http://saintsreport.com/forums/f2/some-thoughts-mvp-situation-what-happened-219892/
have at it.
Main highlights...
It's clear that Aaron Rodgers won the AP vote by a large margin given the discussion, even though he broke a recent NFL record by a very small margin and Drew Brees broke multiple NFL records, the decades old one by a fairly large margin. I think Rodgers sat game 16 to avoid the risk of losing that single passer rating record. His margin was very thin.
MVP should be about more than just the individual records:
Brees helped his team set an NFL team record... Rodgers did not.
Brees helped two of his teammates set NFL records (Sproles and Graham for a short time)... Rodgers did not help his teammates achieve NFL records.
Brees certainly is cited by the players as helping them develop (Graham, Ingram as examples)... I don't hear that about Rodgers.
Brees helped recruit and secure Sproles for the Saints. Rodgers does not do that stuff.
Brees helped reach the CBA. Rodgers does not do that stuff.
Brees outplayed Rodgers in their head to head meeting. We lost that game on a Colston fumble, a kickoff return for a touchdown and failure to gain a yard on first down as the clock ran out.
On the other hand Rodgers had one more win and fewer INTs.
The past couple weeks Brees has been winning virtually ALL the end-of-the-season Fan polls on who should be MVP -- and there have been a lot of them. When fans looked at the total body of work... they said "Brees".
So what happened?
Here's my view:
1) Most of the Sportscasters went on record that Rodgers was having the best season by any quarterback, ever, by the end of October. Once on record -- they kept repeating it. I remember one NFLN segment where a cheesehead (this was an actor, not a real fan) said Rodgers was going to set the completions, accuracy, yards and passer rating records all in one season. Then the roundtable jumps in and everyone comments on how no one has every approached the level of play that Rodgers is exhibiting. I saw similar stuff on Fox. This did a couple of things. First, it cemented a position in a number of pundents minds.... and those guys don't want to say "I was wrong." after taking a strong position. Second it informed the public that Rodgers was it. This got reflected in the early Pro-bowl voting by the public ....
2) Drew played well through the first half of the year -- but forced too many balls in tight coverage. Drew played lights out the second half of the season... much better than Rodgers... but that got little coverage from the Sportscasters who were busy justifying their prior statements. Aaron Rodger's numbers were miracles, but Brees better numbers were the result of the new passing rules and shouldn't be viewed as exceptional.
3) New Orleans had a number of primetime, nationally televised games at year end.
Drew played better than anyone ever had at the position during those games... hence the public's view of his MVP status. Sportscaster's were still justifing their prior picks and sending messages "polling" each other to make sure they had a united opinion that they were right all along.
4) There was no Champion for Drew in that community. Had a couple respected guys stepped forward and said: "Rodgers was good this year, but you just can't ignore what Brees has done -- it is more impressive and we are voting for him." I think this would have turned the tide and he would be getting the same result in the AP voting that he got with the fans when the whole body of work is looked at.
5) The Saints organization did NOT help that much. A couple players said very positive things. But, in the past I remember general managers, owners and coaches saying "We are playing with the best there has ever been." over and over in news conferences. Brady and Manning have had this kind of support. It is more important when you are in a relatively small media market. The Saints did some of this in 2009. Not this year. It might be because of the contract situation, but it would have helped had the organization been a lot more public in it's support of Drew as MVP.
Brees got robbed again. If he has a performance bonus for MVP, that money won't be available for him to support local community projects.
have at it.
Main highlights...
It's clear that Aaron Rodgers won the AP vote by a large margin given the discussion, even though he broke a recent NFL record by a very small margin and Drew Brees broke multiple NFL records, the decades old one by a fairly large margin. I think Rodgers sat game 16 to avoid the risk of losing that single passer rating record. His margin was very thin.
MVP should be about more than just the individual records:
Brees helped his team set an NFL team record... Rodgers did not.
Brees helped two of his teammates set NFL records (Sproles and Graham for a short time)... Rodgers did not help his teammates achieve NFL records.
Brees certainly is cited by the players as helping them develop (Graham, Ingram as examples)... I don't hear that about Rodgers.
Brees helped recruit and secure Sproles for the Saints. Rodgers does not do that stuff.
Brees helped reach the CBA. Rodgers does not do that stuff.
Brees outplayed Rodgers in their head to head meeting. We lost that game on a Colston fumble, a kickoff return for a touchdown and failure to gain a yard on first down as the clock ran out.
On the other hand Rodgers had one more win and fewer INTs.
The past couple weeks Brees has been winning virtually ALL the end-of-the-season Fan polls on who should be MVP -- and there have been a lot of them. When fans looked at the total body of work... they said "Brees".
So what happened?
Here's my view:
1) Most of the Sportscasters went on record that Rodgers was having the best season by any quarterback, ever, by the end of October. Once on record -- they kept repeating it. I remember one NFLN segment where a cheesehead (this was an actor, not a real fan) said Rodgers was going to set the completions, accuracy, yards and passer rating records all in one season. Then the roundtable jumps in and everyone comments on how no one has every approached the level of play that Rodgers is exhibiting. I saw similar stuff on Fox. This did a couple of things. First, it cemented a position in a number of pundents minds.... and those guys don't want to say "I was wrong." after taking a strong position. Second it informed the public that Rodgers was it. This got reflected in the early Pro-bowl voting by the public ....
2) Drew played well through the first half of the year -- but forced too many balls in tight coverage. Drew played lights out the second half of the season... much better than Rodgers... but that got little coverage from the Sportscasters who were busy justifying their prior statements. Aaron Rodger's numbers were miracles, but Brees better numbers were the result of the new passing rules and shouldn't be viewed as exceptional.
3) New Orleans had a number of primetime, nationally televised games at year end.
Drew played better than anyone ever had at the position during those games... hence the public's view of his MVP status. Sportscaster's were still justifing their prior picks and sending messages "polling" each other to make sure they had a united opinion that they were right all along.
4) There was no Champion for Drew in that community. Had a couple respected guys stepped forward and said: "Rodgers was good this year, but you just can't ignore what Brees has done -- it is more impressive and we are voting for him." I think this would have turned the tide and he would be getting the same result in the AP voting that he got with the fans when the whole body of work is looked at.
5) The Saints organization did NOT help that much. A couple players said very positive things. But, in the past I remember general managers, owners and coaches saying "We are playing with the best there has ever been." over and over in news conferences. Brady and Manning have had this kind of support. It is more important when you are in a relatively small media market. The Saints did some of this in 2009. Not this year. It might be because of the contract situation, but it would have helped had the organization been a lot more public in it's support of Drew as MVP.
Brees got robbed again. If he has a performance bonus for MVP, that money won't be available for him to support local community projects.
Plus, all this MVP bickering is getting annoying. Gawd, can't wait until they announced it so it can end!!!
