*Writers ranked players from 1-3 in each category. 5 points awarded for a 1st place, 3 for a second, and 1 for a third.
MVP
LaDanian Tomlinson- 20 (perfect)
Peyton Manning- 8
Drew Brees- 4
Willie Parker- 3
Larry Johnson- 1
LDT earns a unanimous MVP honor in the VUFSA because his point total nearly 100 points greater than the second best total. His monster season is the main reason that regular season champ Madd Skillz crossed 2,000 this season. Despite injuries and inconsistencies, Peyton Manning kept Naj Davenport's Poop not only competitive, but feared. JR included Drew Brees because he "A bit of a surprise, he's really the piece that went from making Ed's team unstoppable to immortal."
Biggest Suprise
Marques Colston- 20 (perfect)
Frank Gore- 9
Maurice Jones-Drew- 4
Drew Brees- 2
Philip Rivers- 1
The NFL's biggest suprise was ours as well. Did you know Marques Colston was the 252nd player drafted? His TE eligibility only added to his dominance, and even as a WR is a keeper for Dave. Frank Gore "was a joke last year, yet he had a terrific year both running and catching the football" according to Drew Wolf, and he kept Champ's team releveant all year according to JR. Maurice Jones-Drew was suprising in that he was a rookie, and you never know what to expect from a rookie, especially one that drops out of the first round and looks like a midget.
Biggest Disappointment
Eli Manning- 10
Edgerrin James- 5
Cadillac Williams- 5
Daunte Culpepper- 4
LaMont Jordan- 3
Randy Moss- 3
Clinton Portis- 3
Mike Bell- 1
Reggie Bush- 1
The most diverse vote goes the way of Li'l Eli Manning, who once showed the potential to be one of fantasy's best QB options for years to come. Despite numerous offensive weapons, Eli continued to make piss-poor decisions and throws, ending up #3 on the 9th place team's depth chart. Edgerrin James and Cadillac Williams burned their respective owners enough that they would not only trade them for one another, but vote them the #1 disappointment. From JR: "(Cadillac) went from potential fantasy stud to bust, and it's only his second year in the league." From Drew: "Even with Edge's late season respectability, he's been an embarassment...His drop, in my opinion, is the greatest single season fall the VUFSA has ever seen." Daunte Culpepper just submarined the ChamPeon QB situation, and had no bounceback whatsoever. Randy Moss was disappointing, sure, but haven't we been through that before? Clinton Portis' injury is the reason for his inclusion. People seem to have forgotten that Mike Bell was the 5th pick in this year's draft, and Tatum was drafted in the 4th round. Reggie Bush a disappointment? It depends on what you expected. If you had modest hopes despite the impossible hype, you weren't disappointed.
Willie Parker Memorial "Best Pickup"
Maurice Jones-Drew- 14
Marques Colston- 10
Travis Henry- 9
Tony Romo- 3
Maurice Jones-Drew comes out with an upset of Marques Colston for the best pickup of the season. The Maurice Midget has been on fire for Tice's Partyboat, and he seems to find the end zone every week. Dave saw him go off one Sunday and made the smart move of snatching him up. Marques Colston was my pick, but was inexplicably left off of two ballots. To me, it isn't hard to pick up a guy like MJD. He was a premier runner at UCLA and had a freakishly good week. Colston on the other hand came out of nowhere and took a far greater leap of faith to pick up and hold on to. Undrafted Travis Henry started over 1st rounder Chris Brown and has been a tremendous factor in The Nihilist Marmot's 2nd place regular season. Tony Romo, despite being worse than bad in 3 of his last 4 games gets the nod on three ballots.
Most Devastating Injury
Clinton Portis- 11
Donovan McNabb- 9
Domanick Davis- 7
Shaun Alexander- 6
Carson Palmer- 3
JR points out that it is "pretty clear that the Gun's demise begins with the injury to a premier running back." Shortly after Portis went down, the Gun gave in. Donovan McNabb and Domanick Davis both had important roles in submarining Father Abraham's season- Davis took away a lot of preseason hope, and McNabb took away their late season competitiveness. Shaun Alexander's injury was devastating on two fronts: first, he was the best back in the league last year. Second, everyone knew Stem wouldn't do anything to replace him. Once Alexander was out, it was the Anthony Thomas (pre-starting) and and Verron Haynes show. Eli notes that Carson Palmer "kept Baron down early" with his lackluster passing games on his way back from injury. Fresh Legs started 2-3.
