2013 NFL Awards

Cory Puffett

Super Bowl week is upon us and I’m very excited to begin my own coverage of the big game and the events surrounding it. I’d like to start today with the event that will be held the evening before the big game. Alec Baldwin will host the third annual NFL Honors, where the biggest regular season awards will be given out.

Before we get to Saturday, I would like to offer my two cents on who the biggest awards of the season should go to.

Most Valuable Player

Peyton Manning, QB, Denver Broncos

This is open and shut. Nobody came close to matching his level of production this season. In fact, I can count on two hands the number of people who have come close to his production level in the history of the league.

Manning threw for 55 touchdowns and bested Drew Brees’ single-season passing yards record by one yard this season. He led Denver to 13 wins and the number one seed in the AFC, and his play has remained at a high level this postseason. He was the NFL’s most valuable player this season.

Coach of the Year

Andy Reid, HC, Kansas City Chiefs

Last season could not have been much worse for Kansas City. They were one of the two worst teams in the league and dealt with a tragic situation mid-season involving one of their players. Reid had a rough season of his own in Philadelphia with Mike Vick’s turnover issues and a porous defense.

Kansas City brought Reid in and they also landed former San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith. They already had a good core of offensive and defensive players. They made just a few offseason personnel changes outside the coaching staff and suddenly the Chiefs were an 11-5 wild card team. The turnaround Reid brought to Kansas City in one year is definitely deserving of this award.

Offensive Player of the Year

Jamaal Charles, RB, Kansas City Chiefs

I’m not a fan of giving the OPOY award to the recipient of the MVP award even if it does make the most sense. So my choice for this award is my mid-season MVP, Jamaal Charles. He had a phenomenal first half of the season and saved his best performances for the latter part of the year, which made a lot of fantasy football players very happy.

There are only a couple of halfbacks in the NFL who are as versatile as Charles, being a big factor in Kansas City’s run game and passing attack. With his help, Alex Smith had his best season as a professional football player.

Defensive Player of the Year

Robert Mathis, OLB, Indianapolis Colts

I really came down Mathis and Rams DE Robert Quinn for this award. They had very similar seasons statistically. My decision is predicated on Mathis having the best season of his career and being a driving force of the Colts’ AFC South title.

Indianapolis’ defense was very shoddy last year. Andrew Luck led several unlikely 4^th quarter comebacks and took advantage of a very easy schedule to make the playoffs as a wild car team. Robert Mathis was a driving force of the Colts’ vast improvement on that side of the ball and is my defensive player of the year.

Offensive Rookie of the Year

Eddie Lacy, RB, Green Bay Packers

Lacy had a great rookie season, but he wasn’t the only offensive rookie who found quick success in the NFL. But he is the most deserving player for this award. The Green Bay Packers go as Aaron Rodgers goes, and that was evident during the first couple games after he was injured in the middle of the season.

Lacy stepped up as an offensive leader and helped the Packers deal with weekly transitions between starting quarterbacks and without him, Green Bay would not have been playing the Bears for the NFC North title in Week 17.

Defensive Rookie of the Year

Kiko Alonso, MLB, Buffalo Bills

Last year I didn’t really know who Luke Kuechly was until I was combing through stats to make my awards predictions. I recognized his name from the draft, but that was it. It is much the same for Alonso, and he had a very similar year statistically as what Kuechly had last year.

Kuechly wound up being the cornerstone of a much-improved Carolina Panthers defense this year. Perhaps Kiko Alonso will be able to help Buffalo turn around next year.

Comeback Player of the Year

Brent Grimes, CB, Miami Dolphins

Most people will say Darrelle Revis should win this award, and I don’t disagree. But Grimes has not gotten nearly as much attention despite his great season.

Grimes suffered a torn Achilles at the beginning of the 2012 season. He started his pro football career in NFL Europe before playing a few seasons in Atlanta. After his Achilles injury, he had to switch teams just like Revis. Grimes ended up in Miami and had a better season statistically than Revis and made a case as one of the better shutdown cornerbacks in the NFL.

Puff’s 2012 NFL Awards

Alec Baldwin returns to host the NFL Honors.

To start, I would like to congratulate Baltimore Ravens WR Anquan Boldin on winning the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. Even if you don’t know anything about Boldin outside of what he said to the media on Friday when it was announced, you can tell that the award is well deserved by him.

All other end-of-season awards will be given out at the 2^nd Annual NFL Honors the night before the Super Bowl. Here are my picks for the major awards.

Most Valuable Player – Minnesota Vikings RB, Adrian Peterson

This is an easy choice for me. The NFL seems to believe that a playoff appearance is required to name a player MVP. I likely would have chosen Adrian Peterson anyway, but it’s a no-brainer now.

Adrian Peterson came back from tearing two ligaments in his left knee last season and chased down Eric Dickerson’s rushing record, falling just 9 yards short when the final whistle sounded on the 2012 regular season. He carried his team through the second half of its season and was more valuable to his team than any other player on a playoff team this year.

