This Given Sunday’s Quarter Pole Awards: Matt Forte is your 1/4 MVP

tgs-award

This Given Sunday’s football experts gathered at TGS World Headquarters to select the NFL’s outstanding players at the quarter pole.  We hand out the virtual hardware for the players and coaches who brought it in the first four games of the 2011 season.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER OF THE QUARTER

Nominees:

  • Calvin Johnson, WR, Detroit Lions – There is no stopping Megatron unless Optimus Prime is in your secondary.
  • Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers – Picked up where he left off at the Super Bowl. Wasn’t there a Brett somebody on this team?
  • Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions – If you nominate the quarterback of one unbeaten team, you must nominate the quarterback of the other.
  • Matt Forte, RB, Chicago Bears – This one-man offense is the only reason Chicago is still in the playoff hunt.

And the MVP winner is, MATT FORTE, RB, CHICAGO BEARS.  Stafford has Johnson. Rodgers has Jennings. Forte has nobody. No one was more important to his team than Forte is to the Bears.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE QUARTER

Nominees:

  • Darren McFadden, RB, Oakland Raiders – Run DMC finished the quarter as the league-leading ground gainer, 77 yards ahead of his nearest rival, Maurice Jones-Drew. His average of 6.2 yards per carry is best of anyone with over 50 attempts.
  • Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions – Everyone loves an underdog, so Stafford is nominated twice. So far, Stafford has been healthy. The Lions suffer when he is out. 
  • Matt Hasselbeck, QB, Tennessee Titans – He is the new quarterback on a new team with a new coach and a star running back that is missing in action. Hasselbeck has the Titans on top of the NFC South just when Peyton Manning is out.

The Outstanding Offensive Player of the Quarter is, MATT HASSELBECK, TENNESSEE TITANS. We saw the Lions trending up late last year. The Raiders have not made their case yet, despite McFadden’s considerable efforts. The Titans hold a jaw-dropping grip on the division, thanks solely to Mr. Hasselbeck.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE QUARTER

Nominees:

  • D’Qwell Jackson, LB, Cleveland Browns – He is not only a tackling beast, but can get to the quarterback and make sacks with ease while making a peanut and jelly sandwich. Jackson is to the Browns’ defense what Joe Thomas is to the offense.
  • Roman Harper, SS, New Orleans Saints – A tackling machine in the secondary with 3.5 sacks. New Orleans desperately needs him since most of the rest of the defense is suspect.
  • Terrell Suggs, LB, Baltimore Ravens – Nearly unblockable, Suggs is the new face of the Ravens’ defense, which has been getting by with a substandard pass rush for the last several years. His pressure on the pocket is lifting Baltimore back to elite status.
  • Ed Reed, S, Baltimore Ravens – Made his bid for this award in the Sunday night beatdown of the New York Jets. His influence is greater than his stats. Reed both covers and pressures. That forces quarterbacks to account for him at all times.

The Outstanding Defensive Player of the Quarter is Terrell Suggs, Baltimore, the new face of the new, more aggressive Ravens defense.

COACH OF THE QUARTER

Nominees:

  • Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco 49ers (3-1) – Revived the ‘Niners’ fortunes so that they might win the division crown they were expected to win last year.  
  • Mike Munchak, Tennessee Titans (3-1) – inherited a team in need of a rebuild after turmoil left the Titans without a coach, quarterback or coordinators. Then he lost Kenny Britt and Chris Hope. Yet the Titans keep charging ahead.
  • Chan Gailey, Buffalo Bills (3-1) – For a conservative coach, Gailey has installed a fearless attitude among this surprising Buffalo Team. No one gets more out of the talent on his roster than Gailey.

The Coach of the Quarter is Chan Gailey. All these coaches deserve recognition for their team’s turn-around, but Buffalo’s revival is nothing short of astounding.

OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE QUARTER

Nominee:

  • Cam Newton, QB, Carolina Panthers

The Offensive Rookie of the Quarter is Cam Newton, the only candidate nominated, by unanimous agreement. When you throw for over 400 yards in each of your first two games, the owner won’t care whether or not your tats show. Honorable mention to AJ Green, who in any other year would be a likely runaway winner. 

DEFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE QUARTER

Nominees:

  • Mason Foster, MLB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – The Bucs allowed All-Pro Barrett Ruud to walk in free agency after they drafted Foster. He has a nose for the ball and is playing every down. Remember the name.  
  • Von Miller, OLB, Denver Broncos – Miller stepped in and immediately became a vital cog of the Broncos defense. Reminiscent of Brian Cushing’s debut.
  • Ryan Kerrigan, OLB Washington Redskins – High impact player proven to be the perfect bookend to Brian Orakpo for the raging Redskins.

The Defensive Rookie of the Quarter is Von Miller. This was close, but the weight of evaluator opinion tipped the scale for Miller.

OFFENSIVE BUST OF THE QUARTER: Chris Johnson, RB, Tennessee Titans.

