Guys the NFL regular season is winding down and as it draws closer to the playoffs the MVP convo is going to heat up. I can't remember a time when the race was so close. Everywhere you look there are guys putting up HUGE numbers while leading their teams to gaudy records. Obviously the big three are Brett Favre, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning. If the Titans didn't get off to such a slow start I think Chris Johnson would be talked about more and is definitely deserving of recognition (I think the league should come out with awards like the golden glove in baseball. I guess being named on the All Pro Team is the same thing, but it doesn't sound as cool). I also think it's crappy that defensive players have a hard time getting into this debate, but it's a quarterback league and it's hard to argue that any one defensive player matters more to his team than those three gentleman. Regardless, I want to give my props to Jared Allen, Elvis Dumerville, Darren Sharper and my man Dwight Freeney for making QB's shit their pants all season. Anyway, I wanted to look at each of the big three and see what their chances are of putting that trophy on their mantle.
Brett Favre
If perhaps the most beloved and celebrated signal caller of all time has his best season shouldn't it be a no brainer that he should get the MVP award? With a QB rating of 108.5, 69% completion percentage, 26 TD's and a mind blowing 5 int's it would be hard to argue with giving him some more hardware for his gigantic trophy case. Maybe his biggest stat is that he's doing this all at the ripe age of 40!
Drew Brees
How to you get into the MVP conversation with the likes of Peyton Manning and Brett Favre? I dunno. How about lead a historically bad franchise to a currently undefeated season, while blowing out teams all along the way. Maybe lead the league in passer rating and touchdowns while showing the world that you command the leagues most explosive offense. It doesn't hurt to beat the Patriots so badly that Bill Belichick looked like Jim Zorn and Tom Brady looked like Rex Grossman. Does Mr Brees deserve the regular season's most coveted trophy? Absolutely. Will he get it? Only time will tell.
Peyton Manning
If you are the reigning MVP how do you top what you did last season? How about doing something, the likes of which have never been seen by reeling off 21 straight regular season victories (yes they are tied with the Pats, but not for much longer). Maybe take a slew of rookies that have been thrown into playing time before they are ready and make them look like fantasy favorites. You could also throw for more yards that anyone at a 70% clip even though the opposing defense knows your running game is shaky. Truth is no one does more with less and no player matters more to his teams success than Peyton does to the Colts. Peyton could win this award every year and no one would bat an eye.
Obviously I'm a Colts fan and, therefore, a bit biased towards Peyton. But, truth be told I wouldn't argue with Favre or Brees getting the accolades in 2009. Just don't do a three way tie...that would be lame.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Post Weekend Thoughts: Tuesday Edition
This past weekend had some good and some bad. The good was covered mostly by Nic with his excellent NFL post so I wont cover the NFL much in this recap. The bad was a little spread out, with that in mind lets get to it.
The NBA: So as we have made pretty clear here at the Upper Bowl we basically care a lot about the Jazz and a little about the rest of the NBA. As a result it would make sense that we here at the Upper Bowl were disgusted by what happened to the Jazz on Saturday. Just in case you missed it, the Jazz lost to the 2-17 Minnesota Timberwolves! Now one of the other wins that the Timberwolves have on this year is at Denver, so the loss while embarrassing is not the disgusting part. The disgusting part of this loss is that it is so typical of what the Jazz do. Case in point, the Jazz just won their 3rd straight game against the San Antonio Spurs last night, a quality opponent. The Jazz also have won 7 out of 9 games. They are a very talented team that apparently just decides not to show up on certain losses (example: Losses to OKC, Sacramento, Minnesota, Houston). Without those embarrassing losses the Jazz would be a mere 1/2 game behind the Lakers. So as a Jazz fan it is so frustrating to love a team that is so wildly inconsistent. The good from last weekend was the Jerseys that the Jazz wore on Friday night, the retro green jerseys are phenomenal, and I read this morning that they will be worn 9 more times this year. That is something to be excited about.
