2011 WROTC NFL Awards

They are back for a second year.  Last year my buddy Quentin and I broke out the WROTC NFL Awards.  This year it’s going to get freaky adding in a couple more with the Des Moines Sports Freaks Blake, Zach and Wendt.  It was fun putting last years together and this year’s too.  Hope you enjoy them. 

Play of the Year

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Matt – For the second straight year I’m going with a Chiefs receiver.  Jonathan Baldwin’s behind the back catch vs. the Broncos. 

Painter – I'm going back to Thursday of Week 1.  I know it's the homerish thing to do but Randall Cobb's 108 yard kick return touchdown was a thing of beauty

Blake – Ga'h.  Um, I'm not sure.  Maybe Randall Cobb's 109 yard punt return on opening night?

Wendt – Jerome Simpson of the Bengals flipping over a Cardinals player to score a TD

Zach – Even the Russian judge liked the Jerome Simpson leap

Game of the Year

Matt - Giants 37 Cowboys 34 (Week 14) – This game was a back and forth game that showed the best of Romo and Eli Manning.  They scored 29 points in the fourth quarter and Manning threw for 2 scores and 400 yards.  It was by far the most fun game I saw all year.  It isn’t as impactful as their Week 17 game for the Division title but it was huge in the East race and a gem of a game.

Painter – Tie - Week 14 Dallas @ New York Giants and Week 17 Green Bay vs Detroit.  A case could be made for the Dallas @ SF game but I'll take the other 2

Blake – Again, the one that sticks out is the opening night game between the Packers and the Saints.  I hope we get a rematch in the NFC Championship Game

Wendt – Chiefs upsetting the Packers

Zach – Chiefs upsetting Packers

Offensive Player of the Year

Matt - Drew Brees: Saints – no offense to Aaron Rodgers and his phenomenal year but the year that Brees has had is amazing and a record breaker.  Breaking Dan Marino’s 27 year old record with a game to play is amazing in its own right. 

Painter – Aaron Rodgers:Packers - He was consistent all season and broke Manning's QB rating record.

Blake – Aaron Rodgers:Packers  – Yes, he has a lot of weapons around him, but so does Drew Brees, and at least the Saints have a running game.

Wendt – Aaron Rodgers:Packers
Zach – Drew Brees: Saints

Defensive Player of the Year

Matt - Jason Pierre-Paul: Giants – The 2^nd year DEnd from South Florida has been a force all year.  16.5 sacks, 86 tackles, 2 Forced Fumbles and 6 pass deflections.  Jared Allen may 20+ sacks but going to go with overall production in Pierre-Paul.

Painter – Jared Allen: Vikings - He was one of the few Vikings that seemed to care this year

Blake – Jason Pierre-Paul: Giants

Wendt – Jared Allen: Vikings

Zach – Entire Niners Defense

Special Teams Player of the Year

Matt - Patrick Peterson: Cardinals - I’d love to give it to Devin Hester again as he is just adding to his all-time record, but this year its Peterson’s.  Peterson has one more return for a score than Hester and has amazing wheels when he gets out in the open.  Will he come close to Hester’s Hall of Fame resume?  No, and he’s just keeping this spot warm till next year.

Painter – Darren Sproles: Saints - I don't think anyone in particular really stood out this year, he really helped New Orleans

Blake – Patrick Peterson: Cardinals

Wendt – Devin Hester-Bears

Zach – Patrick Peterson: Cardinals – He made things happen

Rookie of the Year

Matt - Cam Newton: Panthers.  He’s proven me wrong.  Back in April I said he would be the BUST of all BUSTS!  And WOW was I wrong.  Is Carolina a playoff contender?  NO.  But they are relevant again and the reason is Cam.  He still has a ways to come but he’s broken rookie marks for passing yardage in a year and he’s had a better rookie year than Peyton Manning did.  I don’t think he can be successful running the QB position like he is now but he’ll keep Carolina exciting as long as he’s healthy and they give him weapons around him.

Painter – Cam Newton: Panthers (for the stats) & Andy Dalton: Cincinnati (for getting the Bengals back into the playoffs).

Blake – Cam Newton: Panthers

Wendt – Cam Newton: Panthers
Zach – Cam Newton: Panthers - without controversy

Coach of the Year

Matt - Mike McCarthy: Packers - It’d be easy to take a deep breath after winning the Super Bowl, instead the Packers just went and rattled off a 15-1 season and are the favorites to get into the Super Bowl again on the NFC side of the bracket.  He is slowly replacing Holmgren in status as a coach in Green Bay and might have as many Super Bowl wins as Lombardi after this year.