The only single candidate nominated by the TGS writers (the other was the entire Eagles’ O-line), CJ2K must be profoundly embarrassed to be performing so badly after pouting for a new contract during training camp. How does Johnson reward the Titans for extending his contract with $30 million guaranteed? With 2.9 yards per carry while anchoring Tennessee’s 28th-ranked run offense.

The two men, in addition to CJ himself, who worry most about that are Mike Munchak and Matt Forte. Munchak knows what will happen when opposing defenses stop worrying about Tennessee’s ground game and focus on  Matt Hasselbeck. Matt Forte can thank Johnson for giving Chicago pause on extending his contract right now. The Bears need to keep Forte hungry. Why screw that up now? Look what happened in Tennessee.

DEFENSIVE BUST OF THE QUARTER: Albert Haynesworth, DT, New England Patriots.

LaMarr Woodley deserves dishonorable mention for disappearing from the Steelers’ defense, but Haynesworth just disappeared period. Fat Albert missed two games with a back injury. It was an excused absence, but Haynesworth these days is always a question mark for his desire, effort and conditioning. He has a knack for annoying hard-nosed coaches, so there is a question if Bill Belichick will get more from him than Mike Shanahan, who got nothing, or Jeff Fisher, who got something at high maintenance cost.

Belichick acquired Haynesworth on the cheap hoping to boost the front seven of a defense that ranks dead last in the NFL. Haynesworth returned to practice this week just in time for the pivotal Jets game. We wonder if the way to beat Haynesworth is to run right at him…to tire him out. The fact that we can ask that question is evidence that Fat Albert is a bust until he proves otherwise.

NEXT COACH TO GO AWARD: Tony Sparano, Miami Dolphins

TGS writers ignored Jack Del Rio and Todd Haley to unanimously nominate Sparano. Dolphins’ owner Stephen Ross said this week that Sparano “is the right coach” for the winless team. Such statements have the same ring of truth as “I am not running for president,” or “I will love you in the morning.”  

UNDER THE RADAR PLAYER OF THE QUARTER AWARD

Nominees:

  • AJ Green, WR, Cincinnati Bengals – Atlanta gave away all those draft picks to acquire Julio Jones to recreate the Arizona Cardinals Super Bowl pass offense. The Bengals used their pick the old-fashioned way–select AJ Green. The payoff? Green has twice as many touchdowns (2) for the 2-2 Bengals as Jones and Roddy White combined have for the 2-2 Falcons.
  • Jimmy Graham, TE New Orleans Saints – As Gates, Clark, and Gonzalez begin to descend back to earth, he’s your next premiere NFL tight end.   
  • Josh Freeman, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Sorry to channel Phil Simms here, but all Josh Freeman does is win games. He plays like the next coming of Ben Roethlisberger, a player who will be perennially underrated as a passer because the switch doesn’t seem to flip on for him until the second half.
  • Daryl Smith, LB, Jacksonville  Jaguars – The Jags have one of the most improved defenses in the league, and Smith is a big part of that. Smith would get more notice if his team either won more, or were in a larger media market.They may do both next year, but for now Smith suffers.

The Under The Radar Player Award goes to Jimmy Graham. No nominee is as under the radar as Daryl Smith. Graham gets the nod because of his contributions to the division leading Saints while ESPN and others continue to go Gonzo over Tony Gonzalez.

PERSONALITY OF THE QUARTER AWARD: Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford Cardinals

The other nominees were Hall of Famer Barry Sanders who made a rare comment in praise of the Detroit Lions and Michael Vick whose whine about refs not throwing flags when he is hit in the pocket was better directed to his O-line than to the media. Those quips made news for a weekend. The Luck Obsession was full roar the day the lockout ended.

No one accused the Carolina Panthers of throwing games to be first in line for Cam Newton. The Panthers v2010 were just a sucky team that lost. This year, every move by every lower-half team is interpreted as diabolical plot to Draft Luck. Maybe it’s the name. Suck for Luck is so much catchier than Rootin’ for Newton.

What’s a Jaguars or Colts fan to do when the two teams meet November 13? Do they cheer for their team to lose so they “win” the Suck for Luck Bowl? Would the St. Louis Rams discard Sam Bradford to select Luck if they win the top 2012 Draft pick? What are the tiebreaker rules for suckiest team if two or three franchises go 0-16?

See what I mean? The kid isn’t in the league yet, but he animates conversation every day. Welcome to the NFL, future franchise quarterback rookie.

Lucky you.


The following This Given Sunday writers contributed to this story:

Shane Clemens, editor, TGS, and lead writer, The Jaggernaut
Will Horton, editor, TGS, and lead writer, RamsHerd
Anthony Brown, staff writer, TGS, and lead writer, Redskins Hog Heaven
Lawrence Dushenski, staff writer, TGS, @LD10 on Twitter
~and~
Ben Koo, CEO, Bloguin, Koo’s Corner

Quantcast