GM Of The Year
Drew Wolf- 18
JR Radcliffe- 7
Dave Tomke- 4
Brent Whitlock- 4
Ed Schillinger- 3
Drew Wolf took a hopeless, aging 0-3 team and revamped it completely. An 8-3 finish to the regular season pushes Tice's Partyboat into the playoffs, where they have been every season we've had. The most impressive thing, however, is that Drew didn't give up his future to get good now, actually he improved it. His keepers will center around up and comers like DeAngelo Williams, Maurice Jones-Drew and Brandon Jacobs. JR Radcliffe went from "from so-so keepers to No. 2 seed" according to Eli. Radcliffe's pickups of Travis Henry and Anthony Thomas helped a mediocre RB crew, as did trades for Edge, Warrick Dunn and Tiki Barber. Dave Tomke wasn't as trigger happy this year as he was last, but he became the VUFSA's master of the upgrade. He took a 2nd string rookie and a waiver pickup and worked his way up Ronnie Brown. His patience with Shit-Ton Bush looks like it will pay off next season, and he has accumulated an extra 3rd, 4th, and 5th rounder for next year, all while staying competitive. Champ's best work this season came last season, with the acquisitions of Andre Johnson, Terrell Owens, and Frank Gore. His patience with those players plus a spiffy draft kept him in the playoff drivers seat until the very last Sunday. Ed Schillinger got a 2nd place nod to get him on the list, even though he was really just healthier and luckier than most teams this season.
17 comments:
I enjoyed this post a lot. I hoped for more GM of the Year votes, but you win some and you lose some.
I picked up three of the four pickups of the year, and despite the fact that I turned Jones-Drew into Ronnie Brown, I'd still have to vote for Colston.
Also, for some reason, I can no longer log in.
-Dave
Did I forget to vote for Colston? Whoops.
I think Bush was a little disappointing, yes. He didn't have a horrible year, but he finished with fewer points than Travis Henry -- and that comes after a fluky four-touchdown week. Before that, he wasn't even among the top 30 running backs in the league.
This is an awesome debate post, and it's one where we should have a call-in radio show to debate the merits of everything. Much to say...
1.) For biggest surprise, I had six players that I couldn't decide between and am going to throw out two names that didn't get any votes that I thought might have deserved some mention: Travis Henry and Fred Taylor. The former was a third string option at the start of the season and the latter is nicknamed "Fragile Fred" because he never stays healthy. While neither, I thought, should have won, I think they were both surprises.
2.) In biggest disappointment, there was a tally error as I put in a vote for Chris Chambers. Baron, I want you to know that despite that whole Morris thing, I was paying attention there. A keeper wide out that is no better now than Wes Welker got my 3rd place vote.
I defend Edgerrin James as being a bigger disappointment than Cadillac Williams. James was a top 3 running back last season and now is horrendous with no liklihood of returning to glory. Caddy had a great first half of the season last year and then slowed down. He was never in that elite status that Edge was. Furthermore, he still has the possibility of being good again if spleens stop rupturing in Tampa Bay whereas Edge has peaked.
3.) JR, you are in good company in that I also forgot about Colston for pick up of the year (though remembered him for surpise of the year). He would have gotten my second place vote behind Jones-Drew but it was a whoopsie. I think Jones-Drew was a better grab than Colston despite Ed's argument in the post. The way running backs are devoured in this league, it's amazing that any one of impact slips through the cracks. A wide receiver doesn't surprise me as falling through and while still a terrific snag, would you rather keep Jones-Drew or Colston heading into next season?
4.) Most devestating injury kind of surpised me in that Portis won. The injury was no doubt a hindrance but The Slumpbusters were the second best team in the league even with the early season downtime of Portis. So, that leads me to the second part of the season where the injury was more crippling for Eli. I think the injury was more damaging on The Gun's psyche than it was on the actual team. With the point total he had, I think that he still could have made a playoff push if not for having trading off Dunn and Bulger for nothing in the short term.
5.) GM of the year, thank you. However, I find it interesting that Ed manages to assemble the greatest team of all time and yet manages a meager 3 points - all from me.
6.) Did we decide not to do the best/worst trades this year?
The worst trade was Barlow-Taylor. Eat that shit, Tomke. There really doesn't need to be a vote.
As for best trade, there are several candidates. Jacobs-Brees and Bulger-Barber were my top two.
Sex.
Ed is a good GM, I just had a hard time crediting him for the job he did THIS YEAR, relative to some others. Ed got his due last year when he assembled the greatest keeper lineup imaginable, including a trade to net an extra first round pick. This year, all Ed did was sit. Yes, he acquired Taylor and Brees, but Ed's team wins without them, and still handily. No knock on Ed ... he obviously knows what he's doing. And that's why we're going to kill him.
Good call on Bush, Eli...hadn't thought about that. It's easy to forget his sucktitude after his last two weeks. You have to admit, he shows nothing but flashes of spectacularityness. He's the first opposing player in the NFL that I actually would watch a game for. Well, him and Spurgeon Winn.
Spurgeon Winn.
Fred Taylor IS a surprise...but only because he didn't get hurt. He's never sucked outside of that. Travis Henry has always been the unspectacular, solid back that he was this year...he just hasn't been given a chance to start. Another big surprise? Vince Young.
The Barlow-Taylor trade wasn't the worst, solely because I knew I was trading a better back in the deal to be better for the next season.
Granted, it was still a BAD trade, because I'd rather have Taylor than a third-rounder still, but it wasn't awful. Just bad.
