NFL Awards - Week 9

The Dan Fouts Award:
Kurt Warner…23-34, 342 yds, 0 picks, 2 TD passes. What a revival Warner has experienced since the early 2007 season, when he was just a forgotten back-up with his best years seemingly long behind him. His numbers after 8 games this year project to over 4,800 yds and over 30 TD’s. Were it not for injuries that derailed his 2002 and 2003 seasons (played in only 9 total games over those 2 seasons), he would probably be a legitimate Hall of Fame candidate at this point.

The Ryan Leaf Award:
Jamarcus Russell…6-19, 31 yds, 1 pick, 0 TD. 2 rushes for 46 yds. Wow…where do we start with the debacle that is the Raiders these days? It probably can’t get much worse than this particular game for Oakland, as Russell failed to complete a single pass at least 10 yards downfield. They had 3 total first downs in the game and under 100 total yards. The only completion to a WR went for 7 yards. They just cut their major F/A signing DeAngelo Hall, wasting $8m and a 2009 2nd round pick in the process. Roger Goodell, you need to pull a Hank Paulsen and seize this team before it completely melts down, eliminating the senile artifact Al Davis in the process.

The Barry Sanders Award:
Ray Rice…21 carries for 154 yards, 0 TDs, 3 rec, 22 yds…Who you might ask? Rice is a diminutive rookie RB out of Rutgers, built much like Barry Sanders himself (5’8”, 205) but without the breakaway speed (or insane, otherworldly change of direction ability for that matter). But he is elusive and strong, and seems to be the Ravens best RB as Willis McGahee can’t stay healthy, and, when he does play, can’t seem to make plays any more.

The Ki-Jana Carter Award:
Joseph Addai…17 carries for 32 yds, no TD’s, 2 rec, 10 yds... Thought to be a rising star in the league, Addai has struggled mightily this year with injuries and mediocre O-Line play. He has no 100 yard games, is averaging just 3.1 yds/carry, and has just 7 catches on the season (he had 10 catches in the Super Bowl alone almost 2 years ago).

The Jerry Rice Award:
Derrick Mason…9 rec, 136 yds, 1 TD. Similar to Mushin Muhammed a few weeks ago, another crafty veteran possession receiver explodes just a few months shy of his 35th birthday. Mason has now racked up over 750 career catches and almost 10,000 yards receiving in his 12 years in the league, with six 1,000 yard seasons.

The Mike Williams Award:
Brandon Marshall…2 rec, 27 yds, 0 TD’s. Double covered and frustrated most of the day by Miami, B Marsh has been very quiet after his strong start to the 2008 season. He hasn’t scored a TD since week 4, and hasn’t had a 100 yard game since week 3. His struggles have mirrored the Denver offense struggles, as the Broncos haven’t scored 20 pts since week 3.


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NFL Awards - Week 6

The Dan Fouts Award:
Drew Brees…26-30, 320 yds, 0 picks, 3 TD passes. Again, he’s just ridiculously accurate. And he’s doing all this with his top two targets, Colston & Shockey, injured. He’s still completing more than 70% of his passes for the year.

The Ryan Leaf Award:
Eli Manning…18-28, 196 yds, 3 picks, 1 TD. Just as ESPN was polling the audience as to which Manning was better (it was 51% to 49%, I think Eli’s favor), Eli decided to answer the question himself with this stinker of a performance. The lowlight was his mid 4th quarter pick taken 94 yards for a Brown TD. The Giants were ever so close to making it a 1 TD game, until Eli’s blunder buried them for good. Special mention goes out to Charlie Frye, who managed to throw for only 83 yards on 12 completions, and also chipped in 2 picks (to go with 2 TD’s, to be fair). That’s under 7 yards per completion, an utterly repulsive passing ‘attack’.

The Barry Sanders Award:
Clinton Portis…21 carries for 129 yards, 2TDs, 1 rec, 14 yds. Portis burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2002 as an electrifying speedster with moves to boot. He since has become one of just 7 players to have at least 2 seasons with 1,300 yards and at least 5.5 yds/carry, and, if he were to surpass 1,300 yards this year, he’d become one of just 9 players to accomplish such a feat at least 5 times in his career. The others are Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Jim Brown, Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, Curtis Martin, and Ladainian Tomlinson. Pretty impressive list.

The Cedric Benson Award:
Michael Turner…25 carries for 54 yds, no TD’s, 0 rec. He’s been hot & cold this year, but mostly hot as he’s currently 2nd in the league in rushing yards. He was going against the Bears, quite a stout run defense. My major complaint, as it’s been the last 2 years – why not give Norwood more carries when Turner is getting stuffed (in 06 & 07 it was Warrick Dunn)? In the game, Norwood had 31 yards on his 3 carries. Come on, Atlanta…the guy is ELECTRIC!!!