Painter – Jim Harbaugh: 49ers

Blake – Jim Harbaugh: 49ers

Wendt – Jim Harbaugh: 49ers

Zach – Jim Harbaugh: 49ers

Most Impactful Injury

Matt - Jay Cutler: Bears - It’d be easy to say Peyton Manning and the effect him not playing has had on the Colts 2-14 year and eventual drafting of Andrew Luck, but after 10 games the Bears were 7-3 and rolling on offense and the defense looked great and the NFC looked like it was a four team race with Green Bay, San Francisco, New Orleans and Chicago.  Then the thumb injury happened and the Bears free fell from the playoffs, Matt Forte got hurt, the team got Tebowed and the season that looked so great was lost. 

Painter – This one is easy though, Peyton Manning

Blake – Peyton Manning, without a doubt

Wendt – Jay Cutler and Matt Forte injuries turned the Bears from a #3 NFC playoff seed to sitting at home at 8-8

Zach – Jay Cutler's injury, ruined the Bears season

Biggest Surprise

Matt - Cincinnati - The Bengals entered the season with franchise QB Carson Palmer not wanting to be back in Cincy, OchoCinco and TO gone from the wide receiver core and Cedric Benson in trouble again.  They drafted 2 rookies in AJ Green and Andy Dalton and they still have Mike Brown as their owner.  But Dalton and Green have been fantastic from day 1 and they’ve played great and have a playoff shot going into week 17.

Painter – San Francisco - Getting the #2 seed in the NFC.  I know the NFC West is about as good as the MAC but I didn't expect the 49'ers to do that well

Blake – Indianapolis - How bad the Colts were without Peyton Manning

Wendt – Indianapolis - The Colts being so horrible, I realize losing one player such as a Peyton Manning would be impactful but they have glaring holes at a ton of other positions too

Zach – Matt Flynn (Packers back up) putting up Rodger-like numbers on Detroit

Biggest Disappointment

Matt - New York Jets - The Dream Team would be an easy pick here but I’m going another route with the J-E-T-S.  This is a team that Rex Ryan has proclaimed Super Bowl or Bust.  We’ll its BUST.  Their schedule has been brutal but they’ve got away from what I think they want to be, a physical team.  They aren’t pounding the ball and stopping the run like they have been the past few years.  They seem to be getting sucked into the air it out sense with what is going on in the league and they aren’t built for that.

Painter – Tampa Bay Bucs

Blake – I would say the Chiefs, Rams, and Bucs, all of which looked to have young, successful and improving teams after last season, and all took a (in some cases, huge) step back this year

Wendt – The lockout lasting as long as it did

Zach – New York Jets -- Two straight AFC Champ appearances to staying home is tough to swallow

Best and Worst of the Weekend – 1 on 1 with Ice and Electricity!

Hey another 3 day weekend, I can get used to this.  It should be the norm! 

Speaking of Norm, the Hawkeyes couldn’t send Norm Parker out with a win.  Though I did think they played pretty well.  Mike Daniels where have you been all year?  When it was 14-24 I thought there might be a chance but then the ESPN Sky Cam attacked Marvin McNutt and it was just gone from there.  With the loss to I had to change my Twitter avatar to Boomer, a fuzzy horse OU mascot for a week.  It’s almost over!

All winter last year and since Thanksgiving my oldest has been bugging me about taking her to Brenton Skating Plaza to go ice skating.  So Saturday I finally gave in.  It was nice out, and she needed to get out doing something.  I was shocked that it was only $15 bucks for the two of us to rent skates and to skate.  Pretty good for the money.  After battling the ice skate with my foot we finally got on the ice.  I went straight for the railing.  I did my internship with a minor league hockey team but never skated, I was always on the ice in just shoes.  Who ever thought of putting on a sharp piece of metal and going on ice is a moron too.  How are you supposed to do that?  I went around once and Addy followed me on the railing.  Stopped and asked her how she was doing, she wanted to skate, not talk.  Second time around I tried to not use the railing so much.  Then I took a break and let Addy just go.  She was trying without help of the railing a few times and was doing ok.  When she did a full lap I went out again.  Half way I was getting a little cocky and veered away from the railing.  Bad idea.  Ice Rink-1 | Matt – 0.  Landed on my butt and shoulder.  The couple behind me even said “ouch that looked like it hurt” As soon as I got out the skates were off and it was all Addy.  She got a walker type thing to help her go around and she flew with that.  Then after 3-4 laps like that she went without the walker and was doing really good.  She stated she wants to go back again, sooner rather than later.  I’ll take her, but next time it’s all her! 