But I can't think of any trades that are worse, so I think you're right, J.R. Fuck you.
-Dave
I think JR, Drew and Dave all did outstanding jobs this year as GMs. Kudos to Champ as well.
HR is right, Ed is a very good owner ... but I was reading an article that noted 79 percent of owners who had LDT this year (in ESPN leagues) made the playoffs. Guys who had him can just sit back and win.
That's not meant to discredit him in any way; I just think the activity of the other three GMs is more impressive.
I'm not sure if JR remembers a 3rd rounder changing hands in the Barlow deal, because he only mentions the players. If you do remember the 3rd, and still think it's awful that's fine- but it should be clarified that it wasn't a straight up deal.
I didn't/wouldn't vote for me either. Like I said, I have been very fortunate with a lot of things this year, most of all health. My GMing was adequate.
I've already made a lot of my points- but I feel like I want to comment on what's been commented on because there aren't a lot of my posts that generate chatter.
1) Drew was right. I missed the vote for Chambers. That was one of a few categories where he listed more than the 3 players asked, so I looked at the bottom of the list rather than the numbers assigned, and saw 4) Daunte Culeppeper and didn't realize what it meant. Adjust accordingly.
2) The more I think about it, the less I am impressed with the Romo fantasy experience. The first few weeks were nice, and Thanksgiving was orgasmic, but overall he leaves me feeling like we are overhyping him like everyone else. I'm underwhelmed by his inclusion on the pickup list.
3) I'm the only one that saw considerable value in Willie Parker? Am I way off on that?
4) I also think the disaster that was Mike Bell got overlooked for a great part of the season because Viano was so good. It reminds me of when Baron took Tatum Bell in the expansion draft because Shanny just named him starter. Neither Tatum last year or Mike this year were starters in week 1. It's worth mentioning one more time that Baron took Tatum Bell over Steven Jackson in the expansion draft, when he could have had Bell #1 overall, where he took Nate Burleson instead. It's remarkable how well Baron has rebounded from that debacle.
5) I see your Spuregon Winn and raise you a Henry Burris. Burris' first four snaps as a Bear went this way:
-1st down, falls down during drop back (really)
-2nd down, sacked
-3rd down, interception called back by penalty
-3rd down again, interception for real
Yeah, I did forget the third round pick. Do I still think the deal was terrible? Of course. Do I think it was unquestionably the most terrible? Perhaps not. Mew mew mew.
Henry Burris. I'm not entirely sure I can do much with that, though I could do my best with Kyle Orton. Too easy?
You will never top Henry Burris. From Wikipedia:
"Burris played for the NFL's Chicago Bears during the 2002 season. He played in six games that year, completing eighteen of 51 passes (35%) for 207 yards, with three touchdowns and five interceptions. He received significant playing time only in the last two games of the regular season. He was 8 of 22 for 50 yards and a touchdown against Carolina, fumbling twice, and 7 of 19 for 78 yards and four interceptions against Tampa Bay, and a 10.3 QB rating."
I distinctly remember that Henry Burris series, Ed. Great stuff.
He was also the quarterback who called for the ball to be snapped too early, and then dropped back while a man was in motion ... directly behind him. He dropped back into his tight end, and fell to the ground. Funniest thing I've ever seen.
Ed's also not the only one underwhelmed by Romo -- I think I've made that pretty clear ever since he got the job. I did put him on the ballot because of that Thanksgiving game, simply because there were no other 40+ point performances from the wire this season. That merits something.
Who cares if three of those TD passes were from less than five yards?
Well, I do, actually. Obviously it's another nice VUFSA-joke-turned-famous, but he's really not anything better than a middle-range quarterback.
My name doesn't often come up in these postseason reviews and for good reason. It's becoming a holiday tradition, just like the egg nog I use to treat my wounded ego. But to be overlooked in the Most Devastating Injury category is enough to make a 2-12 team lose it, a la Clark W. Griswold at the end of Christmas Vacation. When Portis went down, Eli was left with a young stud QB and a top 5 RB. Davis was a loss from the start but in losing McNabb, I went from one offensive weapon to zero, and now my only legitimate keeper is questionable for the start of next season. You can argue that I shouldn't be considered because my team was a lost cause by that point anyway, but don't say the loss of Portis was more devastating.
Hallelujah. Holy shit. Where's the Tylenol?
For the record, I had both McNabb and Davis in my top three. I had Portis at No. 1 because of exactly what you said -- Eli is a top two or three team if Portis is healthy and you would have needed a few breaks to make the playoffs. However, I recognize both injuries as devastating. Perhaps another reason ... which injury is a bigger blow for you ... they somewhat canceled each other out. Davis handicapped you before the season and McNabb crushed you in the middle, even if you were struggling already. I'd have a hard time choosing one over the other, and maybe Portis rises to the top because of that. Speculation on my part.
Part of the reason Portis ranked so highly was because I placed him first, which is totally my bias speaking.
Lincoln, I showed you some love. McNabb was #1 and Davis #2 for me.
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