Mid-Season Awards

After a half-season of some very entertaining NFL action there are some positive surprises as well as some extreme disappointments. Here are some of the best…

NFL MVP- Peyton Manning. This year more than ever Peyton has shown he’s capable of carrying a team on his back. He has intergrated three rookies players – ( Austin Collie, Pierre Garcon and Donald Brown), and a rookie head coach and continued to dominate defenses each week.

Coach of the Year- This is a close call, but I’m gonna go with Marvin Lewis over Josh McDaniels and Sean Payton. The reason is that the Bengals are winning some really tough games and they didn’t really have an influx of new players. In fact what impresses me is that their defense was very undisciplined last year, but are now the strength. This speaks directly about coaching.

Most Improved Team- I’m going to go with the Saints. They didn’t make the playoffs last year and this year they look damn near unstoppable. Again the major difference is their defense. Starting to see a pattern here?

Most Disappointing Team- The Titans are a shoe-in for this award. They went 10-0 last year while relying on a potent running game controlled passing and a stingy defense. They looked nothing like that team earlier in the season as they stumbled out of the gate to lose their first 6 games. They finally gave in and gave Vince Young the reins to the offense and he responded with three straight wins, but this team is a far cry from what they were last year.

Rookie of the year- This has to go to Percy Harvin of the Vikings. He’s proven all doubters (including myself) wrong by being able to handle the complexities of a pro-offense. He has proved a favorite of Brett Favre and continues to develop his skills as an multi-talented receiver.

Play of the Year- The Favre throw to win the game against the 49ers in the beginning of the season was a throwback to his days as a reigning NFL MVP. 50 yards as time expired to a relatively unknown receiver to win the game. Nothing spells Favre more.