The Jerry Rice Award:
Andre Johnson…10 rec, 178 yds, 1 TD. When Johnson is healthy, he’s one of the best in the game – a huge (6’3” 223lb), fast target for his QB. But he does tend to get inner muscle injuries – a bad hammy, bad groin, etc… He’s also suffered from a mostly below average running attack in Houston, besides the brief Domanick Davis period. Maybe Steve Slaton is the real deal and can rectify that.

The Mike Williams Award:
Santana Moss…2 rec, 22 yds, 0 TD’s. The opposite of Johnson, Moss is a speedy 5’9” dynamo with ultra quick feet. After averaging 7 catches and 105 yds/gm for the first 4 weeks of the season, Moss is averaging just 1 catch for 11 yds in the 2 games since (that’s right, he caught no balls week 5). Very mysterious disappearance, and he has to reappear to get the Redskin offense back on track. In the 3 games he’s had at least 70 yards this year, the team is averaging over 26 pts/gm. The games under 70 – under 16 pts.

Did You See That? - Highlighting some amazing plays of the week
1) Dan Orlovsky rolling to his right in the end zone, taking at 3 steps a full foot beyond the back of the end zone, looking like he was completely oblivious to the fact that he’d casually scored a safety for Minnesota. Funny to watch a pro make such a boneheaded play.

2) Dominic Rhodes’ 38 yard run for the Colts. He broke about 4 tackles on the run, used a full spin move twice, and generally made the vaunted Raven defense look like Pac 10 bottom feeders. Very impressive.

3) Eric Wright’s 94 yard interception return. The pick was nice; Wright got a good break on the ball, and he showed some excellent speed in taking it to the house, but the real highlight was his dead-on impersonation of Deion ‘Prime Time’ Sanders with the high stepping into the end zone and subsequent dance. Almost exactly like Deion in his prime.


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NFL Awards - Week 5

The Dan Fouts Award:
Kyle Orton…24-34, 334 yds, 0 picks, 2 TD passes. In 2005, as a rookie, Orton started some games for the Bears, putting up remarkably mediocre numbers and gaining a reputation as a backup QB at best. But he was just a rookie, and people forgot that he was a prolific passer at Purdue before entering the NFL. Cut to 2008, and Orton’s stats after 5 games project to over 3,500 yards and more than 22 TD’s with a respectable passer rating of 87. Maybe he is an NFL starting caliber QB after all.

The Ryan Leaf Award:
Damon Huard…10-21, 86 yds, 2 picks, 0 TD. 8.6 yards per completion, with 2 picks – that’s embarrassing! If you’re dinking and dunking the ball, you’re not supposed to be turning it over – that’s supposed to happen for high-risk passing attacks. The KC QB situation is a mess, as the team is averaging just 13 points a game this year. They don’t have a starting caliber QB on their roster, their running game is erratic, and, oh yeah, they also suck at stopping the run. That makes for a long season for a roster looking at 11 more games still to be played.

The Barry Sanders Award:
DeAngelo Williams…20 carries for 123 yards, 2TDs, 1 rec, 25 yds, 1 TD…I love this guy. I liked him at Memphis. I drafted him in my fantasy league his rookie year. I drafted him again this year. Now for the sad part…after starting him weeks 2, 3, & 4 and watching him rack up 115 yards on 37 carries (3.1 avg) with no TDs, I benched him last week. For Derrick Ward. Ouch. Anyway, it was nice to see him display his electric speed on his 32 yard TD run, splitting defenders and outrunning angles…but alas, scoring me no points for his efforts.

The Cedric Benson Award:
Larry Johnson/Adrian Peterson…LJ…7 carries for 2 yds, no TD’s…AP…21 carries for 32 yds, no TD’s, 1 rec, 9 yds. So LJ has now gone from the outhouse (week 2) to the penthouse (week 4); and then back to the outhouse this week. The real LJ is closer to the outhouse I’m afraid, especially on an offensively challenged Chief team and after the heavy workload and abuse he took in 2005 & ’06. AP of course, ran into a Saints D Monday night that was determined to stop the run and dare journeyman QB Gus Ferrotte to beat them with the throw. Ferrotte was erratic, but made just enough throws and plays to squeak out a victory.

