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| Eli Manning had a great year, but it was the season of Aaron Rodgers. (Getty) |
It's important to note the difference between the Most Valuable Player and Most Outstanding Player. College football awards the Heisman Trophy to the player deemed most outstanding. However, the NFL awards the MVP and by definition, it should be awarded to the player who had the most value to his teams success (or in the case of the OXen-created LVP, it should go to the one that is most detimental.
Most Valuable Offensive Player
Stally: I have a tough time with this one. Many people think that it should obviously be Aaron Rodgers, they're the kind of people that ignore that Drew Brees set a record for most yards and for most completions in a season. Brees also had more touchdown passes and fewer sacks. It's also worth noting that Rodgers back up, Matt Flynn, passed for 480 yards and six touchdowns in Week 17, which seems to diminish that "most valuable" tag."
If I got to cast votes for first through fifth place, here's my list in reverse order.
Honorable Mention: Eli Manning, QB, New York Giants
5. Arian Foster, RB, Houston Texans - Foster was one of the few consistents for a Texans team that won its division despite ending up on its fourth quarterback by Week 17 and missing star WR Andre Johnson for much of the year. Yes, Ben Tate was certainly a viable replacement in the times Foster was dinged, but Foster was the milkman in delivering the Texans to their first-ever playoff berth and led non-QBs with 141.6 yards of production per game.
4. Ray Rice, RB, Baltimore Ravens - Unlike Foster, Rice didn't have a viable back up. He was the glue for a 12-4 team that was plagued by the feast or famine of QB Joe Flacco's inconsistency. Rice's 129.3 average all-purpose yards ranked third behind Foster and Buffalo's Fred Jackson (who didn't play the whole season).
3. Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots - Brady didn't have the unanimous MVP season he put together last year, but he broke Dan Marino's long-standing passing yards record for a season (although he finished behind Brees). He was the rock that he's always been for the Pats and, with the defense as bad as it was in New England, they needed everything they got from him.
2. Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints - The determining factor for me in Brees vs. Rodgers was that, as Bill Simmons pointed out on his B.S. Report podcast, Brees played 11 games in a dome (Rodgers played just three). Sure, he's phenomenal anywhere, but it's pretty easy to put up gaudy passing stats when there's no weather with which to contend.
1. Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers - Yes, I'd still take my boy Brady over him, but Rodgers would win the award for being the Most Outstanding Player in the league right now. He's also the most valuable. He can makes fantasy studs out of the likes of Jordy Nelson and James Jones and when all else fails, he can make plays with his feet. He registered 60 rushes for 257 yards and three TDs (Brees was just 21/86/1).
Austen: Wow that's a lot to digest. Instead of coming up with a list of my own, I will simply comment on Stally's top six because all six of these guys are definitely worth talking about. The only other guys I think could be on this list are Ben Roethlisberger, Fred Jackson (who Stally briefly mentioned) and LeSean McCoy. Big Ben has been the sole reason the Steelers have been productive on offense at all this season, Jackson's injury sunk the Bills' playoff hopes, and LeSean McCoy scored a whopping 20 touchdowns in only 15 games and to me had the best season of any non-quarterback, which includes Foster.
On that note, let's look at Foster and Rice first. I think both were behind, but just barely behind, McCoy on what he meant for his team. Foster and Rice were great, but McCoy was seemingly the only Eagles player who did not give up during their disappointing season. Unlike Foster and Rice, who were both on playoff teams with top notch defenses, McCoy was fighting an uphill battle while his team was falling apart around him. However, he never let up for even a game and broke an Eagles touchdown record that has lasted for about 30 years. Either way, none of their performances were MVP worthy in a season that saw some of the best offense play the league has ever seen.
Now let's break down these quarterback performances. All four of these quarterbacks had MVP-caliber seasons, so it is a shame that they all happened in the same season. However, I do not see how anyone can argue that Aaron Rodgers should not be the MVP this season. He posted the best quarterback rating of any quarterback ever and scored 48 total touchdowns in only 15 games. Add Matt Flynn's stats to Rodgers' in the final game of the season, and he would have surpassed Dan Marino's passing record and broken Tom Brady's single season record for passing touchdowns. Flynn had the best day of any Packers quarterback ever, but you would have to think Rodgers would have been able to put up a similar performance had be started over Flynn. Add that his team only lost one game all year, he has to be the clear choice here.
