NFL Just-Past Midseason Awards

I know I'm a week late on this, but I was busy visiting Buffalo casting my spell of doom on the Bills franchise, which worked quicker than expected this week in South Beach.

We've past the half way point of the season (sad), and pre-mature awards need to be given out. Cut the pomp and circumstance, let's get right into it.

MVP

I'm guessing most of you thought I was gonna go with number 10 for the AFC East leaders. He's been great don't get me wrong, and is much deserving of being in the conversation and receiving some votes, but it's hard to argue he or anyone else is playing their position better than Jonathan Taylor is playing his.

The league leader in rushing yards, leading second place by more than 200 (although he's played an extra game), is just the beginning of his positional dominance.

Name a running back stat and he's first place.

Yards - 1st

Attempts - 1st

Yards Per Carry - 1st

Yards Per Game - 1st

TDs - 1st

Longest Rush of Season - 1st

Big Runs (20+ Yards) - 1st

Rushing 1st Downs - 1st

Those are all the stats on the ESPN RB stat sheet. And he hasn't fumbled yet either.

Wait, there's more.

He leads the league in points scored, a statistic historically dominated by kickers. He's scored 104 points (17 TDs and a two point conversion), which clears second most by 12. For context, the next non-kicker ranks 21st on this list. That is INSANE.

He also leads all RBs in yards after contact with 891, a tally that's 357 (!!) yards clear of 2nd place.

He's scored 3 TDs in as many games as he hasn't. And his Indianapolis Colts sit atop the AFC at 8-2.

I know Daniel Jones has played well so far this year, but no one can tell me he's the catalyst that sparked this offensive turnaround in Indy. Jonathan Taylor is playing bully-ball every week, and is the reason this Colts offense ticks. He probably won't win the award cause it's a stupid award that should be renamed the MVQB, but he should, especially if he keeps this pace.

To think he was drafted in the third round of some fantasy leagues....

Coach Of The Year

I can only hone in my homer-ism so long. Shane Steichen would be a worthy choice here, as would Mike McDonald in Seattle, but I gotta give the nod to my man Vrabes.

I've said it since they hired him last January, but every decision the Patriots have made since Vrabel became the head coach was perceived to be the right one. Whether that's true or not is irrelevant (partially), because of the years preceding him. In the waning Belichick years and the long and sufferable Mayo year, every decision felt like straw-grasping, like throwing a feather in the air and hoping the wind takes it where you want. There was no leadership in the building, no sense of direction, and no faith from the fanbase. We were hiring defensive coaches as offensive coaches, benching first round picks for Division 1-AA players, and then cleaning house and filling a coaching staff with coaches who have never coached before. The organization was lost.

Within weeks of Vrabel being the head coach that was changed. A sense of accountability was brought back to the building (since Belichick obviously had that for years/decades). The coaching staff was remodeled with veterans who know how to coach. They spent money in free agency, and all felt right.

But still, going from where we were to where we are now felt like a pipe dream. One of the worst rosters in the league certainly improved but couldn't possibly make up the seemingly infinite ground between them and the Super Bowl contenders.

Which is where coaching comes in. We have a better roster than many people give us credit for, but everyone in the locker room believes in their calling. The offensive, headed by Josh McDaniels who I jokingly but sort of seriously said deserves consideration for this award, is scheming guys open and is developing a superstar behind center. The defense makes every team we play one dimensional, and as the game goes along and the coaches can grasp the opponent's scheme, slowly shuts them down.

The Patriots through 10 games have as many wins as they've had in the last 34 before it. The Colts are great this year, but they were pretty good last year too. Same with Seattle. Maybe if I was closer to those franchises I could see in the details what I see in New England. But what's happening with the Patriots is incredible, and this award is a no brainer to me.

Game Of The Year

No one cares about offensive/defensive/rookie of the year in November, that'd be boring. Instead let's go down memory lane.

Crazy to say that in such a great year no game has topped week 1, but it's true. And it's in large part due to who was playing, and the storylines/pressure both teams felt coming into the year.

Because of their playoff shortcomings, and their assumed success this season, this felt like a playoff game mere hours into the NFL season. A game that would set the tone for the year, catapult the winner into the "biggest threat to the Chiefs" top spot on TV programs across America, and possibly have home field advantage implications down the road.

Through three quarters it was an exciting dud of a game. There was tons of points, but it wasn't setting up for the suspenseful finish we were hoping for. Until the fourth quarter, when the game went nuclear. And by the game I mean Josh Allen. In the fourth quarter alone, the Bills mustered up 248 yards of offense and 22 points, needing every one of them.

While the Bills were moving the ball the game still felt out of reach. But up 8 with 3 minutes left, just two first downs away from closing out the game, Derrick Henry fumbled and gave Buffalo life. They went on to score, but failed on their second consecutive two-point conversion to stay 2 points behind.

On the wrong side of the two-minute warning, Lamar and the Ravens needed 10 yards to ice the game. They got seven on the first three, and the whole world thought it would come down to one play, 4th and 3.

Everyone but John Harbaugh.

One of the founding fathers of going for it on fourth down decided to turtle and punted the ball to the reigning MVP who's hand was on fire, taking the game out of his two-time MVPs hands. And Josh did exactly what we all knew he would, setting up fresh-off-the-couch Matt Prater to run on the field with no timeouts to seal the game at the buzzer. It was poetry.

It will be tough to top that game, but as the season progresses and more meaning and consequence get put on these games, I'm sure it will. But for now we'll remember this one.