The Jerry Rice Award:
Roddy White…8 rec, 132 yds, 1 TD. The 2005 1st rounder emerged as a top talent last year (83 rec, 1,202 yds), and has solidified his status this year, helping rookie QB Matt Ryan adjust to life in the NFL. Ryan has been impressive as a rookie, and having a reliable, explosive #1 receiver in White, a rock-solid running game, and a better than average o-line has helped tremendously.

The Mike Williams Award:
Calvin Johnson…2 rec, 16 yds, 0 TD’s. As regular NFL Awards readers know, Calvin is a favorite of mine, but the Detroit Lion organization is a mess, and the product on the field exemplifies that mess. Millen is finally gone, and what a disaster he left. Kitna is a mistake-prone, fading has-been at QB, the RBs are an unproven 3rd round rookie (Kevin Smith) and a beaten up, slowed down, aging vet in Rudi Johnson. Millen spent 4 high 1st round draft picks on WRs during his tenure and batted .500 on those picks – striking out gloriously on Charles Rodgers (2003 2nd overall pick, 36 career catches) and Mike Williams (2005 10th overall pick, 44 career catches), both of whom are now out of the league. Roy Williams (2004 7th overall) and Calvin (2007 2nd overall) are top talents, of course. Do we even want to mention the Detroit D? Let’s just say teams salivate at the opportunity to play them.

Did You See That? - Highlighting some amazing plays of the week
1) Antoine Winfield on Monday night. Not the blocked FG return for a TD, and not the sack & forced fumble, though those were nice plays. On a handoff to AP off right tackle, AP was following his big white fullback to the edge, and little Antoine was right in the path of the burly fullback. Suddenly, as if pressing the hyperspace button, Winfield ducked out of the path of the fullback, but reappeared to make the tackle on Peterson. A very subtle little play, but an amazing display of savvy, skills, and athleticism.

2) Reggie Wayne’s game winning catch in the end zone to cap off the amazing Texan (Sage Rosenfels) meltdown. Wayne initially reached high with two hands for the ball, but one hand was taken off the ball, and he had to secure it with one hand while keeping two feet in the end zone. Epic concentration and body control, Wayne is a top WR in the league.


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NFL Awards - Week 4

The Dan Fouts Award:
Brett Favre…24-34, 289 yds, 1 pick, 6 TD passes. 18 years in the league and he comes up with a first – his first 6 TD pass game. This game was like an old AFL shootout, with Arizona scoring 35 points, Warner passing for 472 yards, and the team still losing by more than 20 points! Equally amazing, the Cardinals had 3 WRs with over 115 yards in the game!

The Ryan Leaf Award:
Brian Griese…15-30, 149 yds, 3 picks, 1 TD. I watched a good portion of this game and Griese is awful. The interceptions were horribly thrown balls, completely off target. They finally just ditched the pass for the most part and ran the ball full time – 20 carries for Graham and 16 for Dunn. Forget about having a decent backup QB in the NFL, many teams don’t even have a decent starter.

The Barry Sanders Award:
Larry Johnson…28 carries for 198 yards, 2TDs, 5 rec, 0 yds…Larry went from the outhouse two weeks ago (Benson Award) to the penthouse in week 4. Denver clearly has issues stopping the run, as Johnson still didn’t look terribly fast, but he can still break some tackles and make some plays. And what’s up with 5 catches for 0 yards?

The Cedric Benson Award:
Ryan Grant…15 carries for 20 yds, no TD’s, 2 rec, -4 yds... Last year’s surprise RB who seemingly came out of nowhere has really gone back to nowhere while nursing a bad hamstring since August. This is his 2nd 15-20 game this year…and again, minus 4 yards on 2 catches? Grant has had 43 carries since week 1, and his longest gain on those 43 carries is 9 yards….yuch!!!

The Jerry Rice Award:
Muhsin Muhammad…8 rec, 147 yds, 1 TD. A game like this from the slowing, 35 year old,13 year veteran is proof that being a good NFL WR is not all about speed. Skills, good route running, and veteran savvy-ness can also help get the job done. That said, whoever guarded him should still be a little embarrassed.

The Mike Williams Award:
Donald Driver…1 rec, 8 yds, 0 TD’s. Driver has clearly fallen to #2 in the Green Bay WR pecking order behind emerging star Greg Jennings, who after 4 games is projecting to 100 catches and over 1,900 yards for a 16 game season. Nonetheless, it’s surprising to see a game like this from the still very solid Driver, who should bounce back with a more typical performance this week…4 to 6 catches, 50 to 75 yards.