Tom Brady has been great all season, but he turned the ball over five times in two games against the Bills compared to Rodgers' six turnovers all season long. He also threw for significantly less touchdowns, so I will eliminate him simply because the production and the wins are less impressive than Rodgers.
Drew Brees was part of an offense that set a record for most offensive yards in a single season and he was the main reason why. He had more passing touchdowns than Rodgers, but less total touchdowns and played one more game than Rodgers did. He also was clearly gunning for Marino's record all season as he was kept in during huge blow outs (most notably a 62-7 win over the Colts), so his stats got a little inflated from games in which the other team had given up and he just kept passing. Any other year and Brees would be the MVP, but this was Rodgers' year.
Finally to the only player I really think should be even considered to have a shot against Rodgers for the MVP, Eli Manning. No you did not read that wrong. Stally will say I am biased, but there is no denying what Eli has meant to this Giants team. Eli lead six come from behind wins in the fourth quarter or overtime this season. The Giants only won eight games! This team lived or died by how Eli played and he was pretty darn good all season long.
Stally: They won nine games, Austen, but go on...
Austen: Eli had to overcome a defense that was completely decimated by injuries all year long and was incredibly inconsistent. The Giants have long been a team that wanted to run the ball, yet this season they had less rushing yards and less rushing attempts than every other team in the NFL. The Giants offensive line has been shuffled around all season and they cut two long time starters before the season even began.
All of this would be hard to overcome, but even Eli's receivers have been infuriatingly inconsistent and are one of the worst in the league when it comes to dropped passes. I watched numerous games where all of Eli's interceptions were because of his receivers letting the ball bounce off of their hands and into a defender's.
Stally: Yahoo fantasy sports this year claimed at one point that Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks might be a rare combo of top-10 wide outs on the same team, but, again, go on...
When it comes down to it, I really think Eli has meant more to the Giants than any other player has to his respective team, but Rodgers has simply had too incredible of a season for him to not claim the MVP award.
Stally: It sounds like, based on my definition, you might actually think naming Eli Manning as the most valuable player to his team. I still think it's nutty that you'd take the QB of 9-7 team over a 13-3 team that that had fewer quality playermakers than the Giants. Oh well, we both concur that it was Rodgers year to win the MVP.
I'd also like to point out my Golden Rule that you don't win MVP if you didn't have enough of an impact to get your team into the playoffs. Thus, McCoy doesn't get my consideration as he played for the most underachieving team in the league.
Least Valuable Offensive Player
Stally: There were a lot of players this year that were very detrimental to their teams. Several of them would have performed far better, and in many cases made the playoffs, if the players being relied on hadn't failed miserably. Here's a look the guys I think were least valuable to their team in achieving their goal this season.
Honorable Mentions: Peyton Hillis, RB, Cleveland Browns; Mark Sanchez, QB, New York Jets; Blaine Gabbert, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars; Stevie Johnson, WR, Buffalo Bills
5. Donovan McNabb, QB, Minnesota Vikings - McNabb only played six games for the Vikes before Christian Ponder took over, but he wasted Minnesota's time. He went just 1-5 and only completed 10 of 21 passes in the single win. He was supposed to give Ponder a year to get up to speed in the NFL; he didn't do that.
4. Josh Freeman, QB, Tampa Bay Bucs - There were a lot of things wrong in Tampa Bay that I documented in a recent Goal Line Stand. However, after throwing 25 TDs and just six INTs for a 95.9 passer rating, Freeman regressed to an ugly 16 TDs to 22 INTs for a 74.6 passer rating. He certainly wasn't of value to the team this year.
3. Sam Bradford, QB, St. Louis Rams - Here's an interesting stat: Packers backup Matt Flynn threw as many TD passes (six) in 49 attempts as Bradford did in 357. I understand Bradford was hurt from time-to-time, but considering everyone was picking the Rams to win the division and they finished with two wins, I'm going to point a finger in the direction of the franchise quarterback.
2. Philip Rivers, QB, San Diego Chargers - How bad was Rivers this year? On Oct. 31, he fumbled a kneel down snap with time expiring in range of a chip shot game-winning field goal. The Chiefs recovered the ball and won in overtime. Rivers was third in the league with 20 interceptions and just 11th in passer rating. If he made a few less bad decisions or simply held on to a snap, the Chargers would have won the nine games required to win the paltry AFC West.
