SUS NFL Season in Review: Part II

Let's get right to it.

Offensive Rookie of the Year

Point: (Matt Ryan) You could make a legitimate argument for any of Matty Ice, Chris Johnson or Joe Flacco (especially if you don’t look at Flacco’s last two playoff games). But I’m going to cheat here and count the playoffs in making this decision. Ryan laid an egg against Arizona by using the same snap count the entire game. Flacco was awful the last two games and the Ravens only beat the Titans in spite of him. Chris Johnson was the only one of the three to show up in the playoffs, as the Titans had a running game until he got hurt. Johnson gets it.
Counterpoint: I thought we weren’t including the playoffs there cheater? Listen Stalin, you still got to give it to Matty Ice. The Shitans were a playoff team last year and didn’t have to go nearly as far as they ended up when compared to the Falcons. Ryan did help the once dreadful Falcons to become the trendy Super Bowl pick next season.
Final Word: (Johnson) Calling me Stalin isn’t going to make your argument succeed. But since we both think it should be Chris Johnson, let’s give it to him.

Defensive Rookie of the Half Year

Point: (Kenny Phillips) I still think Phillips is going to be great, but like most rookies, he disappeared as the games got into double digits. I’ll chalk this up to stamina and expect him to make an appearance on the 2009 Pro Bowl roster. Or at least become a starter in the G-Men defensive backfield. I guess I’ll go with Mayo because I can barely name another defensive rookie besides Chris Long. And Vernon Gholston.
Counterpoint: (O.J. Mayo) O.J Mayo? Uh wrong sport there. Jerod Mayo. The Patriots Defense was hurting for a young stud ILB in the worst way. Despite it being a really weak year for defense players, Mayo was like 7^th in the league in tackles and provided the Cheats a fine addition for their defense for the next 10 years. Runner up would be Falcons MLB, Curtis Lofton
Final Word: (Mayo) Mayo wins, barely beating out Kevin Love in proving that I know amazingly little about NFL rookies.

Coach of the Half Year

Point: (Jeff Fisher) You could make a compelling argument for the Patriots, given that they lost Brady and Roidney Harrison and still went 11-5 in their drive to feed Matt Cassel’s kids in ’09. But might as well give it to Tony Sporano the man with a typo of a last name who managed to go from 1-15 to 11-5. Yeah, it was against a fairly cupcake schedule, but a 10 win difference is a 10 win difference. Also, I’m pretty sure I saw Chad Pennington act like he can throw a competent deep ball. Props to the coaching staff for that.
Counterpoint: Sure give it Sporano but can we not cue Journey.
Final Word: (Fisher) Mmm, onion rings!

GM of the Half Year

Point: (Jerry Reese) Ok, I’ll go with Dimitroff. Something to be said for getting your franchise QB, RB, and a solid defense after one season. Also, it’s easy to forget the abortion of a franchise that Atlanta had a year ago between Vick and the Petrino defection.
Counterpoint: (Thomas Dimitroff) I’ll still stay with Dimitroff. In one off season he single handedly wiped the slate clean but removing the Ron Mexico/Bobby Petrino tarnish added a candidate for coach of the year and franchise caliber running back, qb, and LT. Add to that a solid rookie MLB and it’s going to be very tough for him to duplicate this effort this next off-season.
Final Word: (Dimitroff) No argument here.

Disappointing Player of the Year

Point: (Tomlinson) Brett Favre would be a contender for this award if he didn’t put forth the type of season that everyone expected. Tomlinson could probably win this award, especially if we’re including his annual Hannukah injury. But I’m going to go with Plaxico Burress who with one loosening of the sweatpants lost control of his gun and will quote possibly never play in the NFL again. Imagine how screwed he’d be if he actually harmed an innocent party?
Counterpoint: (Derek Anderson) Thomlinson was hurt and I think he’ll be back to normal next year. My pick: Braylon Edwards who had a breakout season in 2007 catching 80 passes for 1,289 yards and 16 receiving touchdowns. Despite starting all 16 games, he had just 55 catches for 873 yards and three touchdowns. Edwards had less than 50 yards receiving in nine out of his 16 games. That doesn’t even take into account all the drops he had. Edwards led the NFL with 16 dropped passes. Only two other players even made double digits. He had this to say earlier in the season, "I'm just to the point now that I'm playing football and I could care less about the fans and the media," Edwards said. "People are talking about trading me and the B-S that's going on with our team, and this season. I've got a job to do and my job is to catch the football." [Insert fail joke here]
Final Word: (Tomlinson) Plaxico Burress ruined the Giants season. Sure, it created a fantastic youtube as seen a few articles down, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Giants became an average team without him.

Disappointing Team:

Point: (Dallas) This is what I wrote at midseason:
Is there any doubt about this? Dallas. Dallas. Dallas. Next issue.
And how can you say anyone else after their last two games against Baltimore and Philly?
Counterpoint: Dallas especially how they just imploded in December and after giving an arm and a leg for Roy Williams who performed as admirably as the French in WW2.
Final Word: (Dallas) Beautiful. Dallas it is.

Surprising Team:

Point: (Titans) You could make a very good argument for the Titans to retain this title, but I’m going with the Patriots. As mentioned above, they lost Brady, Roidney Harrison, and about 35 running backs, but still managed to be 11-5. More importantly, there’s a good chance that we’re talking about them in the Super Bowl this year. And if that’s not true, then they still would’ve won a game or two with Cassel.
Counterpoint: (Falcons) A 10 win turnaround is still a 10 win turnaround. Dolphins it is.
Final Word: (Titans/Falcons) I’m going with the Patriots here. The Dolphins will be 7-9 or 8-8 next year. No team should be able to lose as many key players as the Pats and still succeed.