This Given Sunday's Year-End Awards: Aaron Rodgers Is Still Your MVP of 2011

Most Valuable Player: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
Though he has disappeared from the NFL playoffs and we see fewer of those silly discount double-check commercials, TGS writers voted for Aaron Rodgers by a landslide. Lawrence Dushenski (@LD10) gave the prevailing sentiment.

"He spreads the ball around like few others in the history of the league, and in a year when passing records were shattering all around the league, Rodgers was the best of them all...."

Resident curmudgeon Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) was the lone dissent. "Can we please stop the coronation of Aaron Rodgers? When Matt Flynn completes 70 percent of his passes for 6 TDs and 480 yards on a good Lions defense that wanted to win, one must ask, Does Rodgers make the Packers great, or is it the other way around?"

The top seeded Packers were one-and-done in the playoffs. Resting Rodgers took an edge off his game that the Pack against the peaking New York Giants. That only shows how critical was Rodgers' regular season performance and his role to win the NFC North. Aaron Rodgers is your MVP of the 2011 season. 

Rookie of the Year: Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers
There were passing (no pun intended) references to Denver's Von Miller and to Cincinnati's AJ Green when the TGS writers conferred on Rookie honors, but neither drew votes. Cam Neutron won this award by unanimous consent. Says TGS editor Will Horton (@RamsHerd),

"...Cam Newton emerged as a welcome new force in the league. To come in with no offseason workouts and just a little training camp work, and immediately transform an offense the way he did is unprecedented."  Dushenski adds, "Cam may be the most unstoppable player in the league from the goal line."

ESPN says the quarterback position evolved with Newton who set passing and rushing records. Ben Roethlisberger says he is not in Newton's category. 

Reputed/disputed Draft guru Mel Kiper panned Newton's capacity to be a day-one NFL starter. Kiper flubbed that one badly. That's scary on two counts. If the 2011 season was Newton's not-ready performance, what will he do in 2012 and beyond? If Kiper was so wrong about Newton, what are we to make of his thought that Andrew Luck as the best pro quarterback prospect since Peyton Manning?

Luck may or may not succeed with whoever sucked most for him, but Newton is must-see TV several Sunday nights this fall.

Defensive Player of the Year: Justin Smith, San Francisco 49ers
Jared Allen, NaVorro Bowman and Jason Pierre-Paul get honorable mention here, but the TGS writers coalesced on 'Niners' DE Justin Smith.

"Justin Smith was probably the key to the San Francisco Giants' outstanding defense this year, lining up in different positions, soaking up blockers, and generally creating havoc from a 3-4 defensive end position where creating havoc rarely ranks high on the results list. As impressive as rookie Aldon Smith's 14.0 sacks were, he should probably give half of them to Justin for his role in creating them by disrupting protection schemes and drawing double coverage." -  Tom Gower (@ThomasGower) 

Conventional thinking has it that the NFL has become a passing league, leading fans to over-value quarterbacks. Famous NFL philosopher Vincent Thomas Lombardi had this to say, "Some people try to find things in this game that don't exist but football is only two things - blocking and tackling."

If they can name a trophy after Lombardi, TGS can name a grunt for this award.

Offensive Player of the Year: Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
Brees slipped to here because most of the TGS writers went for Rodgers as MVP. You can hardly call it "slippage" after the year Brees had for the 13-3 Saints. TGS writer Derek Pease (@SportsbyWeeze) makes the case for Brees.

"He's now the official record-holder for single-season passing yards, finishing with 5,476 -- an absurd 342.2 yards per game. Brees also easily set a career high with 46 touchdown passes, just four short of Tom Brady's single-season record. During his blistering second half The Saints have won eight straight games and as a result hosted a Wild Card playoff game." 

That passing record may only last until Drew Brees breaks it again.

Though Brees won easily, Will Horton offered a somewhat honorable nod to Tim Tebow. "After suffering from TEBOW oversaturation, his name is almost a dirty word. Offensive, indeed." Not sure if Horton is laughing with us, or at us.

Neither Tom Brady nor Eli Manning drew votes. One of them will just have to settle for a Super Bowl ring.

Comeback Player of the Year: Reggie Bush, Miami Dolphins
Other candidates were Carolina's Steve Smith, San Francisco's Frank Gore and Detroit's Matthew Stafford. None matched Reggie Bush's seven-fold improvement in rushing yards. Bush craved the chance to prove he could be an every down back.

"After entering the league amid a flurry of hype," writes Will Horton, "[Bush] went largely forgotten in New Orleans. But, he went to Miami and got his shot after rookie Daniel Thomas struggled through a series of injuries early in the year. By the time Thomas got healthy, Reggie was running behind Mike Pouncey and Jake Long all the way to a 1,000 season and suddenly became an elite back in the league."

The ever grateful Bush bought his Miami offensive linemen Segway scooters at the end of the year, to save their legs for next season perhaps.

Time will tell if Bush is consistently elite, but he helped to power the woeful Dolphins to a six-win season. There is a downside. Now it is more difficult for the 'Phins to grab the rookie of their quarterback dreams.

Coach of the Year: Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco 49ers
Houston's Gary Kubiak and Denver's John Fox were in the running, but Harbaugh was the only serious candidate. In his first year, Harbaugh coached the 49ers to a division-winning 13-3 record to earn the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. The technical term for that is Harbaugh coached the 'Niners "from out of nowhere."

"Jim Harbaugh instilled the San Francisco 49ers with the toughness Mike Singletary always talked about, and added more creative offensive play-calling, better management of quarterback Alex Smith, and a better defensive coordinator. You can't kick the NFC West champs around the way you've been able to the past couple years." - Tom Gower

Can Harbaugh keep this up? He's been a winner everywhere else: 29-6 at San Diego; 29-21 at Stanford. Harbaugh falls from the Bo Schembechler coaching tree by way of his Dad, Jack. Brother John is a winning coach with the Baltimore Ravens. His brother-in-law, Tom Crean, is working a turn-around story with the University of Indiana men's basketball program. Winning is a family trait.

Still, the NFL has broken many a fine college coach. For every Jimmy Johnson success you find a Steve Spurrier and Bobby Petrino failure. Johnson didn't open his pro career like Harbaugh did.  

Quarterbacks took three of these awards, four if you count Harbaugh. Football analysts lament that fans put too much stock in quarterback play. Yet, in a year when passing stats were off the charts, we could hardly do otherwise. 

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