Sunday I decided to do some interior lamination in the laundry room.  There is only one light and no switch or string to pull so every time I have to twist it to turn it on or off.  So after a couple trips to Menards I was working on it.  Let’s say I had some successes and 1 failure.  I got all the lights working!  Score one for me.  Light switch wouldn’t work.  Redid it and got the switch working!  Score one for me.  Lost power to my daughter’s room didn’t work now and only 1 light of the 3 worked on the switch.  After some frustrations and kids asking to do stuff I got it back to normal and will get back to it another day. 

Monday I had off from work while the two older kids had school and there was a full day of football on!  After dropping those off I needed a nice base of breakfast for the full day of bowls.  Went initially to the Waveland but it was packed with a CNN Caucus bus out front.  Next the Drake Diner.  There was CNN there too but only a camera man and a news chick.    While watching them they panned the Diner and me and my youngest got on TV on CNN.  It was only a second but that counts! 

The bowls were good Monday too.  Michigan State thriller in the Outback bowl, the Rose was great and though I missed the end of the Fiesta (crashed hard) it was a great game too.  Even last night the Sugar Bowl was good.  Some of these colleges need to get better kickers though.  So far in my picks I’ve got 17 right straight up.  My 4yo son picked the winners to by logo…well he’s got 17 right too.  Bout how it supposed to go.

Few other things

·         Great win in the Kohl Center by Fran and the boys.  Not “Getting Mad” yet but that was a nice win.  Another big game tonight at Minnesota

·         I’ve started my diet back up again after thanksgiving and have lost 15 pds, still need to get running and lifting again, want to lose 15-20 more before softball starts.

·         Ugly injury and bad way to end the year for Brian Urlacher.  Bears at least didn’t lose to the Vikings but Urlacher I doubt is ready for 2012.

·         Bears also made moves with GM Jerry Angelo canned and Mike Martz resigning.  I wonder how different Halas Hall would be had Jay and Forte would have not got hurt?

·         The Iowa Caucus was last night; the smell is burning rubber of the candidates campaign’s getting out of Iowa.  Dead heat of Santorum and Romney.  Perry and Bachman are done.  Newt needs to come in 2^nd in NH and first in SC to stay alive.  Santorum and Paul need to stay strong too or this will be done quicker than the 8 day war.

·         This week is my most stressful week of the year with Year End, creating tax statements is always stressful.  My 3^rd year doing it and I’m still nervous.

·         Monday night on WWE Raw my fav wrestler returned.  CHRIS JERICHO!  He is by far the best wrestling entertainer EVER! 

·         Also over the past week since Christmas I’ve been on XBOX a lot.  Call of Duty: MW3 and my NCAA football online dynasties.  I still haven’t opened up Batman: Arkham City.

·         Google+ where’d you go?  There is so much cool stuff on google, it needs to attack facebook and not just enhance something facebook offers, give us something new! 

So that’s about that. 

Des Moines Sports Freaks 6Pack

1.NL MVP Ryan Braun was hit with a 50 game suspension for performance enhancing drugs. First off, are you shocked? Second, how dumb are some of these guys to keep trying this stuff?
Matt – How are these guys not smarter than this? Really? C’mon man you gotta know your getting tested and randomly tested. JUST DON’T DO IT.

Wendt – Nothing shocks me anymore in professional sports. Whatever it takes to get an edge seems to be everyone's motto lately

Painter – I'm sure it was something he ate or some vitamin he was supposed to take. I'm not convinced MLB's drug testing is 100% error proof

Blake – I'm rarely shocked when this kind of thing comes out anymore. We had an interesting discussion on the podcast about this. I'm not surprised people still do this, because they will do anything to get a leg up. If leagues were serious about putting a stop to it, they'd put in a ban for an entire season or even longer

Dan – I actually believe he is innocent. I just dont see him doing it. I know this may blow up on me, and I'll gladly take that egg on my face. No, I'm not shocked that people still do it because I guarentee that a TON of guys are getting away with it

2.Iowa State beat Iowa on Friday night in basketball….but if there wasn’t much hype around the game, did it really happen? Yes it did….when will this game get back to where it was in the 80s/90s?
Matt – I remember when this had twice the hype of the football game. Really miss that as a can’t miss game or date. I think Fran has Iowa in a better spot than Lickliter and it will take time, but you know Iowa fans are really wanting basketball to be good again, and quick.

