Doomsday101
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Halfway home in the NFL's 2005 regular season. That means it's time for some mid-year superlatives:
• MVP: Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning -- No, he's not on a record-setting pace this year. But he's playing well enough to have his team 8-0 and he finally beat Tom Brady/Bill Belichick head to head.
• Offensive Player of the Year: San Diego running back LaDainian Tomlinson -- This is the award that all the fantasy types care about. L.T. has 13 rushing touchdowns, two receiving, and he's thrown for three scores.
• Defensive Player of the Year: Indianapolis defensive end Dwight Freeney -- A nod to Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamula, but Freeney is the game's most feared impact player and has helped the Colts defense to new heights.
• Offensive Rookie of the Year: Chicago quarterback Kyle Orton -- Miami's Ronnie Brown will be the popular choice, but fourth-round pick Orton has played smartly and has his upstart team in first by two games.
• Defensive Rookie of the Year: Cincinnati linebacker Odell Thurman -- San Diego's Shawn Merriman and Dallas' Demarcus Ware are deserving, too. But Thurman leads the surprising Bengals in tackles, has four picks, one touchdown, one sack and one fumble recovery.
• Comeback Player of the Year: Carolina receiver Steve Smith -- With apologies to Mark Brunell, Ty Law, Kyle Vanden Bosch and Tedy Bruschi, Smith has been a premier playmaker week in and week out.
• Coach of the Year: Tom Coughlin, New York Giants -- In an NFC East that has been much more bullish than anyone expected, Coughlin has his Giants in great position to make the playoffs for the first time since 2002.
• Biggest surprise, team: Chicago Bears -- Twenty years after the famed '85 Bears, Chicago is again winning with defense. The first-place Bears are on pace to allow fewer than 200 points, and they can run the ball, too.
• Biggest surprise, individual: Dallas quarterback Drew Bledsoe: Plenty of us thought he was done, but Bledsoe leads the NFC in passer rating (97.4) and has helped make the Cowboys relevant once again.
• Biggest disappointment, team: Minnesota Vikings -- On so many different fronts, how do you begin to measure the underachievement in Minnesota? Baltimore, Arizona, the Jets and Houston also let a lot of people down.
• Biggest disappointment, individual: Minnesota quarterback Daunte Culpepper -- If it weren't for Peyton Manning, Culpepper might have won the MVP last season. But his struggles this year set the tone for the Vikings' disastrous first half.
• Trend of the Year: Two-man backfields -- The list of teams regularly using multiple running backs grows longer all the time. Kansas City, Denver, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta have had particular success.
Three guys who have to step it up
1. Chris Simms, Tampa Bay, quarterback -- Here's a sobering stat for fans of Simms: Since the start of 2004, the Bucs are 10-7 in games that Brian Griese plays in, and 0-7 in games he doesn't. Doesn't say much for Tampa Bay's supposed quarterback of the future.
2. Brian Westbrook, Philadelphia, running back -- Time to start earning all that new money, Mr. Westbrook. In his last five games, Westbrook's average run has been 1.7, 2.0, 2.5, 3.7 and 1.4, respectively. He's had 25 yards or less of rushing in four of those games.
3. Pacman Jones, Tennessee, cornerback -- Just call him Flop-man Jones, because the sixth overall pick in the draft has been truly brutal as a rookie. His coverage and tackling has left a lot to be desired, and he even fumbled away a kickoff return at Cleveland.
1. From a team karma standpoint, the Eagles obviously are better off without the energy-sapping Terrell Owens saga to deal with. But this is a team that's in pretty tough shape these days. The Eagles have no running game to speak of and now they're without a No. 1 receiver to challenge defenses. That's going to put an awful strain on Jim Johnson's defense, and sooner or later that overdependence on one side of the ball will catch up with Philadelphia.
I think it's safe to say the curse of the NFC champion -- nobody has
repeated since the 1996-97 Packers -- is alive and well for another year.
2. No more calls, we have a winner. Michael Vick takes the Chad Pennington lecture-the-media award this year for admonishing reporters not to criticize him any more for his lack of accurate pocket passing. Pennington, of course, famously told reporters last year that they were "privileged'' to cover him and the rest of the Jets.
Memo to Mike: Try to crack 200 yards passing for two consecutive games, and get your season passer rating to at least 75.0 (he's currently 70.8, which ranks 26th in the league) before going off on those who point out the obvious room for improvement in your game.
3. Funny, but for a guy who was ubiquitous for being beside Terrell Owens throughout so much of this year's circus act in Philadelphia, agent Drew Rosenhaus was nowhere to be found when things reached their denouement with T.O. and the Eagles? When you've left even Rosenhaus not knowing what else to say, you've really done something.
4. It isn't my call to make, but given Priest Holmes' health and Larry Johnson's production, how do you not make getting Johnson the ball the top priority in the Kansas City game plan?
5. Tell me again why some people don't include Seattle's Shaun Alexander among the game's elite running backs? The guy's a touchdown machine. With his two at Arizona on Sunday, Alexander has 86 career touchdowns in 88 career games (68 starts). I'll take him, and I don't even play fantasy football.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/don_banks/11/08/midseason.awards/index.html?cnn=yes
• MVP: Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning -- No, he's not on a record-setting pace this year. But he's playing well enough to have his team 8-0 and he finally beat Tom Brady/Bill Belichick head to head.
