EastDallasCowboy
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I've heard it mentioned a couple times today on talk radio, and decided to do a little research when I got home. Being relatively young (27) the idea of a defensive player as MVP seemed a little preposterous, so I wanted to check the past winners.
You can find the complete list here, but the last time a defensive player won the NFL MVP award was Lawrence Taylor in 1986, and before that Alan Page in 1971. So we've seen exactly two defensive players as MVP since 1971.
On a sidenote, what the hell did Mark Moseley (K-WAS) do to win the MVP in '82?
That said, this has been a down year for the league as far as marquee players go. From everything I've read/heard, Peyton Manning (335 completions for 3543 yards, 65.2 completion percent, 23 TD vs 12 INT, 90.3 rating), Kurt Warner (376 for 4290, 68.4%, 26 TD, 13 INT, 97.5 rating), and Adrian Peterson (320 for 1581, 4.9 YPC, and 9 TDs) are the front runners. I've also seen Drew Brees (353 for 4332, 64.7%, 28 TD, 16 INT, 93.9 rating) thrown in there due to his relatively gaudy numbers, though the Saints poor season would probably keep him out.
While all decent options, none of those players have turned in no-brainer MVP performances this season in the vein of Tom Brady last year, or LT, Shaun Alexander, or Peyton Manning the years previous. Which means there is a possibility this is the year a defensive player could win it. So then, who would be the candidates?
My suggestion to you would be that, should Ware break the single season sack record with 4 sacks over the final two games, he would garner strong consideration for the award. I figured the best place to start would be to look at Lawrence Taylor's 1986 stat-line (knowing that tackles wasn't an official stat then) and see how today's defensive players stacked up. Taylor had 20.5 sacks in 1986, but had zero interceptions, zero forced fumbles, and zero safeties, so he garnered the award solely on the merit of his dominance as a pass rusher.
So, I decided that we should stack up the defensive players whom would most likely be deemed candidates for the award, and narrowed it down to Demarcus Ware (DAL), Troy Polamalu(PIT), James Harrison(PIT), and Joey Porter (MIA) with Jared Allen (MIN) and John Abraham (ATL) as dark horses. Polamalu and Harrison do play on the NFL's best statistical defense as well as the team with the best record of the group which certainly would play into the voters consideration but isn't reflected in the stats. So how do they stack up?
Ware - 74 tackles, 19 sacks, 0 safeties, 2 passes defended, 4 forced fumbles, 0 fumbles recovered, and 0 INTs.
Harrison - 94 tackles, 15 sacks, 1 SFTY, 3 PD, 7 FF, 1 FUM, and 1 INT
Polamalu - 65 tackles, 0 sacks, 0 SFTY, 4 PD, 0 FF, 0 FUM, and 7 INT
Abraham - 33 tackles, 15.5 sacks, 0 SFTY, 1 PD, 3 FF, 0 FUM, and 0 INT
Allen - 48 tackles, 14.5 sacks, 0 SFTY, 0 PD, 3 FF, 0 FUM, and 0 INT
So that's how they stack up. It seems to me that statistically Harrison would get the slight nod due to both playing on the better defense/team with the better record, and having a slight advantage in every statistical category except for sacks where Ware leads by four. That said, there are two games left in the season-and if Ware gets to 23 sacks and the Cowboys reach 11-5, I would think it would be a much closer battle than it is today.
My suggestion would be that if somehow one of those two players were to actually win the MVP, then the other would recieve Defensive Player Of The Year honors to balance it out, but instead my guess is they will be fighting for DPOY honors and one of the QBs will get MVP honors.
You can find the complete list here, but the last time a defensive player won the NFL MVP award was Lawrence Taylor in 1986, and before that Alan Page in 1971. So we've seen exactly two defensive players as MVP since 1971.
On a sidenote, what the hell did Mark Moseley (K-WAS) do to win the MVP in '82?
That said, this has been a down year for the league as far as marquee players go. From everything I've read/heard, Peyton Manning (335 completions for 3543 yards, 65.2 completion percent, 23 TD vs 12 INT, 90.3 rating), Kurt Warner (376 for 4290, 68.4%, 26 TD, 13 INT, 97.5 rating), and Adrian Peterson (320 for 1581, 4.9 YPC, and 9 TDs) are the front runners. I've also seen Drew Brees (353 for 4332, 64.7%, 28 TD, 16 INT, 93.9 rating) thrown in there due to his relatively gaudy numbers, though the Saints poor season would probably keep him out.
While all decent options, none of those players have turned in no-brainer MVP performances this season in the vein of Tom Brady last year, or LT, Shaun Alexander, or Peyton Manning the years previous. Which means there is a possibility this is the year a defensive player could win it. So then, who would be the candidates?
My suggestion to you would be that, should Ware break the single season sack record with 4 sacks over the final two games, he would garner strong consideration for the award. I figured the best place to start would be to look at Lawrence Taylor's 1986 stat-line (knowing that tackles wasn't an official stat then) and see how today's defensive players stacked up. Taylor had 20.5 sacks in 1986, but had zero interceptions, zero forced fumbles, and zero safeties, so he garnered the award solely on the merit of his dominance as a pass rusher.
So, I decided that we should stack up the defensive players whom would most likely be deemed candidates for the award, and narrowed it down to Demarcus Ware (DAL), Troy Polamalu(PIT), James Harrison(PIT), and Joey Porter (MIA) with Jared Allen (MIN) and John Abraham (ATL) as dark horses. Polamalu and Harrison do play on the NFL's best statistical defense as well as the team with the best record of the group which certainly would play into the voters consideration but isn't reflected in the stats. So how do they stack up?
Ware - 74 tackles, 19 sacks, 0 safeties, 2 passes defended, 4 forced fumbles, 0 fumbles recovered, and 0 INTs.
Harrison - 94 tackles, 15 sacks, 1 SFTY, 3 PD, 7 FF, 1 FUM, and 1 INT
Polamalu - 65 tackles, 0 sacks, 0 SFTY, 4 PD, 0 FF, 0 FUM, and 7 INT
Abraham - 33 tackles, 15.5 sacks, 0 SFTY, 1 PD, 3 FF, 0 FUM, and 0 INT
Allen - 48 tackles, 14.5 sacks, 0 SFTY, 0 PD, 3 FF, 0 FUM, and 0 INT
So that's how they stack up. It seems to me that statistically Harrison would get the slight nod due to both playing on the better defense/team with the better record, and having a slight advantage in every statistical category except for sacks where Ware leads by four. That said, there are two games left in the season-and if Ware gets to 23 sacks and the Cowboys reach 11-5, I would think it would be a much closer battle than it is today.
My suggestion would be that if somehow one of those two players were to actually win the MVP, then the other would recieve Defensive Player Of The Year honors to balance it out, but instead my guess is they will be fighting for DPOY honors and one of the QBs will get MVP honors.
