playoffsWith the regular season behind us, it is time to look back on the personal achievements and look ahead to the postseason. So, without further ado, I give you both my regular seasopn awards and my playoff predictions.
MVP: LaDainian Tomlinson, RB, San Diego. He has had one of the greatest individual seasons in football history and his team has homefield advantage in the toughest conference. That might as well be the definition for the award. If he isn't chosen unanimously I will be shocked.
Honorable Mention: Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans; Larry Johnson, RB, Kansas City (quietly set the NFL record for carries in a season).
Offensive Player of the Year: See above.
Defensive Player of the Year: Champ Bailey, CB, Denver. Quarterbacks are basically told to not throw at Bailey because he can single-handedly blanket any receiver in the league. Despite this, the former two-way star at Georgia has 10 interceptions. But what is great about Champ, besides his awesome nickname (his real name is Roland, not nearly as cool), is that he is not Deion Sanders, who never had more than 44 tackles in a season. This season, Bailey finished with 86 tackles, one sack, and 4 recovered fumbles...to go along with the ten interceptions. By the way, Deion's best was 7 INTs.
Honorable Mention: Jason Taylor, DE, Miami.
A word on Shawne Merriman: I agree with Jason Taylor who said that Merriman should not be eligible for individual honors and awards, including the Pro Bowl. I do not agree with Taylor that any type of suspension should disqualify a person, but in this case, Merriman was suspended for illegally enhancing his performance. How can a player be chastised for taking performance enhancers, then praised for his exceptional on-field performance?
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, Jacksonville. There is a surprisingly deep pool of impressive rookies on offense this year, but Jones-Drew gets the nod with 1,377 total yard and 15 touchdowns, plus one more returning a kick. Vince Young deserves consideration because Tennessee has been winning, but this award is not for the most valuable rookie, so wins are not as important. Marques Colston and Reggie Bush both warant consideration as well, but this award really is about statistics. Young finished with a QB rating of 66.7 and threw more interceptions than touchdowns. Colston had just over 1,000 yards and 8 touchdowns. Reggie Bush had stats very similar to MJD, finishing with 1,307 yards rushing and receiving to go with 8 TDs, plus one more on a punt return. The advantage both backs enjoyed was that they did not have to be their teams' featured back. Bush got to sit behind Deuce McAllister and MJD sat behind Fred Taylor. The reason I chose Maurice Jones-Drew is that thouchdowns are more important than yards, and 16 touchdowns is an amazing number for a rookie, tied for third most in the league behind LT and LJ.
Honorable Mention: Joseph Addai, RB, Indianapolis; Bush, RB, New Orleans; Colston, WR, New Orleans; Young, QB, Tennessee.
Defensive Rookie of the Year: DeMeco Ryans, MLB, Houston. It is unfortunate that Ryans has to play in the black hole that is Houston, but he had a phenomenal year, finishing second in the entire league with 156 tackles to go along with 4 sacks, a forced fumble and an interception.
Honorable Mention: Mark Anderson, DE, Chicago (12 sacks); A.J. Hawk, OLB, Green Bay (121 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 2 INTs).
Comeback Player of the Year: Chad Pennington, QB, Ney York Jets. He played in three games last season, had surgery on his throwing shoulder, and had to earn back his starting spot after his team drafted a quarterback in the second round and then traded for another. Amazingly, all of that added up to a pretty good season: 3,352 passing yards, 17 TDs, 16 INTs. If he were in the NFC he might be starting in the Pro Bowl. The icing on the cake is taking a team to the playoffs that most people, including myself, thought would be drafting in the top 10 in 2007. Now, before you get all huffy over my not choosing Drew Brees or Carson Palmer, you have to remember that neither of these players missed a start last season. Even still, they both had great years last year. Coming back from injury is not easy, and they both had great seasons again this year, but Pennington is more deserving.
Honorable Mention: Ahman Green, RB, Green Bay.
Coach of the Year: Eric Mangini, New York Jets. This seemed to come down to a race between Mangini and New Orleans head coach Sean Payton. Both rookie head coaches took an unlikely team into the playoffs with a 10-6 record. The reason Mangini gets the nod is that he had fewer pieces to work with. Payton had Brees, Bush, McAllister, and Joe Horn. Mangini had Pennington and Laveranues Coles. I understand that Sean Payton has been coaching in New Orleans and the team's success is really important to the area, but this is a football award for success on the football field.
Honorable Mention: Payton, New Orleans.
Please hold all applause until the end of the program, because it's on to my playoff predictions...
AFC:
Wild Card
Kansas City at Indianapolis: Chiefs win, 35-31.
Poor Peyton Manning. I cannot help but feel sorry for the guy. He is gonna go out and throw 4 TDs to keep his team close. Meanwhile, his defense will be busy giving up 175 yards to Larry Johnson, who grinds the clock to leave the Colts with barely any time to catch up. Peyton throws a pick late and unfairly takes the blame for not getting to the Super Bowl.
New York Jets at New England: Patriot win, 27-10.