1. Chris Johnson, RB, Tennessee Titans - Johnson was not only the Least Valuable Player in real life, but also for fantasy owners, like myself. It's sad to look bad and see that, at 9-7, the Titans were a tiebreaker away from sneaking a playoff spot. If Johnson, who finished tied 14th with 1,047 rushing yards (in 2009, he went for 2,006), had played just a little harder in a game here or there, Tennessee would have been in the postseason. He's the bell cow for the Titans and he produced a pretty sour tasting product this year.
Austen: Two guys that I think should be way higher on Stally's disappointment radar are Carson Palmer and Kevin Kolb. Both of these quarterbacks were thought to be the saviors of their respective franchises and both franchises paid extremely steep prices to get these guys on their rosters.
Palmer was thrown into a tough situation, and he responded with very mediocre results. The Raiders had very few options at the quarterback position after starter Jason Campbell went down for the season with an injury. Palmer went 4-5 in his starts with the Raiders, causing them to lose the division lead and blow their playoff hopes.
Maybe it was too much to ask to take this team to the playoffs once Darren McFadden went down for the season, but Michael Bush more than made up for his production in the running game and it was Palmer's turnovers that seemed to cost the Raiders a ton of games. Palmer turned the ball over 17 times in just nine games and that was definitely not what the Raiders hoped for when they gave up a first-round pick and possibly a second rounder as well.
The Cardinals only gave up a second-round pick and a Pro Bowl corner to get their hands on Kolb, who was sought after by numerous teams, but his production was significantly worse than Palmer's. Kolb knocked off the horrible Panthers in the first game of the season before losing the next six games in a row and then going down with an injury, which was one of the big concerns about him.
The Cardinals then went on to win three out of the next four games with Kolb on the sidelines, including knocking off Kolb's old team, the Eagles. Kolb came back to beat the Cowboys, but got injured again during the first quarter of the 49ers game, in which backup John Skelton again stepped in and came up with a big win for the Cards.
Kolb was left on the bench for the end of the season, as it now looks like they will move on with Skelton as their quarterback of the future. You think the Cardinals might be upset about giving Kolb a $60-million contract before the start of this season? That's $30 million a win if he gets cut or traded in the offseason, which seems inevitable. Kolb and the Eagles made off like bandits and there is no question I would vote for Kolb being the LVP of the 2011 season.
Stally: You make an interesting argument, but I'm not going to agree with you, simply because I didn't expect great things from either of the players you named. I said at the time in Goal Line Stand that I disagreed with the trade for Carson Palmer, so it's hard for me to rip the player himself when I think the blame lies in the front office.
As far as Kolb goes, I ranked him 22nd among QBs on my 2011 fantasy football big board. You know how many quarterbacks I took the time to rank? Twenty-two! Rivers was ranked fourth, Bradford 14th, Freeman 16th and McNabb 20th. To me, all four of them were more detrimental to their teams failures than Kolb. Especially, when you consider that an 8-8 finish was better than I expected out of Kolb's Cardinals. I realize he had little to do with the success, but, at the same time, you can't make a case that the team exceed expectations.
Most Valuable Defensive Player
Austen: In a year dominated by offense, it is pretty hard to come up with a list of guys who are worthy of being the top defensive player of the year. There have been plenty of guys who have been putting up big stat lines, but they have done so on awful defenses, so I am really unsure what to think of their seasons. To be the MVP, I think their performance has to the difference in making a mediocre defense at least an above average defense. Either way, I will break down my top guys.
6. Jared Allen: This guy is year in, year out one of the best defensive players in the league. He came half of a sack shy of Michael Strahan's single-season sack record with 22 sacks in 2011 and the only reason he is not higher on my list is because the Vikings were so bad all year long against the pass that it is hard for me to say he made that big of a difference for a team that won only three games. He is still only 29 despite playing eight years in the league and he is still clearly in the prime of his career.
5. Brian Cushing: After an off season in 2010, in which he was suspended for the first four games for taking a banned substance, Cushing boucned back and lead the Texans defense in tackles with 114. He also recorded four sacks, two forced fumbles and two interceptions. He has been a force all year long in the middle of the field for the Texans defense that ranks no worse than fourth in all major categories.
