We had yet another spectacular season in which there were a lot of surprise teams making the playoffs. A lot of players out performed expectations, while even more were awful in spectacular fashion.
Here are my awards for the season:
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| It's official: No one can tackle Adrian Peterson. |
Peterson deserves every award that he is eligible to win this season.
Raise your hand if you assumed the Vikings had no shot at making the playoffs after the injury to Percy Harvin. If I was in a room full of people instead of sitting on my couch alone, everyone around me would have their hands high up in the air.
Since Harvin's injury in Week 9, Peterson has rushed for an astonishing 1,322 yards for an average of over 165 yards per game to go along with eight touchdowns. To put that in context, only five running backs have more rushing yards than that all season. Frank Gore and Ray Rice have less yards than that all season and still made the Pro Bowl, with 1,214 and 1,143 respectively. This is by no means a normal year for Peterson.
He came only nine yards short of breaking Eric Dickerson single season rushing record. This is without a great offensive line, without a franchise quarterback taking pressure off of him (sorry Christian Ponder), and without the Viking's only other legitimate offensive option. Oh, and did I mention he probably has not played at 100% all season?
After tearing both his ACL and MCL in his knee, many thought that Peterson's career could be in serious jeopardy. Considering it happened so late in the 2011 season, not many had hope he would be able to impact the game in the same way until at least 2013. 2012 rolled around and Peterson was back to his old self Week 1.
Then the inexplicable happened: Peterson got better! How does the best running back in the NFL get better? Well, you catapult yourself into consideration for the best running back of all time with a season like this one.
You can make all the arguments in the world to me about how Peyton Manning's season deserves the MVP and Comeback Player of the Year, but I will still disagree with you. And that, surprisingly, has nothing to do with my distain for Peyton. I truly believe this could have been the best season of Manning's career and even I will give him credit for being nearly flawless since a semi-rough patch to start off the year (remember that time when idiots like me were concerned about his arm strength).
Yet, to me the MVP comes down to what would this team have done without you. Tim Freaking Tebow took this Broncos team to the playoffs last year and there is no guarantee that Manning will get any further in the playoffs than Tebow did just one season ago (seems longer than that for some reason...). The Broncos are loaded with stars on both offense and defense, and they sport one of the best offensive lines in the NFL that helped keep Manning upright.
The Vikings, on the other hand, have not been to the playoffs since 2009, when Brett Favre was their quarterback and still in his prime at the young age of 40. They were a three win team just last season. Not a lot of talent was added in the offseason to make them very different than they were in 2011. Peterson has put this entire team on his back and his unbelievable toughness has all his teammates fired up.
Adrian Peterson has meant more to this Vikings team than any player in recent memory. He deserves this title as much as any MVP has in the history of the NFL.
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| This guy is so good his arm brace has a Twitter account. And no, I'm not kidding @JJWattsArmBrace. |
Unlike the MVP award, this is a shoein. The only other two players who should even be considered are Aldon Smith and Von Miller, but despite their impressive seasons, nothing compares to Watt's year.
To understand Watt's year, you have to understand the position he plays. He plays defensive end in a 3-4 scheme. This basically means that Watt will be double or triple teamed on every play he is on the field. His responsibly is to eat up as many blockers so guys like Smith and Miller can rack up the stats. Watt had 5.5 sacks last season and many people believed he got snubbed by not being sent to the Pro Bowl.
In 2011, many believed Justin Smith should have been the Defensive Player of the year. He plays the same position as Watt. That year, he had 58 tackles, 7.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, and two pass deflections. Smith was considered to have "revolutionized" a position that was not supposed to have such visible impact on the game.
In 2012, Watt has recorded 81 tackles, 20.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, and a shocking sixteen pass deflections. Let's break that down. 81 tackles is unbelievable for an interior defensive lineman and shows just how powerful a run stuffer this guy is. The 20.5 sacks leads the entire league and is only two sacks off of the NFL record. And again, that is from a position that is not supposed to rack up sacks. While the four forced fumbles are impressive, it is the sixteen pass deflections that are completely unheard of. That is a high number for a defensive back, who has the ball thrown his way about ten times a game.
Defensive lineman are not known for reading the quarterback's eyes, but that is just what Watt has been able to do this year. He is able to dominate offensive lineman with such ease that he can turn his focus onto the quarterback way before he gets a chance to hit him. Watt's 6'6 frame gives him an advantage to see over other lineman and gives him the wingspan to create a wall in quarterbacks' throwing lanes. These tipped passes were often turned into interceptions for his teammates, which is something that will not show up in his stats. It is a testament to both Watt's freakish physical ability and his incredible football IQ and awareness that he is capable to rack up these types of numbers and have such an unprecedented effect on the game.
I'd be shocked if anyone besides Watt takes this award home and he might be the most complete defensive player in the entire NFL, and the kid is only 23.
