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2011 PFF Defensive Player of the Year
As passing records fell with the regularity of a Tim Tebow incompletion you could speculate that defenders in the 2011 season weren’t up to much. It’s true that some pass rushers struggled to get pressure and certain defensive backs had horrendous problems even getting close to receivers, but at the other end of the scale, things were pretty much as normal. The top end guys, the ones on this list, excelled to the same level as you would normally expect from the best players at their respective positions. So to be absolutely clear these are not default selections in a down year for defense; they are players that would have been at or close to these ranking after any season.
So after giving our definitive positions on Rookie of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year here are the ten best players from the defensive side of the game.
Re-Focused: Seahawks @ Cardinals, Week 17
As commentators Sam Rosen and Chad Pennington kept on telling us this was a good, hard-fought encounter where both teams played like they had a lot more on the line than pride. It was as if Fox were concerned you couldn’t work out for yourself if you were enjoying the game; let’s just reassure the people watching that football with nothing at stake can be more entertaining than watching Tim Tebow struggle to complete 25% of his throws, they said … without actually saying it of course.
Truthfully, this was far more to my taste with some outstanding play on both sides to discuss and extrapolate into next year. When the dust of this season settles, the offseason is done and we are looking forward to Kick Off 2012, will what we saw here be far more salient than what was transpiring in Mile High?
Re-Focused: Lions @ Packers, Week 17
So this is a game that the Packers didn’t care about; they’d simply rest their big names, run the ball at every opportunity, just take the loss and move on? Yeah right.
Matt Flynn is a free agent in February and he and the coaches had other ideas about giving up a 22 year home winning streak against the Lions. Instead they gave him the opportunity to shop his wares to all the NFL teams struggling at the QB position and condemn the Lions to the playoff gig no one wants; away to the offensive juggernaut of the New Orleans Saints. Matthew Stafford together with Calvin Johnson played about as well as you can but still came up short in a game that had plenty of interest for interested parties and neutral fans alike. Here’s what I thought of some of the key players:
Re-Focused: Falcons @ Saints, Week 16
While the score was flattering, the result was correct and that was really all that mattered, although I got the distinct impression, towards the end, Marino’s yardage record was almost as important. I can see why you’d do it though; the fans wanted it, beneath all the humble rhetoric so did the team and getting it out of the way now allows everyone to move onto Week 17 without anything hanging over them. A bye, of course, would be welcome but that’s unlikely with the 49ers only needing a win at the Rams to secure an extra week of rest.
For the Falcons this was always going to be difficult, having to win away at the Saints and then need more help to win the NFC South. At least they came away knowing their quarterback was in rhythm but they’ll need to up there play in many areas if they are going to avoid being one and done in two weeks time.
Re-Focused: Broncos @ Bills, Week 16
It’s becoming almost a cliché in the NFL these days; at season’s end a team with nothing to play for coming out and handing a spanking to a team with playoff aspirations. Perhaps in this case “spanking” is more hyperbole than anything else because it wasn’t until there was 8:03 left in the final quarter that Buffalo pulled two scores in front and even by games end Denver had still scored more offensive touchdowns than the Bills.
The naysayers may have waited a long time to look right about Tim Tebow, but eventually here he was; looking out of his depth and throwing some horrible stuff in a desperate attempt to bring his team from a long way back. That said how many quarterbacks have never been in the position of seeing a comeback attempt fall on stony ground? He’ll have next week to find the magic again and if he does then the show starts all over again.
PFF’s AFC Pro Bowl Squad
So here it is, the one the players really want to see. No hype, no bias, just a simple acknowledgement that–on the field of play, for the first 14 games of 2011–they were among the best at their position. It’s not based on highlight reels and you get as much credit for playing well early as you do late (during the regular season, winning the first game counts the same in the standings as winning the last).
We absolutely don’t lean towards players from teams that have the best records. It’s the ultimate capitulation to the power of hype when a coach says “yes he played well, but for him to get any recognition we have to play better as a team”. Why? This is about selecting the best players, not about the laziness of people who can’t be bothered to watch or research teams that are playing poorly.
PFF’s NFC Pro Bowl Squad
Hot on the heels of our AFC selections, we’ve of course got a roster of the year’s best for the NFC too. Again, selecting not based on hype or exposure, but simply on on-field performance, this team of stars represents the best we’ve seen from this conference in 2011.
If you haven’t read about the AFC squad, be sure to catch up, otherwise … for your consideration, here are our NFC selections:
Re-Focused: Seahawks @ Bears, Week 15
The difference between these two teams was slim but all too obvious: one quarterback played mistake-free football for two halves, whereas a certain Caleb Hanie could only manage one. Bears fans must be wondering what they did to deserve such bad fortune. A month ago, Jay Cutler had just completed his best-ever game as a Bear, we were talking of Matt Forte as a legitimate MVP candidate, and the team was nailed on to a playoff berth. Unfortunately, the crowbar of fate has pried them away and they are now almost certain to miss out.
The Seahawks have an identical record–and as little chance of making it to January as the Bears–but for some reason, a more positive feel at the moment. Maybe it’s the fact they see themselves with a brighter future; they’re a young team who are a quarterback and a re-tooling of the offensive line away from being very good indeed. Is Tarvaris Jackson that player? Read the rest of this entry »
PFF: The First 1000 Games
One thousand games.
That’s how many are now in the Premium Stats database for you to delve into if you so choose. I didn’t know of the impending landmark until a couple of weeks ago when our Editor-In-Chief, Rick Drummond, sent a note to alert me. It’s not that I’m unaware of just how much work the team has done, it’s only that you rarely spend much time looking back, because you’re always too busy focusing on the future and the next step on the journey, or sometimes just the next game.
Re-Focused: Falcons @ Panthers, Week 14
Here it is, a classic game of two quarterbacks; both getting decent if not great protection, both getting great help from one of their wide receivers, but one looking as though the broadside of a barn may not be big enough.
That’s Cam Newton in a nutshell. We’ll go into it more detail later but in one game he’ll throw the ball with great accuracy and the next, balls will sail further than the Cutty Sark.
As you might expect Matt Ryan (+3.0) has had a far more consistent season and, if he wasn’t exactly great in this game, he was very good and composed enough to put a mediocre second quarter to the back of his mind and bring his team back.
While the Panthers try to build on positive strides (if not great results) over the next three games and understand how to best attack the offseason, the Falcons are still favorites to win a Wild Card berth, but they’ll need to improve in many areas to get beyond their first opponents, never mind Green Bay.
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