NFL and Fantasy awards by Dan Ericsson January 11th 2011
Well what a season. This has been one of the best NFL seasons that I can remember in a long time completely unpredictable, always exciting to watch and a literal sense that anything can happen. The playoffs are similar: theres no standout team this year and I can name a weakness on every team that its possible to exploit (or simply name the Seattle Seahawks) so the best is yet to come.
In any case, I thought Id hand out some awards to the best Ive seen both in the real NFL and in fantasy over the course of the year. I hope my picks have proved more profitable than hurtful for you over the year – in the interests of full disclosure I came 114th in the NFLUK/Sky Sports league in the end with 1759 points, so congratulations to any who beat me (you clearly dont need my columns!)
Drum roll please for the awards..
MVP (and Quarterback of the Year): Tom Brady, Patriots. A clear choice for me, and not just as a biased-from-the-perspective-of-everyone-else Patriots fan. The mark of an MVP should be someone who not just plays at a very high level themselves but also leads the team and improves those around him thats how I differentiate between MVP and Offensive Player of the Year. The Patriots were a young, young team that even those inside had little expectations for, and they expected to be in close range with the Jets for a hard-fought division title. What impressed me about Brady this season was that he took the young players under his wing when there as a slight leadership void at the beginning of the season you could see him on the sideline encouraging or yelling at the young players when they made mistakes, but always with the aim of improving their game. Its paid massive dividends going down the stretch.
On a playing side, I admit I questioned what the Patriots were doing when Randy Moss went. I thought that Branch had been a good if not spectacular player, shouldnt have left the Patriots originally and had declined a lot with the Seahawks. Brady made it looks like hed never left, along with a lot of other unknowns. To win with a group like that is a real mark of a great QB.
Offensive Player of the Year: Michael Vick, Eagles. Few people would have thought after he was jailed only a couple of years ago for a horrible crime that hed ever make a serious comeback, let alone a successful one. The new Vick looks so much better than the old one – Id frequently criticized Vick with the Falcons for severe inaccuracy, and didnt actually see him as positively as an all-round player some around the league did. Vick with the Eagles has worked on this element of his game, and throws in the pocket like a good pocket-specialist would do now, but has the dual-threat legs as well. To continue to improve next season he needs to analyse the state of the pocket better and whats happening in the immediate area as well as downfield, but for this year his stats are tremendous and brought the Eagles a significant number of wins.
Running Back of the Year: Jammaal Charles, Chiefs. Many will have let out a small gasp at this point and questioned if Ive forgotten about Arian Foster. Whilst Foster was a very strong candidate for this role, I feel that Charles has offered the most upside and demonstrable skill to his team of all running backs. Foster held the rushing title but was pretty much the sole runner all season with significant carries, so I find it all the more impressive that Charles was splitting time with Thomas Jones, had almost a 100 carries less than Foster and yet still was only 150-odd yards behind. The stat that wins Charles this away is yards-per-carry: 6.4 is astonishing in the modern game for pulling off consistently, especially on a team where defenses know theyre going to try and establish a running game. He consistently showed big play ability and versatility to be a threat in the passing game as well, and compliments Matt Cassells short passing game superbly.
Wide Receiver of the Year: Roddy White, Falcons. There were plenty of good candidates for this one, but I picked White because in addition to some fantastic stats during the year, he was consistently a threat for the Falcons and consistently a key factor in their wins. A player of the year should not just have some standout games, but be a player who honestly gives you the chance to rack up 16 wins in a season. White finished second in yards, which is particularly impressive given he spent much of the second half of the year fighting off injuries which did noticeably slow him down but not enough to kill off his production. A league leading 115 catches in the season show just how frequently he set the pace of a game.
Tight End of the Year: Antonio Gates, Chargers. This one was difficult, as all TEs in the league had problems in one way or another, be it producing consistently or in the case of Gates injury. In the end I decided that despite sitting out most of the late season he still squeezed out the award by how dominant he had been in the games he did play, often being the go-to guy for Phillip Rivers and an absolute touchdown machine, leading the league by a margin of 4 TDs at one point. Chargers fans will have felt the loss, and know that with him in the lineup that the season could (and should) have ended very differently.
