I find it odd that people use total touchdowns as a measuring tool for running backs. I'm not suggesting that it isn't important that your running back can score touchdowns, but if you've got a running back/fullback who does nothing but plunge/bullrush in from the 2 yard line, that doesn't make him a great running back, regardless of how many of them he scores in a season. I'm not saying that L.T.'s record is meaningless, or that all of his touchdowns were of that fashion (or even a large percentage), but I'm going to put more weight in total rushing yards, attempts, yards/attempt, and average touchdown rushing distance than in the total number of rushing touchdowns. (In general, great running backs have good touchdown numbers AND the other numbers too, so it doesn't really matter. It's just that the situation could arise where a "super-Bettis"-type back could be used for nothing but the final 5 yards, and he could rack up a huge number of touchdowns without much else to contribute to the offense.) If the quarterback and the receivers march 80 yards down the field to the opposing team's 3 yard line, and the running back then grinds out the last 3 yards to get the touchdown, who did all the work and who gets the glory? (I think this is in the same vein as "closers" and "saves", or "pitchers" and "wins" in baseball. Some counting stats are interesting but too much prestige is being assigned to them.)
How come Eli Manning got no consideration? He got the giants into the playoffs for gods sakes!!
Grum, good point. I think Marion Barber III is an example this year. He leads the NFC in rushing touchdowns and is second in the league to Tomlinson. But he is not, and I'm a Cowboys fan, he is not one of the top 10 backs in the league. Probably not top 15 or 20, in my opinion.
I would have picked Brees for comeback player over anybody else after what he accomplished. He and Rivers are good friends, talk to each other frequently, both classy guys. I hated to see Brees get dumped by SD but have been more than a little bit pleased with Rivers and the whole team. Have been a charter Charger since when they left LA and seen a lot of good and great players, but LT is the best. I hope it's our year and there's still a lot of football to be played....by the entire team.
I also think Grum made a good point. I like Tomlinson and think he's a great back, but there came a point early in the season where everyone started talking about Martyball and how it would lead to the Chargers demise. At the same time, people were saying Tomlinson's backup, Michael Turner, could start on many teams in the league. There was at least two times in those first four games Turner got the team down the field and Tomlinson came in and took the touchdown (I know this from owning Turner in a couple of fantasy leagues.) And in week 6, against, the 49ers, Tomlinson stayed on the field in the entire game of a blowout win. He had four touchdowns. Maybe Marty was tired of all the talk, I don't know. Turner had 31 carries in those first four games. In the next seven he only had 16 (he was injured in week 12.) My point is, lots of those touchdowns were gimmees to help Tomlinson get close to and eventually break the record. That's fine. Got no problem with it. But I think if you knock off about eight or 9 of those touchdowns, the votes are a lot closer between Brees and Tomlinson. Or at least they should be.
Brees was in at the end of blow outs as well. What does that show? Tomlinson is amazing to watch. If you erased the records and only watched the players play, he would still win MVP.
Well, apparently it doesn't show anything. All I'm saying is, I know sportwriters, have worked with them, and for a short time was one myself. We got excited over highlights and the final stat line. Doesn't matter if those stats came in crunch-time. A highlight is a highlight and that's what most of these voters saw and drooled over. I can't say I saw many Saints games as I did Chargers games, but it seemed like almost on a weekly basis Brees was making a different receiver look like a Pro Bowler. If the Saints lost him, they wouldn't be where they are. If the Chargers lost Tomlinson, there were still plenty of other weapons.
I think people are putting a little too much stake in Phillip Rivers skills. While he has put up Pro Bowl numbers this year, a large part of his success is because of LT. Without LT the Chargers would have been a very different team, especially with a first year starter at the helm. With LT around Rivers had somebody to lean on, and that only made him more effective.
Without LT the Chargers have an awesome defense and an average offense with a new quarterback still learning his trade. LT made that easier for him. I love Drew & thought that SD should have kept him but it looks like it worked out for the Chargers & the Saints. LT is in a class by himself and is the MVP. Pennington had a good year, Drew had agreat year! Drew should have been comeback player of the year. Go Chargers!
Jason Taylor wins the Defensive Player of the Year award over Shawne "Tainted Suppliment" Merriman. Taylor gets 22 votes in the lead while third place Merriman only six votes. Message?
Unless the message was that the best Defensive Player in the game should win the Best Defensive Player Award, no, no message.
and anyone who isn't pulling for the Saints to at least go deep in the playoffs is a heartless sonofabitch If that were the case, I hope you also called me a heartless sonofabitch for not cheering for any New York teams in 2001 or ever.
Drew Brees threw for over 3,500 yards (9th in the league) and 24 touchdowns (4th) in '05. Where did he "come back" from? The best thing about football, especially pro football, is you're only as good as the other 10 guys on the field and the scheme the coaches put you in. So the individual awards aren't quite as obvious as the other sports. Tangent: I always wonder about highly drafted players who fizzle out, or some mid-level players that just don't make it, and wonder what might have happened if they ended up on a different team with some talent around them (read: not Detroit) or a scheme that benefits them. Add in injuries and the NFL more than any other sport is such a crap-shoot to have a successful career.
Sometimes i wonder y i get on here
o yea to see people argue about things they agree on.
Well, it obviously isn't to improve your spelling or grammar.
Given Merriman's performance in his halftime interview just now (Pats/ Jets), I'm glad he lost. Amazing that James Brown would talk about his "amazing athleticism", given it's apparently chemically enhanced.