College Football: There were some pretty good games last week. The Thursday night game between Oregon and Oregon St was fantastic. The Cincinnati and Pittsburgh game Saturday was full of great offense and high drama. And the Texas and Nebraska game was a nail biter that went the wrong way at the end. With all the action wrapping up the end of the regular season the BCS Bowl bids were decided and the other bowl bids handed out. Here is a quick look at the matchups we care about here:
BCS National Championship: Alabama vs Texas
Rose Bowl: Ohio St vs Oregon
Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech vs Iowa
Sugar Bowl: Florida vs Cincinnati
Fiesta Bowl: TCU vs BSU
Las Vegas Bowl: BYU vs Oregon St
Poinsettia Bowl: Utah vs Cal
I think BYU and Utah both received good opponents in their respective bowls. I should say now that I think Utah definitely has the easier game, Cal is without their superstar running back Jahvid Best, and their passing game isn't very effective. Utah should continue their bowl game dominance. BYU however has a very good Oregon State team that has one heck of play maker in the backfield. I am not sure who I think will win this one yet. More to come on that another day. The matchup's that I really want to focus on right now are in the BCS National Championship, Fiesta Bowl and Sugar Bowl. First of all, after the performance Alabama had on Saturday look for them to win the championship in terribly lopsided fashion, Texas is no more deserving of the National Championship bid than TCU, BSU or Cincinnati. The real injustice of the BCS comes in the Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl pairings. The 4 teams participating in those games are all deserving of BCS spots, however TCU getting paired with BSU in the Fiesta Bowl is a slap in the face to all Non-BCS schools. Here is a similitude to help you understand why. TCU and BSU are like 2 young teenagers at a big family gathering at Thanksgiving. You know how big family Thanksgivings go, the adults are at the big table and the kids are at a fold up card table in a spill safe area in another room of the house. The big table gets all the really good food while the card table gets a lot of the food but a lot of stuff just never makes it over to the card table. The oldest kids are always stuck in a precarious position. As they reach 16 or so they have shown that they are definitely too big to sit at the card table and they have behaved well enough to deserve a spot at the big table and finally get access to all the food and grown up conversation that is at the big table. But the adults kind of like the way things are and they like the somewhat exclusive nature of the big table. They do understand however that the oldest kids need to get a little something to keep them happy. Now the adults have tried having one of the oldest kids at a time at the big table. This has worked OK except now the oldest kids are really showing that they deserve to be there and they seem to really really enjoy it. Well the adults don't exactly like this so this year they have decided to sit the two oldest kids at the big table, kind of. This year the adults come up with a brilliant idea, lets have the two oldest kids sit at a different card table that is in the same room as the the big table. This way the oldest kids get access to all of the same things the adults do but none of the adults have to be embarrassed by having one of the oldest kids out eat them or show that they deserve to be there perhaps even more than the adults. And as a little twist the adults decide to make the two oldest kids compete in an eating contest, the one who wins will get some respect, but not that much because they just out ate another kid, not an adult.
Now this may or may not have been what your families Thanksgivings are like (my bet is it's not) but this is very much like what the BCS has done to BSU and TCU this year. The two teams had stellar years and TCU in particular could play with anyone in the country. But despite all of the past success by Non-BCS teams, Utah and Boise St in particular, TCU and BSU are getting the ultimate slap in the face and being told that they are invited to the "big table" but they have to play each other! They don't get an opportunity to prove themselves against bigger name teams like Florida or Cincinnati. That way they would have had the opportunity to both go home winners and carry the Non-BCS banner into the next year. But now they will compete and one will lose and the team that wins will get very little respect for their win. In a year that we all thought that the BCS was really feeling the pressure to change soon the BCS has found a way to win yet again. Showing us even more definitively that we will never achieve a playoff in college football and the little guy will always be the little guy. BCS: 1 Million Non-BCS: 3 (the number of wins they have in BCS games)
And that is our View from the Upper Bowl for now.
The NBA: So as we have made pretty clear here at the Upper Bowl we basically care a lot about the Jazz and a little about the rest of the NBA. As a result it would make sense that we here at the Upper Bowl were disgusted by what happened to the Jazz on Saturday. Just in case you missed it, the Jazz lost to the 2-17 Minnesota Timberwolves! Now one of the other wins that the Timberwolves have on this year is at Denver, so the loss while embarrassing is not the disgusting part. The disgusting part of this loss is that it is so typical of what the Jazz do. Case in point, the Jazz just won their 3rd straight game against the San Antonio Spurs last night, a quality opponent. The Jazz also have won 7 out of 9 games. They are a very talented team that apparently just decides not to show up on certain losses (example: Losses to OKC, Sacramento, Minnesota, Houston). Without those embarrassing losses the Jazz would be a mere 1/2 game behind the Lakers. So as a Jazz fan it is so frustrating to love a team that is so wildly inconsistent. The good from last weekend was the Jerseys that the Jazz wore on Friday night, the retro green jerseys are phenomenal, and I read this morning that they will be worn 9 more times this year. That is something to be excited about.