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| These three quarterbacks will be talked about for a long time as possibly the best draft class of all time. |
Shocker, I know. However, when you look at his performance all year long, it is hard to argue against this kid.
Let's start off with the facts. This will come down to Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, and Wilson. Right off the bat, I am going to knock off Luck from this list. What he did to turn around the 2-14 Colts was astonishing and it would have won him this award any other year. However, he had the unfortunate luck (get it?) of being in possibly the best draft class of all time.
While Wilson and RG3 had quarterback ratings of 102.4 (the highest of all time for a rookie) and 100, Luck only had a rating of 76.5. Yes, stats are not everything, but they are there for a reason. Luck completed less than 55% of his passes and turned the ball over more than any quarterback not named Mark Sanchez or Phillip Rivers. That is not good.
You can say that he did not have the talent around him that the other two quarterbacks had, but that simply is not true. Wilson and RG3 might have had better offensive lines and the better running backs, but Luck had by far the best receiving corps of the three, and was the only rookie to have the luxury of being able to throw to a true number one receiver, Reggie Wayne. Wayne mentored Luck, much the way Peyton Manning mentored Wayne, and Luck relied heavily on Wayne all season long. That is not something the other two could lean on because their receiving corps was filled with young, injury prone receivers. There was very little continuity for the other two, while Luck had one of the best receivers in the league and a guy who could be in the Hall of Fame not too long from now.
Luck had some amazing moments leading his team back from huge deficits, but it was often his mistakes that cost his team early that made it necessary to have these crazy comebacks. He also plays in the AFC South, which might be the easiest division in the NFL, and benefited from the easiest schedule in the NFL due to his team's 2-14 finish last season.
That leaves Wilson and RG3. I love both of these guys, but the late season improvements by Wilson gives him the edge to me. When his team needed him to make a serious playoff push, Wilson stepped up. Since Week 9, Wilson has only had one game with a passer rating of less than 100, and it was a solid 88 against a tough Arizona defense. In that span, the Seahawks only lost one game in which they fell to the Dolphins on a last second field goal. He also had a signature game against the Bears' defense, in which he had a passer rating of 105 and directed back to back touchdown drives to end the fourth quarter and then again in overtime to win the game, not giving the Bears offense even a shot at the victory.
While RG3 has been very nearly as spectacular, he has seemingly regressed a little bit, whether it be due to injury or to the fact that teams are figuring out how to defend against his option attack. Wilson is the better pocket passer, and he has better awareness about when to run and when to attack through the air. This awareness has helped him stay healthy all year long, unlike RG3 who has taken some unnecessary punishment.
Both these guys are great players, great leaders, and great guys. There is not much bad to be said about either one, but Wilson's football IQ gives him the edge in my book.
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| No one's smile is bigger than Pete Carroll's. He has two of the best rookies this season and his team is in the playoffs. |
Boy oh boy did the Seahawks have one heck of a draft. Wilson and Wagner are all stars. Even first round pick Bruce Irvin lead all rookies in sacks in a limited role with the team.
This was a tough one for me because there were a lot of guys who were really good this season, but there was not really one guy who stood out from the rest. Besides Wagner, Janoris Jenkins, Casey Hayward, Luke Kuechly, and Lavonte David should all get a shot at the award.
I think Janoris Jenkins has the best case besides Wagner. He had an impressive 72 tackles, with four interceptions, and four total defensive touchdowns. He is a huge reason this Rams defense finally turned around this year after years of being at the bottom of the barrel. His three touchdowns off of interceptions ties an NFL record. He had the benefit of playing alongside Cortland Finnegan, which obviously helped his stats since quarterbacks tried to pick on him instead of the Pro Bowler. That's the only reason I think he misses out on this award.
Casey Hayward led rookies in interceptions this year with six, but he only started seven games this season and was part of a Packers' defense that let up a lot of big players this season.
Luke Kuechly led the entire NFL with 164 tackles. However, he did not have as many big impact plays as the others in this group. Playing on the Panthers' atrocious defense also does not help his case.
The most intriguing of the bunch to me is Lavonte David, who helped the Bucs' go from one the worst rush defenses in the league to the best. While he was the biggest addition to the defense this season, I have not watched the Bucs enough to proclaim that he was the biggest reason for this remarkable turnaround. That being said, being eighth in the NFL in tackles with a couple sacks and an interception to your name is nothing to write off. This kid is a good player, just not sure how good.
With all that being said, Wagner stands out to me mostly because his teammates have raved about his leadership skills. The Seahawks have one of the best defenses in the league, and Wagner is the one that puts his teammates in position to be successful. His leadership skills, football IQ, and instincts are very rare for a 22 year old rookie.
Wagner's stats benefit from playing on a defense that is loaded with talent, but his ability to get to the ball is shown by his 140 tackles (7th in the NFL), two sacks, and three interceptions. There is very little that this guy cannot do. He is the most complete player of these rookies and that's why he would have my vote.
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