Wendt – Iowa is at least 2 years away from being a better basketball team and who knows who transfers in to Iowa State by than. Eventually the series will be more interesting, just not sure how long that will take

Painter – At least the Energy and UNI are playing good basketball

Blake – UNI FIGHT!

Dan – The rivalry will be big again when UNI stops being the best team in the state. Thats not a dig on UNI, its just that when a MVC team is the best in state nobody cares about the "Big Two"

3.We are gettnig near the end of the year – what are your top 3 stories in the IOWA sports scene?
Matt – 1-Iowa State beats #2 Oklahoma State. 2-Iowa Basketball upsets Purdue before Big Ten Tourney. 3-Iowa State knocking off Iowa in triple OT

Wendt – The hoopla surrounding the two girls that wrestled at state last year, Iowa State making a bowl with their brutal schedule, Fremont Mills beating Murray 81-0 in the 8man championship game

Painter – Norm Parker retires, Ricky Stenhouse Jr sweeps the NASCAR Nationwide races at Iowa Speedway, Barnstormers signed QB Brad Banks

Blake – Of the year? Ugh, it hasn't been pretty this year. Iowa State's upset of Oklahoma State, the Energy winning the D League Championship, and the Iowa-ISU triple OT game

Dan – 1. Iowa football imploding twice in one season. 2. UNI Athletics, the Panthers continue to bring it across the board. Football, Track & Field, Mens/Womens Basketball, Wrestling... 3. Iowa State winning 6 games with the 2nd hardest schedule in all of 1-A football

4.Going off the last question, what are your top 5 NATIONAL sports stories?
Matt – 1 PENN STATE Scandal 2-NFL Lockout & Tebow-Mania 3-The last night of the MLB Season with the Rays and Cards clinching in dramatic fashion 4-Rory McIlroy’s Norman-esque collapse at Masters to come back and destroy the field US Open 5t-Unstable Conference Shuffling…still 5t-Choke Job by dream teams of the Heat and Eagles.

Wendt – Joe Paterno being fired, LSU going 13-0 in football, Ron Santo making the hall of fame (FINALLY), RG3 winning the Heisman, Big Al heads to the Angels

Painter – Penn St scandal (sadly), Packers win the Super Bowl, NFL & NBA lock-outs

Blake – On the negative side, but a huge story is the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State, the Lockouts dominated much of the news cycle, Theo Epstein going to the Cubs, the Packers run at perfection, and the Heat losing the NBA Finals as LeBron fails to come through in the clutch

Dan – 1. UCONN winning its 3rd National Championship in basketball. 2. Suck for Luck/Manning goes down. 3. Packers quest for 19-0. 4. Red Sox epic collapse. 5. Tiger Woods struggles

5.The Bears got Tebow-ed Sunday in Denver losing 13-10 in ot and now on a 3 game losing skid….I miss Jay. Are you sold on Tebow-mania?
Matt – Tebow isn’t on D but he is making plays when the Broncos need him too, but he will be a playoff QB this year. Still can’t fathom how the Bears lost this game…..and no I’m not a full believer but if he and the Broncos somehow beat New England….I may get closer to being sold.

Wendt – I'm sold that Denver has a pretty darn good defense and a kicker who can make 60yd field goals look like chip shots, but that's about as far as I will take it

Painter – Tebow actually fits John Fox's power rushing offense. The Broncos are wearing teams down and keeping the games close enough to win in the end

Blake – There is something about him. You see it coming, like a momentum switch in the NBA or college football. But am I sold...? Let's put it this way, at this point, I'm not betting against him

Dan – Tebow is not a good quarterback. He IS a very good leader, and knows how to win. I would take him on my team, but don't know if he would be running our traditional offense..

6.Tis the season to be Merry….what’s your favorite Christams Movie?
Matt – DIE HARD! Followed by Christmas Vacation.

Wendt – "Christmas Vacation" is easily my #1 Christmas movie of all time

Painter – Shrek the Halls... ok seriously, Elf was good as was Christmas Vacation, they tie

Blake – Christmas Vacation, and it ain't even close

Dan – The original "Santa Clause" with Tim Allen