College Football: There were some pretty good games last week. The Thursday night game between Oregon and Oregon St was fantastic. The Cincinnati and Pittsburgh game Saturday was full of great offense and high drama. And the Texas and Nebraska game was a nail biter that went the wrong way at the end. With all the action wrapping up the end of the regular season the BCS Bowl bids were decided and the other bowl bids handed out. Here is a quick look at the matchups we care about here:
BCS National Championship: Alabama vs Texas
Rose Bowl: Ohio St vs Oregon
Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech vs Iowa
Sugar Bowl: Florida vs Cincinnati
Fiesta Bowl: TCU vs BSU
Las Vegas Bowl: BYU vs Oregon St
Poinsettia Bowl: Utah vs Cal
I think BYU and Utah both received good opponents in their respective bowls. I should say now that I think Utah definitely has the easier game, Cal is without their superstar running back Jahvid Best, and their passing game isn't very effective. Utah should continue their bowl game dominance. BYU however has a very good Oregon State team that has one heck of play maker in the backfield. I am not sure who I think will win this one yet. More to come on that another day. The matchup's that I really want to focus on right now are in the BCS National Championship, Fiesta Bowl and Sugar Bowl. First of all, after the performance Alabama had on Saturday look for them to win the championship in terribly lopsided fashion, Texas is no more deserving of the National Championship bid than TCU, BSU or Cincinnati. The real injustice of the BCS comes in the Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl pairings. The 4 teams participating in those games are all deserving of BCS spots, however TCU getting paired with BSU in the Fiesta Bowl is a slap in the face to all Non-BCS schools. Here is a similitude to help you understand why. TCU and BSU are like 2 young teenagers at a big family gathering at Thanksgiving. You know how big family Thanksgivings go, the adults are at the big table and the kids are at a fold up card table in a spill safe area in another room of the house. The big table gets all the really good food while the card table gets a lot of the food but a lot of stuff just never makes it over to the card table. The oldest kids are always stuck in a precarious position. As they reach 16 or so they have shown that they are definitely too big to sit at the card table and they have behaved well enough to deserve a spot at the big table and finally get access to all the food and grown up conversation that is at the big table. But the adults kind of like the way things are and they like the somewhat exclusive nature of the big table. They do understand however that the oldest kids need to get a little something to keep them happy. Now the adults have tried having one of the oldest kids at a time at the big table. This has worked OK except now the oldest kids are really showing that they deserve to be there and they seem to really really enjoy it. Well the adults don't exactly like this so this year they have decided to sit the two oldest kids at the big table, kind of. This year the adults come up with a brilliant idea, lets have the two oldest kids sit at a different card table that is in the same room as the the big table. This way the oldest kids get access to all of the same things the adults do but none of the adults have to be embarrassed by having one of the oldest kids out eat them or show that they deserve to be there perhaps even more than the adults. And as a little twist the adults decide to make the two oldest kids compete in an eating contest, the one who wins will get some respect, but not that much because they just out ate another kid, not an adult.
Now this may or may not have been what your families Thanksgivings are like (my bet is it's not) but this is very much like what the BCS has done to BSU and TCU this year. The two teams had stellar years and TCU in particular could play with anyone in the country. But despite all of the past success by Non-BCS teams, Utah and Boise St in particular, TCU and BSU are getting the ultimate slap in the face and being told that they are invited to the "big table" but they have to play each other! They don't get an opportunity to prove themselves against bigger name teams like Florida or Cincinnati. That way they would have had the opportunity to both go home winners and carry the Non-BCS banner into the next year. But now they will compete and one will lose and the team that wins will get very little respect for their win. In a year that we all thought that the BCS was really feeling the pressure to change soon the BCS has found a way to win yet again. Showing us even more definitively that we will never achieve a playoff in college football and the little guy will always be the little guy. BCS: 1 Million Non-BCS: 3 (the number of wins they have in BCS games)
And that is our View from the Upper Bowl for now.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Great NFL Sunday!
Since I am the resident NFL lover, I took it upon myself to comment on yesterday's games. All of the teams I want to lose, lost (besides the Broncos). And all of the teams I wanted to win, won (other than Washington)
Examples:
The Colts beat the Titans
The Patriots lost to the Dolphins
The Steelers lost, but not to just any team. The Raiders! (yes, you read that correctly)
The Cowgirls lost to the Giants.
My beloved Seahawks won over division rival San Fran.
Sure Denver looked like they just might be righting the ship. But remember it was over the lowly Chiefs. Don't put too much stock in that game. They will still lose at least 2 of their next 4.
I don't like Washington, but I was hoping by them beating the Saints, everyone would stop giving credit to the Saints. The Saints are good, but they are not in the same league as the Colts. If they both go undefeated and end up in the Superbowl together, watch for a very lopsided Colts victory.
All in all, it was a good day. The only thing that would have made it perfect (besides the two games mentioned above) would be if Tom Brady would have got cleated in the eye; ruining not only his NFL career, but his modeling career as well!
Examples:
The Colts beat the Titans
The Patriots lost to the Dolphins
The Steelers lost, but not to just any team. The Raiders! (yes, you read that correctly)
The Cowgirls lost to the Giants.
My beloved Seahawks won over division rival San Fran.
Sure Denver looked like they just might be righting the ship. But remember it was over the lowly Chiefs. Don't put too much stock in that game. They will still lose at least 2 of their next 4.
I don't like Washington, but I was hoping by them beating the Saints, everyone would stop giving credit to the Saints. The Saints are good, but they are not in the same league as the Colts. If they both go undefeated and end up in the Superbowl together, watch for a very lopsided Colts victory.
All in all, it was a good day. The only thing that would have made it perfect (besides the two games mentioned above) would be if Tom Brady would have got cleated in the eye; ruining not only his NFL career, but his modeling career as well!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)