4. DeMarcus Ware: The Cowboys may have missed the playoffs again, but it was definitely not because of the play of Ware. This guy might be the most talented defensive player in the NFL, and he is one of the hardest working and toughest players in the NFL. It is just unfortunate that the Boys do not have a single decent player in their secondary because Ware only needs about three seconds to get to any quarterback. However, the Boys' secondary is atrocious and they are one of the worst defenses against the pass this season, meaning he will not get a shot at the MVP award.
3. Jason Pierre-Paul: This guy had been the breakout defensive player of the year without a doubt. In only his second season after being drafted in the first round by the Giants, Pierre-Paul recorded almost three times as many tackles and almost four times as many sacks as he did in his rookie season, in which he showed a lot of promise. He led all defensive lineman with 86 tackles and was fourth in the NFL with 16.5 sacks. Again, the struggles of the Giants defense as a whole limits his chances of being the MVP, but the Giants definitely would not be in the playoffs had it not been for Pierre-Paul's play.
2. Johnathan Joseph: My final two picks are both players on fantastic defenses, yet their stats do not indicate their play. Joseph was added by the Texans after they could not land Nnamdi Asomugha, which might have been better for the Texans anyway. Joseph has been significantly better than Asomugha all season long and he is three years younger than Asomugha. He has more tackles, more forced fumbles, more interceptions, and three times as many passes defended.
Not to mention the Texans pass defense went from the worst in the NFL to the third best, which has a lot to do with Joseph's play. Even after losing pass rusher Mario Williams, Joseph and the rest of the Texans defense has made up for his absence. Joseph might not be on a lot of people's MVP list, but he is definitely high on mine.
1. Justin Smith: The 49ers defense has been the main reason they have a first-round bye this season and are sitting at 13-3. Their defense only allowed one rushing touchdown all season long and one 100-yard rusher, both of which were Marshawn Lynch in Week 16. The 49ers do have a lot of great defensive players, but with Patrick Willis being banged up a decent amount of the season, Smith has stepped up as a leader and put up a great season.
He recorded almost 60 tackles, 7.5 sacks, and forced three fumbles. He is the 49ers' leader against the run and sets the edge for the 49ers rush outside linebackers to gather up all those sacks. This is one of the most impressive seasons for a 3-4 defensive lineman ever. If I had a vote for the Defensive MVP, I would take the hardest working and most productive player on the best defense in the league, and that all leads me to Smith.
Stally: I'll take a similar approach and respond to what you did in responding the offensive players. Having worked for the 49ers last season, I'm glad you acknowledged Justin Smith. Smith is a hard worker with great talent and consistent performance. I'm glad you're giving him his due by acknowledging his role in resurrecting the defense.
Admittedly, I don't know as much about all the individual defensive players as you do, but the player that really stood out to me was your third pick, Jason Pierre-Paul. He seemed to be raising hell every time I watched him play and I do think that, while Eli Manning had a phenomenal season as well, the Giants wouldn't have made the playoffs without Pierre-Paul.
Overall, I can't really disagree with your arguments for anyone, but let me shed some light on a few more players I thought had a lot of value:
-Tamba Hali was a beast for the Kansas City Chiefs. While he didn't play the same position as Eric Berry, a lot of the defensive weight fell on his shoulders when Berry went out for the year in Week 1.
-I can't see anyway that the Denver Broncos' Von Miller doesn't take home the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. While everyone talks about Tim Tebow, the team got better as Miller emerged and won games because of its defense, not offense.
-Terrell Suggs helped lock down the Balitmore Ravens defense when Ray Lewis was injured and has more or less taken over the reigns from Lewis as the teams beastly linebacker. However, I do think that the defense is good enough through and through that it could survive if Suggs was removed from the equation. I couldn't say that about many of these other players.
Here's my ballot:
5. Jared Allen, Minnesota Vikings
4. Justin Smith, San Francisco 49ers
3. DeMarcus Ware, Dallas Cowboys
2. Johnathan Joseph, Houston Texans
1. Jason Pierre-Paul, New York Giants Least Valuable Defensive Player
Austen: Like I said before, this year has been all about offense. That leads me to believe that there have been a lot of Least Valuable candidates on the defensive side of the football. However, I will highlight my top three players, all of who are defensive backs, two of whom are on my beloved Jets.