Defensive Player of the Year: Clay Matthews, Packers. In my time watching the NFL Ive seen plenty of strong defensive players had offensive lines play consistent double-man duty on them. I cant remember seeing another time where I saw consistent OL triple-team on a player as was done with Matthews early in the season. Statistically speaking his best work was at the start of the season, whilst extrapolated he looked to have a single season record for sacks with a whopping 27. He was slowed by offenses planning against him and injuries around him, but those who kept an eye on the lines will have noticed how he was still a very dominant and important player.
Rookie of the Year: Ndamukong Suh, Lions. This was close between himself and Sam Bradford, and if the Rams had made the playoffs Id probably have given the nod the other way. The Lions are becoming a very promising team given the number of individuals you can identify as playing at a very high level, and Suh has become another addition to this list. He was dominant throughout the season, consistently created matchup nightmares and put up some healthy statistical numbers as well. Heck, he can even kick extra points!
Coach of the Year: Mike Smith, Falcons. Oh my, this one was tough and the most difficult award to decide on so much so I changed a couple of times before writing this section. So many good candidates. Belichick for turning a young team into a clear number one seed. Tomlin for maintaining a solid football team even with their star QB suspended. Reid for having the courage to trade an established starting QBthen start the backup. Haley for winning a division title with a team no-one expected. Lovie Smith in Chicago for way surpassing expectations with his team. The award however goes to Mike Smith of the Falcons.
Its the little things. The Falcons have problems in some places, such as pass defense yet if you close in and analyse you can see how theres lots of little touches in the way plays are designed and players are coached that minimize the weakness. A great example is the use of John Abraham. Conventional wisdom suggests you keep your best players in the game as much as possible. Smith worked out that you improve his production by playing him less and its not just his production thats improved by the other players affected by this decision. Matt Ryan has been developed well as a QB he already had the talent, but he has been given the right environment and playcalling to give him the conditioning to succeed. Theyve established themselves over the Saints in the division (and the playoffs remain to be seen but should be a great game) and are to my mind a classic bend but dont break team. I look forward to seeing them in the playoffs.
Breakout of the Year: Arian Foster, Texans. Foster astonishingly went from a training camp player to the rushing title this year. You knew something special was happening when he decimated the Colts in Week 1, and he put up some amazing performances since then.
Trade of the Year: Peyton Hillis for Brady Quinn. Well.trade of the year for one party at least! Peyton Hillis was another candidate for breakout of the year and early in the season appeared matchup proof. He faded towards the end of the season with teams learning to gameplan against him, not to mention his hard running style taking its toll, and this I feel his star may fade quickly. This season however he kept the Browns a team that had the potential to play spoiler, and couldnt be taken lightly by any opponents.
Fantasy award time!
Fantasy Player of the Year: Michael Vick, Eagles. Really, you expected anyone else? At two million on NFLUK, and in the MNF game against the Redskins had truly a fantasy QB performances for the ages. I heard some I survived Michael Vick fantasy t-shirts were produced for when it came to league style matchups Any player with legs and speed is always appealing in FF the only downside to this award is the fact that you know that Vick is going up to $4m next season. Still, theres always Tim Tebow
Predictive Power of the Year: NFL.coms Michael Fabiano. Put out enthusiastically with tweets that if he had to pick one player which you should take late in drafts it was Arian Foster, and hammered home the point. Foster still went undrafted in a number of drafts from people who should have listened, but those who took the gamble paid off handsomely. Im sure many will have forgotten something predicted some time ago but I havent and want to recognize it.
Problematic fantasy player of the Year: Ray Rice, Ravens. I freely admit that I thought Rice was on for a big year. Id have taken him in the No.3 slot with no question at all. With a retooled Ravens offense that included Anquan Boldin however he was severely underused and simply didnt get the opportunity to generate fantasy points despite running hard when he got the opportunity. Even when the Ravens were in the red zone, Willis Magahee was always there to frustrate the Rice owner when it came to the touchdown.
Wide Receiver of the Year: Roddy White, Falcons. There were plenty of good candidates for this one, but I picked White because in addition to some fantastic stats during the year, he was consistently a threat for the Falcons and consistently a key factor in their wins. A player of the year should not just have some standout games, but be a player who honestly gives you the chance to rack up 16 wins in a season. White finished second in yards, which is particularly impressive given he spent much of the second half of the year fighting off injuries which did noticeably slow him down but not enough to kill off his production. A league leading 115 catches in the season show just how frequently he set the pace of a game.