Did You See That? - Highlighting some amazing plays of the week
1) Moore’s hit on Santonio Holmes after the Ravens punted in overtime Monday night. Jesus, Holmes was rocked, one of the more impressive hits I’ve seen. I don’t even know Moore’s first name, I think he’s special teams only. I watched about ¾ of the highlight shows and no other plays really stood out. Leave a comment if I missed a couple.


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NFL Awards - Week 3

The Dan Fouts Award:
Drew Brees…39-48, 421 yds, 0 picks, 1 TD pass.  What a QB Brees turned out to be, taken in the 2nd round of the 2001 draft since he didn’t possess the ideal 6’4” height of the prototypical NFL QB – he’s only 6’0”.  He completed 81% of his passes last Sunday, and has completed 74.3% of his passes in 2008 after 3 games, coming on the heels of a 67.5% completion rate and over 4,400 yards in 2007.  Let’s hear it for the little QB, long thought an endangered species in the NFL!  I do have to give a special mention to Brian Griese, who wore his arm out with 67 pass attempts vs. the Bears, just 3 shy of the NFL record, but 3 of those passes were picked off, so, no dice for the Fouts.

The Ryan Leaf Award:
Derek Anderson...14-37, 125 yds, 3 picks, 1 TD.  So out of nowhere Anderson emerges in the first half of the 2007 season to take the league by storm, throwing 20 TDs against only 9 interceptions in the first 9 games.  He closed with a very modest 9 TDs and 10 picks in the last 7 games, but the Browns forgave him and awarded him a 3 year, $24m contract.  Fast forward to the 2008 season, and after 3 games, the numbers are abominable: 2 TDs, 5 interceptions, 8 sacks, a 46.2% completion rate, and a dismal 43.5 QB rating.  Hey Brady Quinn, start warming up…

The Barry Sanders Award:
Ronnie Brown…17 carries for 113 yards, 4TDs, 1 rec, 9 yds, 1 pas, a 19 yd TD…a renaissance man at the RB position, not only can Brown run and catch, but he played multiple snaps from the single wing formation as the QB, with Ricky Williams as the tailback.  Clearly New England coach Bill Belichick spent too much time pouring over illegal tapes of the past, inept Miami offense and was shocked into paralysis as the Dolphins ruined the N.E. defense, running and passing for over 200 yards in the game.  Life’s not so fun without your MVP QB, huh Bill?

The Cedric Benson Award:
Earnest Graham…12 carries for 16 yds, no TD’s.  The Bucs versatile, durable, thoroughbred RB certainly had an off day against the stingy Chicago run defense, just one week after ripping off a 68 yard TD run against the Falcons.  A late-blooming overachiever (just 52 carries his first 3 years in the league), Graham is an adequate starter in the league, but certainly not a star.

The Jerry Rice Award:
T.J. Houshmanzadeh…12 rec, 146 yds, 1 TD.  The steady, low-key half of what was once the feared Bengal duo of he and Chad Johnson, Housh started slowly the first two games of 2008 before this breakout performance.  The flashy, selfish half of the duo is still looking to emerge from his deep funk – just 8 rec for 88 yards after 3 games…longest reception just 22 yards.

The Mike Williams Award:
Terrell Owens…2 rec, 17 yds, 0 TD’s.  Speaking of flashy and selfish, here’s the posterboy himself!  The Cowboys star WR has just 10 catches on the season and no 100 yard games so far, though he does have 3 TDs.  Will the pouting come?  Will the odd behavior rear its head again?  It’s been a couple years since he’s ‘erupted’, and like a simmering volcano, one can expect another explosion sometime soon.

Did You See That? - Highlighting some amazing plays of the week
1) Correll Buckhalter’s high hurdle TD. Buckhalter, the longtime Eagle backup RB, has been solid and mostly unspectacular in his career, until Sunday when he took a swing pass from McNabb, rambled down the sideline, and, seeing the defender ready to knock him out of bounds with a shoulder pad to the thigh, Buckhalter leaped high into air over the lunging Pittsburg defender, and landed in the end zone. Truly a high flying Eagle on that play.

2) Freddy Taylor’s 32 yard rambling run vs. the Colts. If you haven’t seen the famous clip of Bears great Walter Payton bouncing off at least 4 tackles vs. the K.C. Chiefs, then watch this very similar run by Freddy Taylor, who looks like a pro playing against a JC team as he bounces off and sheds multiple tackles on this great run.

3) Felix Jones’ 60 yard TD run. SPEED!! The rookie Jones had two nice, subtle jukes early in this run, but even after the 2nd fake, the defender still had a great angle on him to make the tackle…until he realized that sub 4.3 speed just outruns those angles, untouched. A fun run to watch.