Coach of the Year – Indianapolis Colts Interim HC, Bruce Arians

Many people think Leslie Frazier should win this awards, and I don’t dispute that. Frazier did a terrific job in Minnesota. But it is hard for me to give a Coach of the Year award to a coach who has the MVP on his team.

Bruce Arians wasn’t even supposed to be the head coach this season, but Chuck Pagano was unable to work for most of the season due to leukemia treatment. Arians did an amazing job in Pagano’s absence, leading a team in a rebuilding phase to a postseason birth.

Offensive Player of the Year – Green Bay Packers QB, Aaron Rodgers

Everything in me said to give this to my runner-up MVP, which was Peyton Manning. But this is about the offensive player with the best stats, the player who performed the best. I don’t like to give multiple awards to the same player, so I couldn’t give it to Adrian Peterson. Instead, I will give it to Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers led the NFL in passer rating for the second consecutive season. His TD-INT ratio was not much worse than it was last season. In addition, it was his fourth consecutive season with a completion percentage over 64% and a passer rating over 100.0.

Ever since I was old enough to really know what was happening around the NFL, it was always Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as the best two quarterbacks in the league and the guys putting their names among the all-time greats. But Aaron Rodgers is really starting to put his name in that conversation for best quarterback in the league right now. It won’t be long before he is in the ‘all-time’ conversation.

Defensive Player of the Year – Houston Texans DE, J.J. Watt

Aldon Smith was Watt’s closest competition in this race, but Watt did much more than chase Michael Strahan’s sack record – in fifteen starts this season, Watt had 20.5 sacks and 2 fumble recoveries.

Watt also had 16 passes defended, tied for 10^th in the NFL. For reference, the highest total for a linebacker belonged to London Fletcher, who tied for 38^th in the league. For a fellow defensive lineman, you have to go all the way down to 60^th, Corey Liuget of the San Diego Chargers. ‘J.J. Swat,’ as people are calling him, was outstanding this season and is my clear front-runner for this award.

Offensive Rookie of the Year – Washington Redskins QB, Robert Griffin III

Before you accuse me of being a homer, let me explain. This was my initial choice. Then I changed to Russell Wilson because RG3 has an unfair advantage in Alfred Morris. But how disrespectful would it be to Marshawn Lynch for me to say that? Both running backs were near the top of the league in rushing.

So I’m back to Griffin III. But now that I’ve explained why RG3, why not Wilson? It isn’t so much that I think RG3 has performed better than Wilson; I feel like he does more than Wilson and at a slightly higher level. Wilson leads receivers into open space very well, but so does RG3. Wilson is very fast and can rip off big runs when he has to; so can RG3. But Griffin III has shown that he can run the read-option at a slightly higher level, reading the defense slightly faster than Wilson can. RG3 has also has also proven to be a little more accurate throwing into tight coverage than Wilson has.

It’s a close race, and I won’t be disappointed either way because both rookies deserve this award. But RG3 is a slight front-runner in my opinion.

Defensive Rookie of the Year – Carolina Panthers LB, Luke Kuechly

Lost in the shadow of the offensive rookies are the defensive rookies, and there were plenty of good ones. But the rookie linebacker from Carolina was ahead of the rest. Kuechly led the NFL with 164 tackles in his rookie season, 103 of them solo. He also had a sack, 3 fumble recoveries, 3 interceptions, 8 passes defended (just three fewer than the leading linebacker), and 11 stuffs – stuffs are a tackle at or behind the line of scrimmage. His 11 stuffs resulted in a total loss of 30 yards.

These don’t look like rookie numbers, but they belong to one. In a season dominated by rookie quarterbacks and a pair of rookie running backs, Kuechly could be the Pepsi Max Rookie of the Year if the voters weren’t so offense-oriented.

Comeback Player of the Year – Denver Broncos QB, Peyton Manning

Adrian Peterson tore two ligaments in his left knee last December. There were questions of whether he would be back for Week 1 of the 2012 season, or if he would be back for the 2012 season at all. Would he ever run at the same level? All he did was chase Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record.

Peyton Manning had four neck surgeries in a 19-month span. Some doctors didn’t think he would play again ever. When he was cleared, would he be able to put any velocity on the ball? We knew he would still be brilliant, but would his body be anywhere near his mind? All he did was have one of the best years of his career with a brand new team, new weapons, new coaches, in altitude for half his games, and outdoors, where he had been criticized for much of his career in Indianapolis.

I think they are on fairly equal footing. Some will point to Peterson nearly breaking a record and Manning not nearly breaking a record as a reason to give it to Peterson, which is a perfectly legitimate point. But I give a little more weight to the fact that Peterson only missed one game in 2011 while Manning missed the entire season.

It’s a tough decision, but I think Manning is a little more deserving of this award.

Again, congratulations to Anquan Boldin on the Man of the Year Award, and congrats to those who wind up winning each of the awards I gave my two cents on above. Thanks for reading and be sure to tune in to The All-Sports Crew tomorrow at 7 p.m. on WMUC Sports! My previews for the Divisional Round will be published over the next two days.