• Offensive Player of the Year: San Diego running back LaDainian Tomlinson -- This is the award that all the fantasy types care about. L.T. has 13 rushing touchdowns, two receiving, and he's thrown for three scores.
• Defensive Player of the Year: Indianapolis defensive end Dwight Freeney -- A nod to Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamula, but Freeney is the game's most feared impact player and has helped the Colts defense to new heights.
• Offensive Rookie of the Year: Chicago quarterback Kyle Orton -- Miami's Ronnie Brown will be the popular choice, but fourth-round pick Orton has played smartly and has his upstart team in first by two games.
• Defensive Rookie of the Year: Cincinnati linebacker Odell Thurman -- San Diego's Shawn Merriman and Dallas' Demarcus Ware are deserving, too. But Thurman leads the surprising Bengals in tackles, has four picks, one touchdown, one sack and one fumble recovery.
• Comeback Player of the Year: Carolina receiver Steve Smith -- With apologies to Mark Brunell, Ty Law, Kyle Vanden Bosch and Tedy Bruschi, Smith has been a premier playmaker week in and week out.
• Coach of the Year: Tom Coughlin, New York Giants -- In an NFC East that has been much more bullish than anyone expected, Coughlin has his Giants in great position to make the playoffs for the first time since 2002.
• Biggest surprise, team: Chicago Bears -- Twenty years after the famed '85 Bears, Chicago is again winning with defense. The first-place Bears are on pace to allow fewer than 200 points, and they can run the ball, too.
• Biggest surprise, individual: Dallas quarterback Drew Bledsoe: Plenty of us thought he was done, but Bledsoe leads the NFC in passer rating (97.4) and has helped make the Cowboys relevant once again.
• Biggest disappointment, team: Minnesota Vikings -- On so many different fronts, how do you begin to measure the underachievement in Minnesota? Baltimore, Arizona, the Jets and Houston also let a lot of people down.
• Biggest disappointment, individual: Minnesota quarterback Daunte Culpepper -- If it weren't for Peyton Manning, Culpepper might have won the MVP last season. But his struggles this year set the tone for the Vikings' disastrous first half.
• Trend of the Year: Two-man backfields -- The list of teams regularly using multiple running backs grows longer all the time. Kansas City, Denver, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta have had particular success.
Three guys who have to step it up
1. Chris Simms, Tampa Bay, quarterback -- Here's a sobering stat for fans of Simms: Since the start of 2004, the Bucs are 10-7 in games that Brian Griese plays in, and 0-7 in games he doesn't. Doesn't say much for Tampa Bay's supposed quarterback of the future.
2. Brian Westbrook, Philadelphia, running back -- Time to start earning all that new money, Mr. Westbrook. In his last five games, Westbrook's average run has been 1.7, 2.0, 2.5, 3.7 and 1.4, respectively. He's had 25 yards or less of rushing in four of those games.
3. Pacman Jones, Tennessee, cornerback -- Just call him Flop-man Jones, because the sixth overall pick in the draft has been truly brutal as a rookie. His coverage and tackling has left a lot to be desired, and he even fumbled away a kickoff return at Cleveland.
1. From a team karma standpoint, the Eagles obviously are better off without the energy-sapping Terrell Owens saga to deal with. But this is a team that's in pretty tough shape these days. The Eagles have no running game to speak of and now they're without a No. 1 receiver to challenge defenses. That's going to put an awful strain on Jim Johnson's defense, and sooner or later that overdependence on one side of the ball will catch up with Philadelphia.
I think it's safe to say the curse of the NFC champion -- nobody has
repeated since the 1996-97 Packers -- is alive and well for another year.
2. No more calls, we have a winner. Michael Vick takes the Chad Pennington lecture-the-media award this year for admonishing reporters not to criticize him any more for his lack of accurate pocket passing. Pennington, of course, famously told reporters last year that they were "privileged'' to cover him and the rest of the Jets.
Memo to Mike: Try to crack 200 yards passing for two consecutive games, and get your season passer rating to at least 75.0 (he's currently 70.8, which ranks 26th in the league) before going off on those who point out the obvious room for improvement in your game.
3. Funny, but for a guy who was ubiquitous for being beside Terrell Owens throughout so much of this year's circus act in Philadelphia, agent Drew Rosenhaus was nowhere to be found when things reached their denouement with T.O. and the Eagles? When you've left even Rosenhaus not knowing what else to say, you've really done something.
4. It isn't my call to make, but given Priest Holmes' health and Larry Johnson's production, how do you not make getting Johnson the ball the top priority in the Kansas City game plan?
5. Tell me again why some people don't include Seattle's Shaun Alexander among the game's elite running backs? The guy's a touchdown machine. With his two at Arizona on Sunday, Alexander has 86 career touchdowns in 88 career games (68 starts). I'll take him, and I don't even play fantasy football.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/don_banks/11/08/midseason.awards/index.html?cnn=yes