3. Eric Smith: The Jets defense has struggled heavily all season long and a lot of that has to do with teams running and passing right at Smith. The reason he has almost 90 tackles is because offensive coordinators singled him out as the biggest weakness in the Jets' starting lineup and did everything they could to exploit his lack of speed and quickness. He could not cover all year long and was awful tackling in the open field. I cannot blame Smith too much because the Jets should have known by now that Smith was not a starting caliber safety. Next season, he should go back to being a special teams player with a limited role on defense, where he belongs.
2. Antonio Cromartie: After signing Cromartie to a four-year, $32 million, he responded with an extremely mediocre 2011 season, in which the Jets completely fell apart at the end of the season due to a lack of chemistry and leadership. Cromartie is extremely athletically talented, but he has no work ethic and is the anti-team player.
His inability to tackle on any sort of a consistent basis makes him a huge liability against the run and makes him a questionable option as a cover corner, since you would like your corner to be able to tackle the receiver once he catches the ball. Cromartie is boom or bust every time he is on the field. He could get a pick six or let a receiver run right past him for 99 yards, like Victor Cruz did against him in Week 16. I would not be shocked if he was not on the Jets' roster in 2012 due to his play and character concerns.
1. Nnamdi Asomugha: I do not think there has been a single more disappointing player this season than Asomugha. Yes, he was on a team that struggled as a whole to get anything going on either side of the ball and he was playing for a defensive coordinator who has spent his career as an offensive line coach, but there was still no excuse for the way Asomugha played all season long. He spent the first eight years of his career in Oakland on a defense that had almost no talent and was one of the best shutdown corners the league had ever seen.
Yet this season, on an Eagles' defense that might have more talent than any defense in the entire league, he seemingly could not cover anyone. He got burned on play after play by mediocre receivers and seemed to have forgotten how to tackle, which had been one of his greatest strengths his entire career. The Eagles definitely were not expecting an 8-8 season with no playoff berth when they gave Asomugha a $60-million contract, along with all of their other defensive free agent acquisitions. With Asomugha going on age 31 next season, the Eagles need to right the ship quickly on defense or else they will be paying a guy $10 million a year during the end of his career.
Stally: I agree that Asomugha takes the cake as his addition actually seemed to be detrimental to the Eagles defense. However, I think you're just being an angry Jets fan on the other two. The Jets ranked fifth in the league in stopping the pass this season, so it's hard for me to think that two of the three least valuable players in the league came from that secondary.
Honestly, the secondary you should have singled out was that of the New England Patriots. That unit will be the end of the team at some point during the playoffs and is the biggest difference between a Super Bowl champion and an early playoff flame out right now. If I had to single out one player, I'd point at Patrick Chung. I still think that the Pats got robbed when they traded Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel for the rights to pick him. He finally seemed to justify the trade last year but got beat badly this year and clearly can't be the guy in the Patriots secondary.
I also spent a lot of time watching other teams torch New England's Kyle Arrington. However, I don't feel like Arrington is anything more than an average nickel, so it's hard for me to lay it on the guy that ended up as one of the team's only healthy corners. The third guy, who I do feel like is deserving, is Albert Haynesworth. Like McNabb who didn't finish the season with Minnesota, he didn't provide anything that was promised and he certainly detracted from the Patriots defense whenever he managed to sneak on the field.
Aside from the Patriots, there are a few other players that stand out:
-The Cowboys' Terrance Newman, a.k.a The Human Hurdle, more or less single-handedly blew the Week 17 game against the Giants and lost Dallas a playoff spot. Twice, lumbering Giants jumped over him to pick up some key yards and keep New York drives going.
-Richard Seymour helped pace the Raiders to a record setting amount of penalties and paced a defense that was 29th in both points allowed and yards allowed.
-Former All-Pro Dwight Freeney was nothing special in Indianapolis.
-Lastly, Ronde Barber just needs to retire and let Tampa Bay get a little younger.
Here's my five player ballot:
5. Albert Haynesworth, New England Patriots
4. Richard Seymour, Oakland Raiders
3. Patrick Chung, New England Patriots
2. Terrance Newman, Dallas Cowboys
1. Nnamdi Asomugha, Philadelphia Eagles
We'll be back with more awards soon as we discuss coaches and rookies!
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