Goodbye NFL Season

This just goes to show you how wild the NFL season can be. 

Did you have the Chargers, Ravens, Bears and Saints as the teams with first round byes in the playoffs??

This weekend is the wildcard round of the playoffs.  Hosting those games will be the Colts, Patriots, Eagles and Seahawks.  Three of those teams have played in the last two Super Bowls.  The other, the Colts, have had one of the NFL's top records in that time frame. 

Amazing. 

Here are some Sportz Awards to end the NFL season:

SPORTZ MVP [AFC]:  LaDainian Tomlinson, Chargers.  When you score more points than anyone ever has in the history of the league....you are kind of valuable. 

SPORTZ MVP [NFC]:  Drew Brees, Saints.  Not only did Brees have a great year personally....but his performance helped build up a team that helped heal a city.  There are so many things you can point to about Brees' 2006.  The mere fact that he signed in New Orleans was epic, since it showed the city and the league that free agents weren't scared at all to head to the Katrina-ravaged city.  But his performance on the field that had a team who was the #2 pick in the draft last year into the NFC's #2 seed.  Amazing. 

SPORTZ ROOKIE OF THE YEAR [AFC]:  Vince Young, Titans.  What scares me is that Young is going to improve his passing skills which will further his running abilities to unfair levels.  Or that he will do a Michael Vick and stall out.  With Jeff Fisher around, I don't see that happening.  What Young has is the ability to lead his team to victory...and when teammates believe they can win any game at any time....they'll always bust their rump for you.

SPORTZ ROOKIE OF THE YEAR [NFC]:  Reggie Bush, Saints.  I know it isn't the 1,800 yd/20 TD season everyone predicted.  But he fit in nicely with the Saints and had a great season nonetheless.  He didn't have to be the workhorse back this year with Deuce McAllister still around.  Bush worked out of the backfield, was split out as a receiver and received some kicks.  As the season went along, he grew more confident and stronger in his game. 

SPORTZ SURPRISE OF THE YEAR [AFC]:  New York Jets.  The AFC was full of pleasant surprises.  I could easily put the Titans up here....or the Ravens.  But I killed the Jets before the season began and now they are a playoff team.  Unreal!

SPORTZ SURPRISE OF THE YEAR [NFC]:  New Orleans Saints.  Just read about my glowing praises of Bush, Brees and Peyton.

SPORTZ MOST DISAPPOINTING TEAM [AFC]:  Cincinnati Bengals.  This team was supposed to take the next step to a Super Bowl.  Starting off 3-0, it was all but a lock that the Bengals would be in the playoffs....especially with the Steelers struggling.  But this team has showed too many character flaws.  Their off-field problems mixed with some ego trippin' and bad luck killed them off.  Still, at 8-5, all the Bengals had to do was win once and they were in the playoffs.  They laid an egg in Indy, botched a game-tying extra point in Denver, and missed a playoff-sending/game-winning chip shot field goal against Pittsburgh. 

SPORTZ MOST DISAPPOINTING TEAM [NFC]:  Carolina Panthers.  The Panthers were the trendy pick to win the Super Bowl this year....and they didn't even get to the playoffs.  It makes no sense.  In a year where the NFC was down, the Panthers just couldn't put anything together.  They struggled running the football, which is the base of their offense.  From there, the passing game was sketchy, with Jake Delhomme very erratic and Steve Smith fighting injuries and the flu during the season.  They were exposed defensively and were just plain outplayed. 

SPORTZ COACH OF THE YEAR [AFC]:  Eric Mangini, Jets.  I had the Jets as the worst team in the NFL in my preseason preview.  Oops.  Mangini managed to work his team into the playoffs despite having to use a mediocre stable of backs.  Sure, the schedule was light, but this team wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the postseason.  And his beef with Bill Belichick is awesome. 

SPORTZ COACH OF THE YEAR [NFC]:  Sean Payton, Saints.  Peyton tooka new QB, a new star RB and a bevy of no-name receivers and created one of the most prolific offenses in the NFL.  He also managed to run this team despite the unknown of the Saints return to New Orleans after a season of being in limbo. 

SPORTZ UN-COACH OF THE YEAR [AFC]:  Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati.  Sorry, but Lewis is overrated to me.  Yeah, he's a good coach....but he lost this team this year.  In his 4th season with the Bengals, he finished with his 3rd 8-8 season.  And while this is the rebirth of the Bengals franchise, the talent on this team should have a better record.  Two things point me into picking him for this:  First was his ostrich style handling of the off-field issues with the team.  Bengals kept getting arrested and Marvin just let things go on.  Now, players screwing up is their own problem....but the coaching staff needs to send a message that they aren't putting up with distractions.  It even got to the point where players were complaining about the direction of the team.  Was it addressed??  And, two, Lewis' media face didn't cut it.  When things are bad, Lewis just smiles and says "we just got to work harder."  Well, if working harder is all it takes to win football games, then everyone would be 16-0, eh?  They players get a ton of blame here...but the guy running the show has to put his foot down sometimes. 

SPORTZ UN-COACH OF THE YEAR [NFC]:  Jim Mora, Falcons.  Sorry, but going ga-ga for a college job that isn't even available while you are in an NFL playoff chase is stupid.  Mora just doesn't seem to know how to run his team.  He tried his best to try to get Michael Vick to fit into his offense....and then flipped it up this year to try to fit the offense around Vick.  Neither seemed to work...all the time.  Now Mora may be looking for a new job out of necessity.

TREND OF THE YEAR:  New quarterbacks.  It's amazing how the QB position has had so much changeover this year.  Drew Brees, Steve McNair, Philip Rivers, Jon Kitna took over starting roles for teams this year.  For a myriad of reasons....Vince Young replaced Kerry Collins in Tennessee; Joey Harrington replaced Daunte Culpepper in Miami; David Garrard replaced Byron Leftwich in Jacksonville; Jay Cutler replaced Jake Plummer in Denver; Jeff Garcia replaced Donovan McNabb in Philly; Tony Romo replaced Drew Bledsoe in Dallas; Jason Campbell replaced Mark Brunell in Washingon;  Matt Leinart replaced Kurt Warner in Arizona; and Tim Rattay replaced Bruce Gradkowski who replaced Chris Simms in Tampa; Damon Huard played a big chunk of the season for Trent Green...as did Senecca Wallace for Matt Hasselbeck  And look for a flood of quarterbacks to enter in the picture in '07..