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Half Way Home: The NFL Midseason Awards

We have officially hit the midway point of the NFL season and this much is for sure: not much is for sure. The Saints, Vikings, Colts and Patriots are all good. As far as the rest of the league goes, there are a whole lot of questions and not many answers. It’s time to hand out some awards for the good and the bad of the first half.

NFC MVP: While most people believe Saints QB Drew Brees deserves this award, and it’s hard to argue with that, I give Brett Favre a slight advantage. There are two main reasons for this: first is Favre’s superior play in the last few weeks and second his clutch play late in games. Over his last three games Favre has seven touchdowns and only one interception. Brees on the other hand, has four touchdowns to go along with five interceptions. Brees also had back to back weeks in which he failed to throw a TD (against the Bills and Jets) whereas Favre only has one such game (against a stingy Steelers defense). Factor in Favre’s big plays in close games against the 49ers and Ravens and he gets the nod in this category.

AFC MVP: Once again, I’ll move away from the trendy pick in this category (Peyton Manning) and give it to Bengals RB Cedric Benson. Benson has propelled Cincinnati to a 6-2 start and has given them the stability in their running game they have lacked over the past few seasons. The key stat for Benson: the Ravens defense went more than two full seasons (39 games) without allowing a 100 yard rusheruntil Benson did it twice in a four week span. The former Texas star has taken a lot of the pressure off Carson Palmer in his return from a serious injury and has the Bengals undefeated in the division and in control of their playoff fate.

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Percy Harvin is the clear choice hear and not even becuase of his receiving numbers (28 catches, 369 yards and 3 TD’s), but rather his nearly 900 kickoff return yards including two touchdowns. Harvin is fourth in the league averaging over 30 yards per return (two of the players in front of him have six returns or less) and is tied for first with 860 yards. Time and time again, Harvin has set the Vikings up with great field position due to his dynamic play making ability.     

Defensive Rookie of the Year: While Jairus Byrd’s seven interceptions this season are very impressive, that is a category that tends to require a lot of luck (tipped passes, bad throws, etc.) and Brian Cushing has had a better overall rookie campaign. He is second in the NFL with 78 total tackles to go along with two forced fumbles, two interceptions and 1.5 sacks. The Texans defense is far from great, but Cushing has helped them allow four fewer points per game this year than last and has them in playoff contention.

NFC Defensive Player of the Year: I just can’t seem to stay away from the Vikings when it comes to the NFC awards. Jared Allen is tied for first in the NFL with 10.5 sacks and although I’m still not exactly sure what the celebration is that he does after every one of them, he seems to have it down perfectly. Throw in three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and one of the best mullets in history and you have yourself the NFC’s top defensive player.

AFC Defensive Player of the Year: This is basically a toss up between Dwight Freeney and James Harrison, but with their sacks almost equal, Harrison’s four forced fumbles compared to Freeney’s one give him the slight edge. After being held without a sack in the first two games of the year, Harrison now has eight and has also recorded at least five tackles in each of the team’s games.

NFC Least Valuable Player: Statistically, Aaron Rodgers is doing just fine this season (2,255 yards and 16 TD’s), but he has feasted on an easy schedule that has included games against the Bears, Rams, Lions, Browns and Bucs. The Bucs game should have been an easy win but Rodgers completed less than half of his passes and threw three interceptions. But that’s not what makes his first half so bad. Every time Rodgers drops back to pass, it would appear their is super glue on the ball. Either that or Rodgers hasn’t realized his offensive line is mediocre at best.

AFC Least Valuable Player: JaMarcus Russell has brought a whole new meaning to the words “inaccurate quarterback.” On three separate occasions this season he has completed 40 percent or less of his passes. He had a four game stretch in which he did not throw a single touchdown and his QB Rating of 48.3 is better only than that of Derek Anderson. The 260 pound QB looks more like a linebacker on the field and throws like one too: he has not thrown more touchdowns than interceptions in a single game this season. That is a recipe for disaster.

Posted by tayman34 on Nov 10th, 2009 and filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site

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