Play of the Year

This may be one of the plays of our lifetime. It's hard to come across a play you've never seen before if you've watched as much football as we all have. So imagine how hard it is for Gene Steratore, a man who's job it is to watch the weirdest plays in football for the last decade, after refereeing the two decades prior, to say the same thing.

This play had it all. Scramble out the pocket, tipped pass, interception, a self-fumble, a rugby scrum, a soccer kick, and eventually a TD for the offense. I'm laughing typing this out because it's so insane. It's a once in a lifetime type of play, and one only the combination of the Titans and Cardinals could cook up.

This play was the difference in that game. I may or may not still be salty that I was bounced from my survivor pool from this it....

Worst Take of The Preseason

It’s not often I’m wrong, but if you give enough takes before the season starting you’re bound to miss on something. That's the game we play. But I don't know if I've ever been more wrong about anything than I was about the Indianapolis Colts.

I’m having a hard time thinking of a team in a worse spot than the Colts. There’s plenty of bad teams, but not many with NO plan past this year. Hell I don’t think the Colts have a plan past this month.

I will root, but I’m prepared to be let down. He’s proven he’s not a good quarterback, and on a team that's as equally as average to below average as his Giant teams, I don't see a light shining in Indy. Maybe Jim Irsay will work some magic from above (RIP). Record: 4-13

Obviously I'm referencing Daniel Jones in the second quote. I don't think I was alone in thinking Danny Dimes wouldn't succeed in Indy, but I might've gotten a little ahead of myself with the record prediction. I was so confident this season would be disastrous for the Colts.

I was convinced Anthony Richardson lost the QB battle more than Indiana Jones won it. Hell this is the same guy who was third string last year in Minnesota behind Nick Mullens. I wasn't convinced that they had the horses on defense, and thought their 8-9 record from a year ago wasn't sustainable since they had zero wins of more than one score.

But boy was I wrong.

My biggest mistake was forgetting about the MVP I just raved about at the top of the blog. Maybe it was the fact he's been in and out with injuries over the last couple years, or that the Colts are for the most part a forgotten franchise that doesn't get talked about much, but in my head JT's prime had past. I didn't even mention his name in their preview smh. His numbers last year were much better than I realized too. Idk, I have no excuse.

Maybe my small amount of estimation about Anthony Richardson's ability to play QB was an overestimation. Maybe the same can be said about the development abilities of the New York Giants. Maybe my relatively high estimation of Shane Steichen was still too low. Or maybe this really is Jim Irsay pulling strings with the big man upstairs.

It's likely all the above, and as of week 10 I've lost one of my few preseason futures bets on the Colts under 7.5 wins. I don't know if I will, or even can be, as wrong about another team as I was with this team again.

Best Take Of The Preseason

With darkness comes light, and my general feelings around the league are sound despite the blog/brand name. The bad take was obvious, but finding the best one is tough to narrow down. How about the Patriots being a playoff team? Or the Dolphins falling on their face and being mid-implosion halfway through the year? Thought the Commanders would still be good? Not I. I'll spare you the rest.

But the one I'm most proud of, the one I called my boldest take of the year, is the Seattle Seahawks.

They have one of the best front fours in football, deep enough to have Demarcus Lawrence coming off the bench. They have a good secondary to pair with it, led by Riq Woolen and Julian Love. They have one of the best RB duos in the league in Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet, and have Jaxon Smith Njigba (who I'm incredibly high on this year) and brought in Cooper Kupp to replace Tyler Lockett (which at this point in their careers I'd call an upgrade).

The biggest question is the quarterback, and whether or not Sam Darnold's heavenly season in Minnesota was an anomaly, or the birth of a new QB. It may be unpopular but I think the ladder. Sure he fell apart in the last two weeks, but the first 15 he was so under control. He developed a new found confidence, and had weapons at his disposal to help him make plays. While the weapons aren't quite as stacked as they were in Minnesota, having the backfield help, which I'd expect Seattle to lean on, with those two aforementioned WRs, and the whole world assuming last year was a fluke, will provide enough fire under Sam's belly to shock the world again. I do believe Sam Darnold is a good quarterback. I do believe Sam Darnold is a good quarterback. Maybe if I say it enough it will come true. Record: 11-6

Looks like I said it enough. Sam Darnold is yet again shocking the world, and is playing QB well enough to warrant a mention in MVP discussions.

Seattle had the fourth worst odds to win the division going into the year, even behind the Cardinals. Many people including myself were skeptical of what Seattle was doing when they shipped off DK and Geno and immediately back-filled them with Darnold and Kupp. But after more thought, it all made sense.

They saw what we didn't. They saw that Geno had reached his peak and was on his descent down. They saw that they already had the replacement for DK in JSN, so the Kupp acquisition wasn't a 1:1 replacement. In fact, they upgraded both positions while collecting draft capital in the process. Kudos to the front office.

As I expected, Seattle's front four is the best in football. You saw the Monday night game against Houston where the Texans couldn't run for a single yard. You saw multiple strip sack fumbles this past week against Jacoby Brissett and the Cardinals. They generate more QB pressures per game than any team, and no one can run on them.

The only thing I was wrong about with this team is saying they'd rely on the run. They're an average running team, while Darnold and JSN put on an air show every week. I hope they get it done this weekend against the Rams and fully bring my prophecy of winning the NFC West to fruition, but them being 7-2 is already enough for me to boast. I also had over 8.5 wins on my preseason ticket.