2011 AP NFL Postseason Award Winners
One month ago, I took a stab at who I'd thought would win the AP NFL postseason awards. Of the seven main awards, I predicted four correctly and three incorrectly.
Here are this year's winners:
AP NFL MVP - Aaron Rodgers, Packers: While Drew Brees was more prolific, Rodgers was more efficient this year. That was essentially why I predicted Rodgers would win the MVP and Brees would the Offensive Player of the Year award. Rodgers led the Packers to a league-high 15 regular-season wins and he set an NFL record with a 122.5 passer rating.
AP Offensive Player of the Year - Drew Brees, Saints: As noted above, this makes sense to me (since it was what I expected). Not only did Brees break the long-standing single-season passing yards record held by Dan Marino, but he shattered it (5,476 yards) and broke it with a week to spare. While the award is decided based on regular-season games only, Brees also threw for nearly 1,000 yards in his two postseason games (928 yards).
AP Defensive Player of the Year - Terrell Suggs, Ravens: As I noted in my predictions, where I had Suggs as the runner-up to the runner-up, he had great overall numbers -- first in forced fumbles (seven), fifth in sacks (14.0) and he had two interceptions. That said, nine of those sacks and six of the forced fumbles happened in three dominant games. In other words, he had only five sacks and one forced fumble in the other 13 games.
AP Comeback Player of the Year - Matthew Stafford, Lions: After playing in only three games in 2010 and 13 games in his first two seasons, Stafford was called a "China Doll" by a former teammate last offseason. Not only did he stay healthy for the full season, but Stafford became one of three players this season (but only four in NFL history) to throw for 5,000-plus yards.
AP Offensive Rookie of the Year - Cam Newton, Panthers: As well as some other rookies played this season, Newton won the award in a landslide as expected. Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton finished second with three votes, but I had A.J. Green as the runner-up in my prediction from January 4th. The only quarterback in NFL history to throw for 4,000-plus yards and rush for 700-plus yards is Newton, who also set the rushing touchdown record for quarterbacks (14) this year.
AP Defensive Rookie of the Year - Von Miller, Broncos: Before his injury forced him to miss a game and slow him down thereafter, Miller had 10.5 sacks in his first 11 games played. Although I would have given the award to San Francisco's Aldon Smith, it's hard to argue with either of the two winning the award.
AP Coach of the Year - Jim Harbaugh, 49ers: While there was plenty of talent already in place, especially on the defensive side of the ball, Harbaugh turned an under-achieving six-win team into a 13-win team with the second-best record in the NFC. Quarterback Alex Smith, a former No. 1 overall pick, had his best season with a 22:5 touchdown-to-interception ratio counting the postseason.
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