ever heard of but has won at least two games with big plays: Brent Grimes, a cornerback. But if any Falcons get votes here, it will be John Abraham. He has sacks and we've all heard of him.
No one is going to vote for Coughlin or Reid, which is a shame because both deserve some love. Or lifetime achievement awards. Or both.
Rex Ryan? He's talked his way out of votes. Besides, don't you think he at least knew about Sal Alosi's sideline phalanx?
I'm tempted to vote for Bill Belichick, which isn't how this award is normally given -- it's supposed to go to coaches whose teams do better than expected. And BB's teams would have to go unbeaten through the Super Bowl every year to do better than expected.
So let's make it Steve Spagnuolo of St. Louis, who may or may not win the NFC West at 7-9. Note to Reid and Coughlin detractors: Spagnuolo apprenticed under both. His best players are a quality running back (Steven Jackson) plus two rookies (Sam Bradford and Rodger Saffold), and a receiver named Danny Amendola who no one's heard of. His defense is Chris Long, James Laurinitis plus a bunch of Giants rejects, including Craig Dahl, a safety the Giants didn't want when they had him.
If not Spags, then Mike Smith. He might fall into the Belichick category, because a lot of folks liked the Falcons at the start of the season. But not to the point where they'd get the NFC's top seed. Besides, nobody's heard of him so no one lists him as one of the NFL's top coaches, even though he is.
And while we're talking about the NFC South, throw in Raheem Morris.
This vote does not go to the tag team of Mike and Kyle Shanahan. You can humiliate Matt Dodge (Coughlin) and then apologize for it. You cannot humiliate Donovan McNabb and then give 12 different reasons in the next 24 hours why you benched him at a critical time for Rex Grossman. Mike has won one playoff game since John Elway retired in 1998. Kyle has never won one.
Easy. The Rams have twice as many wins (six) as they had in 2008 and 2009 combined, and the same number as they had if you throw in 2007. Sam Bradford is the quarterback. He's only 27th in the league in passer rating, one behind McNabb, the scapegoat for the Shanahan family. But he's a leader and a winner (although 6-8 is hardly a winner).
Intriguing question: Where would Tim Tebow have been on the list if he'd been playing as much as Bradford? I'm not a Tebow fan because no athlete should be revered the way he was in Florida. But that really wasn't his fault as much it was the fault of his fans. It looks like he might be a leader and a winner.
Here we go with those Pro Football Focus folks who have examined Mr. Suh to death. From my standpoint, his biggest weakness is placekicking -- his missed extra point after Jason Hanson was hurt cost the Lions a win over the Jets.
However (and this time I will go with Collinsworth) ...
Has anyone noticed that New England's Devin McCourty is tied for second in the NFL with six interceptions. He was the 27th overall pick, not the second. Plus, he played high school football about 20 miles from where I live (although in New York, no one pays much attention to high school, so I never heard of him until he got to Rutgers).
Right now, I'm debating between Suh and McCourty. As is Collinsworth.
A lot of guys have come back from injuries and played well this year. No one's come back from 19 months in Leavenworth. It's Michael Vick.
And, by the way, Vick should be allowed by the inflexible court system to get a dog. If PETA objects, too bad -- maybe they're upset because Vick's charitable work is not for them but for the SPCA and the Humane Society. He was turned into an example for a horrible crime (I'm a dog owner) ,but one that's popular all over the country and for which the punishment is more often a fine than two years in federal prison. One of the best people to talk to about Vick is Reid, who knows about redemption because of his sons' drug-related prison terms.
More from NFL.com:
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment