Award Time in NFL as Regular Season Comes to a Close
It’s award time in the NFL as the regular season comes to a close.
I like these to come before the playoffs because it’s a season’s work and sometimes a real good team may lose a game in post-season and it really doesn’t indicate a an ultimate failure to what was achieved over 16 games. So here goes..
AFC Offensive Player of the Year: For me it has to be Tom Brady…
I never regard statistics as the final determining factor in pro football but you can’t have mediocre numbers and win this kind of accolade. In the case of Tom Brady, he is simply a winner.A big winner. Remember he missed the first four games. The Patriots did win three of them.
Then Brady returned and led the Pats to 10 victories in 11 games heading into the finale at Miami.
Last season the Pats lost to the Dolphins in the final game, lost home field advantage to the Broncos who beat New England in Denver in the AFC title game.
Do you think the Patriots learned from that? We’ll find out.
In any event Brady is a huge winner and has huge stats as well, especially the important ones: Completion Pct. 66.7, 25 touchdowns, and only 2 interceptions. Then one that may be the most important and often overlooked: Yards per attempt. Brady is 8.2, as good as it gets. He’s the winner.
AFC Defensive Player of the Year: Eric Berry of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Two years ago this month, Berry began treatment for cancer in Atlanta. After going through chemo in the off-season for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, he returned last year and was named to the Pro Bowl.
This year, the Chiefs’ strong safety has been a source of inspiration for his team and all of football for his stellar play in helping the Chiefs land in the playoffs.
He intercepted his fourth pass of the season Sunday against the Broncos, knocking last year’s Super Bowl champs out of post-season.
I realize, Von Miller is having another brilliant year with his pass-rushing skills and he and others like him have superior numbers.
But to me, it’s not simply about statistics here. It’s about a lot more. Eric Berry is my choice in this category and I’m not looking back.
NFC Offensive Player of the Year: I should call this Offensive Players of the Year…The Dallas Cowboys offensive line!
Here’s why.
The Cowboys have been America’s best team on the field. Rookie quarterback Dak Prescott has been a wonder for Dallas in place of the injured Tony Romo. Who expected the Cowboys to be as dominant? They were written off when Romo got hurt. But Prescott, the fourth-round draft pick, took over and after an opening game loss to the Giants, guided the Cowboys to 11 consecutive victories before the Giants beat them again. But Dallas will have home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs and, if they go all the way to the Super Bowl in Houston, will not have to leave the State of Texas.
Then there’s rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott. Nothing short of magnificent, Elliott has easily been the best running back in the league in his first season.
I could sing the praises of both Prescott and Elliott all day.
But the key to their success has been the best offensive line in the NFL.
Prescott has gotten the protection to make plays, and Elliott has run through openings up front created by the blockers who always are unsung heroes with any successful team.
So my NFC Offensive Players of the Year are named Tyron Smith, Ron Leary, Travis Frederick, Zack Martin and Doug Free.
Get to know them. They are ones to really make the Cowboys go.
NFC Defensive Player of the Year: I like Landon Collins, the all-everything safety of the New York Giants.
After a disappointing rookie season, Collins has done it all for a Giants defense which lacked a pass rush for most of the year.
Collins defends the pass, intercepts throws, can nail quarterbacks when he blitzes and tackle in the open field with the best of them.
The Giants would not have been a playoff team without Landon Collins on the field.
Now to the Coaches of the Year. In the AFC, Adam Gase get the nod over Jack Del Rio and any other contender.
Yes, Del Rio has done a masterful job getting the Raiders back in the post-season. But Del Rio has had the luxury of the coming-out campaign of quarterback Derek Carr. Not that Carr’s play should diminish the top-notch coaching.
But when you consider Adam Gase, and what he faced taking over a Miami Dolphin’s team that was on the brink of being dysfunctional going into 2016, Gase has been the number one reason the Dolphins rebounded from a 1-4 start to earn their first playoff spot since 2008.
The reviews on quarterback Ryan Tannehill were mixed. No one really knows at this point whether he’s a franchise signal-caller. But Gase, who made it work with Peyton Manning and even got the best from Jay Cutler, proved to be a brilliant alter-ego for Tannehill who did just enough to win for Miami in Gase’s first year as a head coach on any level.
Even when Tannehill was injured, backup Matt Moore came in and didn’t miss a beat.
The defense was a question mark and the team had no foundation for becoming a winning unit. But Adam Gase made it happen.
Finally, NFC Coach of the Year.
Usually this award goes to a coach who managed to get his team to make huge strides, even if they don’t capture a division title.
But this season, there is only one choice. Jason Garrett of the Cowboys.
Did you ever wonder how tough it is to win in Dallas, where expectations are high every year, the spotlight is constantly piercing, and Jerry Jones holds court nearly every day?
On top of that, losing your starting quarterback who has been injury-prone, and never reached his potential would make this job a no-win deal.
But Garrett, who learned to let his owner do the talking long before this year, maintained a cool calm and strong leadership. With a sometimes-explosive Dez Bryant, a rookie QB and running back (although he couldn’t do better than Elliott), and all the pressure in the world riding on his shoulders every year, he was the head man of a team that was a consistent winner all season.
So here’s to Jason Garrett, who is as great a person as he was a head coach in 2016.
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“Keep an eye out for my podcast, “Stockton!” We’ll take a different perspective on the world of sports and share stories I’ve collected from my unique front-row seat. To learn more and sign up to be notified when it launches, visit www.StocktonPodcast.com.”
Sincerely,
Dick Stockton