New England, at home, in January, against a team of playoff rookies. I don't care if the Jets beat the Pats on the road earlier in the season. The New England D will dominate, letting Laurence Maroney have a huge game as the Pats play conservative in the second half and run the ball while resting Corey Dillon.
Division
New England at Baltimore: Ravens win, 13-10.
This will be a classic defensive slobberknocker, as John Madden would say it. Both quarterbacks throw multiple interceptions. Neither running game gets 100 yards. Casual fans will find it boring, but junkies like me will love it. The Baltimore D will force a late turnover, giving the offense great field position to run a couple minutes off the clock and set Matt Stover up for a game-winner from 35 yards.
Kansas City at San Diego: Chargers win, 24-13.
Jamal Williams will be the difference for San Diego in this game. In case you have not heard of him, and you're not alone, he is one of the best nose tackles in the league and he is the reason the Chargers are going to contain Larry Johnson. Oh yeah, and that Tomlinson guy will blow up for 150 yards rushing, another 50 receiving, and all three San Diego touchdowns.
Conference
Baltimore at San Diego: Ravens win, 10-7.
I just cannot let Marty Schottenheimer get to the Super Bowl. No matter how well this team has played, I have to bet on the side of history. In 21 years as a head coach, Schottenheimer has only had three losing seasons, has 11 seasons with 10 or more wins, and has made the playoffs 12 times. Not once has his team reached the Super Bowl. Baltimore's D will have another outstanding game, carrying the team to a win and drawing the instant comparisons to their 2000 championship team.
NFC:
Wild Card
Dallas at Seattle: Seahawks win, 27-9.
After starting the season 3-3, Bill Parcells decided to replace Drew Bledsoe with Tony Romo. Dallas proceded to win five of their next six games, after which every commentator in the world put them in the Super Bowl and Romo in the Hall of Fame. Since then, they are 1-3 with loses to two playoff teams (Philadelphia and New Orleans) and a loss last week to what would have been the worst in the league were it not for the Cowboys embarrassing themselves. There are only a handful of teams in the entire league Dallas could beat right now, so they have no chance going into one of the best homefield advantages in the league against last year's conference champs.
New York Giants at Philadelphia: Eagles win, 31-28.
This shouldn't be a close game, but it will be because of Tiki Barber. He won't run for 234 yards and 3 touchdowns like he did last week, but he should be around 200 total yards with two or three TDs. Unfortunately, Eli Manning will have a terrible game, taking a major step backwards from which he may never recover. That will be the difference in the game. Jeff Garcia will be solid for the Eagles and neither D will put up a fight, though there will probably be a highlight play or two from the Philadelphia secondary. Meanwhile, Brian Westbrook will be doing pretty much the same thing as Barber. What ensues will be endless comparisons between the two with countless references to how Tiki is passing the torch to Westbrook as the next great all-purpose back. Simply nauseating. Odds start at 3-1 that it makes me throw up a little.
Division
Seattle at Chicago: Sehawks win, 17-6
There are two ways to approach making a prediction for this game. The first is to look at the state of the teams as they are now. Seattle's best players, Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander, have finally gotten healthy and they should be in a very nice rhythm in this game, which will be their eighth consecutive game together. The Bears' offense, on the other hand, is in a state of decline to say the least, with Rex Grossman leading the charge. The other way to approach this game is to look at what happened in Week 4, when Chicago beat Seattle 37-6. Obviously I chose the former.
Philadelphia at New Orleans: Saints win, 31-13.
The Saints' offense is going to score all 31 points in just three quarters, but it is their defense that will have a monster game. New Orleans keeps eight men in the box and keep Brian Westbrook bottled up all day. Forced to make plays, Garcia will get "happy feet" in the pocket and scramble unnecessarily, leading to two fumbles to go along with two interceptions. The New Orleans offense does a good job of protecting the football and capitalizing on excellent field position. It will be a snoozefest after halftime, when the score will already be 28-3.
Conference
Seattle at New Orleans: Saints win, 41-38.
This will be the exciting game. These offenses will both be clicking with both defense left gasping for air trying to keep up; one of those games where the team with the ball last will win. Drew Brees is stud of the day, throwing between 350 and 400 yards and completing 75-80% of his passes with 3 touchdowns and no interception. Shaun Alexander gives Seattle a couple of long touchdown run, and Deion Branch has a catch for more than 60 yards. Unfortunately, their banged-up secondary couldn't stop the Saints.
AFL-NFL Championship Game:
Baltimore vs. New Orleans in Miami, FL: Ravens win, 24-13.
The Saints' offense has been humming along, but a good defense will beat a good offense and the Ravens' D will be too much for the Saints. Brees will get knocked down every time he drops back and rookie DT Haloti Ngata plugs up the middle to shut down Deuce McAllister. What about Reggie Bush? Ray Lewis makes a hit on Bush that is borderline dirty, sending a concussed Bush to the sideline for the rest of the game. Ed Reed wins MVP with 2 INTs and a sack that forced a fumble.
I know that's a lot to digest, but I still want to hear your thought on both the individual awards and playoff predictions.
As always, comments, critiques and suggested topics are welcome by replying here or by emailing me at KONsports@yahoo.com.