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NFL Awards - Week 2

The Dan Fouts Award:
Kurt Warner…19-24, 361 yds, 0 picks, 3 TDs.  Left for dead a few years ago, Warner has taken full advantage of Matt Leinart’s struggles and has starred for the Cardinals since mid 2007.  His accuracy is still unparalleled, and he still has the arm strength to go deep.  Having the WR tandem of Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boildin certainly helps as well.  Philip Rivers (377, 3 TDs) was also quite nice for the Chargers.

The Ryan Leaf Award:
Jamarcus Russell...6-17, 55 yds, 0 picks, 0 TDs. The first pick of the 2007 draft has a tremendously mediocre bunch of WRs, including Ronald ‘Did I Just Drop it Again?’ Curry, Ashley ‘Did I Just Get Cut Again?’ Lelie, and Javon ‘But I Was Great in 2004!’ Walker. That said, he, like many other young QBs, has been slow to adapt to the league and justify the Raiders investment in him yet.

The Barry Sanders Award:
Darren McFadden…21 carries for 164 yds, 1 TD, 1 rec, 9 yds. McFadden took advantage of some good run-blocking by the Raider O-line, and showed he’s not afraid of contact either. But it was quite perplexing to see him get caught from behind by a linebacker on a 50 yard run in the 3rd quarter…?? I still think he can show better vision and elusiveness, but for the youngest player in the league (turned 21 a month ago), he’s doing all right so far.

The Cedric Benson Award:
Larry Johnson…12 carries for 22 yds, 0 TDs, 0 rec. In that Raider game, Johnson looked slow and was totally ineffective, but of course, he certainly wasn’t helped by the pathetic Chiefs passing attack (17-38, 173, 2 picks, 1 TD) either. That said, after carrying the ball 752 times in 2005 and 06 (and catching it another 74 times), Johnson hasn’t been the same back he was. Probably never again will be, either.

The Jerry Rice Award:
Brandon Marshall…18 rec, 166 yds, 1 TD. Wow, what a workhorse at WR!! 2nd most catches in a game in NFL history (T. Owens, 2000, 20 rec). This 3rd year stud out of Central Florida is quite a receiver, making multiple difficult catches, and shows nice speed and moves after securing the ball, especially for a 6’ 4” guy. 2nd week in a row the Rice Award has gone to a Bronco – lucky Jay Cutler!!

The Mike Williams Award:
Ted Ginn Jr.…1 rec, 9 yds, 0 TDs. The 2nd year speedster out of Ohio St. has largely been a flop so far in Miami, where they really have no other interesting options at WR – Greg Camarillo is their leading receiver with 86 yards on 7 catches. Ginn is tied with Davone Bess for 2nd (among WRs) with just 3 catches in 2 games! Good luck to Bill Parcells in turning that mess of a team around.

The Leon Lett Award: For Pre-Mature Celebration Stupidity
DeSean Jackson…Hey D Jax – it’s your first NFL touchdown, don’t you want to make sure you take the ball with you into the endzone? The interesting thing is, what if the defender picked up the ball and took it the other way? Would the ref’s TD signal had nullified what was truly a fumble on the play? What a mess THAT would have been to figure out! At least after two games, Jackson has shown that he’s not a Smurf-bust like Ginn, totaling over 100 receiving yards in each game for the Eagles.

The Mr. MagooAward: For Blind Refereeing
Ed Hochuli…Ed, if you haven’t seen him on TV, obviously spends a lot of time in the weight room…and after the horrible blown call Sunday in the Charger game, clearly not nearly enough time in the NFL film room. And the stakes, for a week 2 game, couldn’t have been higher! A divisional game, between the best two teams in the division, the final minute of play, and the call stole the game from San Diego. Tragic!

Did You See That? - Highlighting some amazing plays of the week
1) Larry Fitzgerald’s long reception (60, 70 yards?). He jumped and turned just to make the catch, then escaped an ankle tackle, then juked another DB and sprinted down the sideline…only to be caught from behind (never a speedster, but always a playmaker). Great play by a great WR.

2) Darren Sproles 66 yard TD reception. This was a dump off to Sproles who was at the line of scrimmage when he caught the ball. The subsequent run was a classic display of Miny Mite speed taking the rock to the house, weaving through the Denver defense. Fun to watch.

3) Calvin Johnson’s 47 yard TD reception. For the 2nd week in a row, Calvin makes the highlight list – what a physical marvel he is. Not dissimilar to his long reception last week, he caught the ball, and DBs running at him from angles that usually suffice for a tackle were left wondering how he got away. I’ll tell you how – incredible speed and long strides. He’s just a blast to watch play.


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