Tag: Reggie Wayne (Page 4 of 6)

NFL Week 12 MVP Power Rankings

Well, we can’t ignore what Drew Brees did to the Patriots on Monday night, can we? It doesn’t even really matter what Mr. Manning and Mr. Favre did. Oh, those guys are all bunched up here, but consider that in their biggest game of the season so far, the Saints’ Brees threw for 371 yards, 5 TDs to five different receivers, and zero picks in leading them to a 38-17 dismantling of New England in the Superdome. Yikes.

1. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—See above. Brees now leads the NFL in both QB rating (112.6) and touchdown passes (27). He’s even rushed for 2 scores for good measure. And oh yeah, the Saints are 11-0 and starting to think about Miami in February.

2. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—Funny how Favre is not getting the love he should from sportswriters in the MVP conversation. Well that’s ridiculous, and you can count this writer among those who think he is extremely deserving. Against Chicago last Sunday, Favre threw for 392 more yards, with 3 TDs and no picks. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 24 TDs to 3 interceptions on the season, and his team sitting at 10-1 and in line for a first round bye.

3. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Our apologies for dropping Peyton from #1 to #3 here, but he keeps flirting with disaster each week before bringing his team back. Sure, they are 11-0 just like the Saints, but we don’t feel particularly happy about those 11 interceptions so far.

4. Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans—800 yards in the month of November. 800 yards. Are you freaking kidding me? Apparently LenDale White was not in uniform against Arizona last Sunday because of being late to a meeting. I think it was more like Jeff Fisher didn’t want to make the mistake of putting White in the game for any reason, so he kept the guy in street clothes. And how about this sick run by the Titans?

5. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers—His numbers are damn near close to the guy he replaced in Green Bay, Mr. Favre…a.k.a. #2. 3136 yards, 22 TDs, and just 5 interceptions. Imagine if Rodgers (44 sacks) wasn’t running for his life most of the time.

Honorable Mention—Philip Rivers, Chargers; Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars, Reggie Wayne, Colts; Cedric Benson, Bengals; Jared Allen, Vikings; Tom Brady, Patriots; Randy Moss, Patriots; Miles Austin, Cowboys; Vince Young, Titans; Andre Johnson, Texans; Elvis Dumervil, Broncos; Darren Sharper, Saints

NFL Week 11 MVP Power Rankings

Peyton Manning and Drew Brees have led their teams to 10-0 records, but Brett Favre did not hurt his chances with an efficient day last week against Seattle. I read in USA Today this past week that Favre’s numbers are not impressive because of his competition and they gave Wes Welker and Jared Allen more props. Baloney….you can’t ignore Favre’s value to his team, at all.

1. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—He did just enough to beat a tough Baltimore team, and did not really hurt his standing here in the process.

2. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—Against Seattle, he was 22 of 25 (career high 88 %) with 4 TDs and no picks. For those of you keeping score at home, Favre has 21 touchdowns and 3 interceptions on the season, and his team is a win or two away from clinching a bye.

3. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—Just 187 yards against the Bucs, but with 3 more scores and no picks. And like Manning, you just can’t ignore the 10-0 start.

4. Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans—What the Titans are doing after starting 0-6 is borderline spectacular. And this guy is probably the primary reason. He padded his NFL-leading rushing yardage with another 151 against Houston last Monday night and is probably the most feared RB in the league right now.

5. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers—We might be cheating here by including what he did Thursday, but still…..despite getting sacked 44 times this season, Rodgers has 22 TDs and just 5 picks and has thrown for 3136 yards. And he has his team back in the playoff race when everyone was counting them out a few weeks back.

Honorable Mention–Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars, Reggie Wayne, Colts; Cedric Benson, Bengals; Jared Allen, Vikings; Tom Brady, Patriots; Randy Moss, Patriots; Wes Welker, Patriots; Miles Austin, Cowboys

NFL Week 10 MVP Power Rankings

We’re getting deeper into November now, and as we do the playoff races in the NFL are getting tighter. That means certain players are beginning to step up an show their mettle at crunch time, while others are quietly fading off the map a bit. Here is our updated power rankings for NFL MVP….

1. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Thanks to Bill Belichick giving him a short field to work with last Sunday night, Manning once again led his team to victory to reach 9-0. But let’s not forget the Colts were trailing by 17 early in the fourth quarter before Manning led his team’s comeback.

2. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—It’s safe to say that nobody expected Brett Favre to have the highest QB rating in the NFL at this point (107.5). But there it is, with 17 touchdown passes and just 3 interceptions, and he’s led the Vikings to an 8-1 record with visions of the promised land becoming clearer.

3. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—He’s slipped just a little in our rankings despite his team being 9-0. It seems like each week it’s becoming more and more of a struggle for Brees and his Saints’ teammates, but until someone beats them, there’s no real reason to discount the QB’s season.

4. Cedric Benson, Cincinnati Bengals—Unfortunately, Benson left last Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh with an injury, but there is no denying his value to this upstart Bengals’ squad so far.

5. Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans—Sure, his team began the season with six straight losses. But suddenly, we have to give CJ props, because his team has now won three in a row, and he leads the league in rushing (1091 yards, 121 yards per game). He also has 30 catches for 262 yards and 9 total touchdowns. He’s a threat to score from any part of the field, any time.

Honorable Mention–Elvis Dumervil, Broncos; Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars, Reggie Wayne, Colts; Jared Allen, Vikings

Belichick costs the Patriots a win over Colts

Bill Belichick is a genius. In fact, he’s so much of a genius that he cost his team a win on Sunday night by making one of the dumbest decisions by a head coach in quite some time.

The Patriots absolutely dissected the Colts for 58 minutes tonight. Tom Brady threw for 375 yards and three touchdowns on 29-of-42 passing, while Randy Moss (nine catches, 179 yards, 2 TDs) and Wes Welker (nine catches, 94 yards) abused an injury-riddled, inexperienced secondary on their way to taking a 31-14 fourth quarter lead.

Then Peyton Manning worked his magic to cut Indy’s deficit to 34-28 with just over two minutes remaining. But all the Patriots had to do was pick up two first downs (something they had done with ease the entire night) on their ensuing possession and put the Colts away for good. Instead, Indy’s defense rose to the challenge and stopped the Pats on a 3rd and 2 from New England’s 28-yard line to force a punt.

Or what everyone thought would be a punt, that is.

Instead of punting and making Manning drive the length of the field, Belichick decided to call a time out (the second of the drive) and go for it on fourth down. What ensued was a 1-yard catch by Kevin Faulk, a controversial spot of the ball and a turnover on downs for New England. Four plays later, Manning found Reggie Wayne for a 1-yard touchdown pass to give the Colts a stunning 35-34 victory.

Now, I don’t fault Belichick for being who he is: An aggressive decision-maker and a coach that not only likes to beat his opponent, but rip their soul out of their bodies and do a tap dance number on it. That’s who he is and that’s what he does. He’s won multiple Super Bowls with that strategy and he’s not going to change his philosophy now.

But the problem with that strategy in this case is that it just wasn’t a smart football decision. Belichick has to punt the football and trust his defense in that situation by forcing Manning to drive the length of the field to win. There’s nothing wrong with being aggressive, but that was just a flat out stupid decision by a head coach that knows better.

Granted, if the Patriots picked up that first down and never gave the ball back to Manning, everyone would be lauding Belichick’s fearless style. I get that, and I don’t want to lose sight of that fact because the media can be two-faced in scenarios like these. And in Belichick’s defense, with the way his offense had been moving the ball all night, gaining a first down on 4th and 2 must have seemed like a lock and why give the ball back to Manning after he just carved up your defense the previous two drives?

But the Patriots didn’t pick up that first down and there was really no reason not to punt the football in that situation. It wasn’t like they were at midfield – they were at their own 28-yard line and if their gamble didn’t work, Belichick had to have known he was handing a win over to the Colts. Furthermore, for Belichick to burn two timeouts before making that decision and leaving himself without the option to stop the clock had his offense not picked up the first down was just as stupid.

I’ve never seen a team dominate like the Patriots did for 58 minutes, only to lose on a decision like that. New England will surely rebound and I wouldn’t doubt it if we saw these same two teams play in the AFC Championship Game in the same stadium. But nevertheless, this was an awful decision by Belichick and he cost his team tonight.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

NFL Week 9 MVP Power Rankings

With Drew Brees and Peyton Manning leading their teams to victory again, barely, there is no good reason to drop them in the rankings here. Meanwhile, Brett Favre and Jared Allen did not play, so we held spots for them, but moved Cedric Benson up based on a second 100-yard rushing performance against the Ravens.

1. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—Halfway through the season, Brees and his Saints are 8-0 and have a three game lead in their division. Suffice to say, this team appears to be headed toward a first round bye, and their QB is one of the biggest reasons.

2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—After a subpar start to 2008 after knee surgery, Manning wanted to get off to a fast start this season, and he has done just that. But what might be more impressive is that after Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark, he’s throwing to guys named Garcon and Collie.

3. Cedric Benson, Cincinnati Bengals—He rushed for 120 yards against the Ravens in Week 5, and 117 yards against them in Week 9. Read that back. That’s two 100 yard games against the Baltimore Ravens, and that’s just sick.

4. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—The old man still has it, much to the dismay of everyone in Northern Wisconsin. You think Ted Thompson is sleeping well lately?

5. Jared Allen, Minnesota Vikings—He’s had two weeks to rest those wheels that never seem to stop moving. Next on Allen’s hit list is that poor Stafford kid in Detroit.

Honorable Mention–Elvis Dumervil, Broncos; Andre Johnson, Texans, Tom Brady, Patriots; Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars, Chris Johnson, Titans; Reggie Wayne, Colts; Michael Turner, Falcons; Reggie Wayne, Colts; Steve Smith, Giants

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