NFL picks: week 17

[Gibbzilla]

First of all Steve Nash did not deserve the MVP last year, seeing as he had Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion, and Amare Stoudemire on his team and still didn't finish with a better record than the Spurs. Tim Duncan should have received the MVP award once again, because without Tim Duncan the spurs are a below .500 team, while the Suns minus Steve Nash are still a solid playoff contendor. Anyways back on the topic of football. When people start saying that someone took touchdowns away from their player, it just gets ridiculous, but whatever. Matt Hasselbeck threw for 3,459 yards and 24 touchdowns, and from what you're saying I guess that should be added to Shaun Alexander's stats, so here ya go: 5339 yards and 51 touchdowns. Now do you see how inaccurate it is to say, "oh they brought in a backup and he scored," or "they ended up throwing a touchdown pass so that would have been his touchdown."

Adrian.

[Croup]

When people start saying that someone took touchdowns away from their player, it just gets ridiculous, but whatever. Matt Hasselbeck threw for 3,459 yards and 24 touchdowns, and from what you're saying I guess that should be added to Shaun Alexander's stats, so here ya go: 5339 yards and 51 touchdowns. Now do you see how inaccurate it is to say, "oh they brought in a backup and he scored," or "they ended up throwing a touchdown pass so that would have been his touchdown."

Adrian.

Ugh. Just because a statement is made about taking away touchdowns, doesn't mean that you have to take it to its illogical conclusion like you just did. The fact of the matter is that Brandon Jacobs has scored 7 times from within the two yardline this season. That's 7 touchdowns that Barber could have scored on his own, but for the coaching decision of Tom Coughlin. The Giants, as an offense, also have many, many more options than Alexander inside the five yardline, and they'll use all of them. Burress on the fade, Shockey on play action, Jim Finn in the flat, and Jacobs pounding it from close. They use all of those types of plays with about the same percentage of running Barber. So Barber gets the carry roughly 20% of the time. Alexander on the other hand, sees the ball usually twice if the Seahawks have a first down inside the 5, and probably 3 times if they're inside the two.

Alexander, due to the Seahawks style of offense, gets more opportunities to score touchdowns. That's not an insult to Alexander, just the facts of how Seattle runs their offense. And EVEN IF you refuse to acknowledge any of that information about the touchdowns, Barber still outgained Alexander by *400* yards from scrimmage on the year, and was *300* yard above the nearest person to his lead. Barber also has 27 more yards a game than Alexander and was MORE IMPORTANT TO HIS TEAM.

Even if you go with Alexander, which isn't a bad call, you're completely dismissing that Alexander has serious competition, which is just ridiculous.

[Nerf-Herder]

Wow. I'm very surprised I pulled out a 9-7.

Nerf, you might get it again this week. What horror.

Stupid everybody.

lol -- it looks like i did it at 12-4 -- the jags are sure to win the superbowl now!!

jags vs bears... will be reminiscent of the 91 bowl featuring buffalo, the g-men, and ray finkle

LACES OUT!!

[Raft Boy]

Cause I like stats (mmm, stats), here are Alexander's and Barber's final rushing numbers, along with a third player from a few years back:

		Att	Yards	Avg	TDs
Alexander	370 	1880	5.1	27
Barber		357	1860	5.2	9
Player X	253	1359	5.4 	18

And their totals from scrimmage (i.e. including receptions):

		Total yards	Total TDs
Alexander	1958		28
Barber		2390		11
Player X	2189		26

Note that the record for most yards from scrimmage in a season is held by Marshall Faulk (2429).

Alexander led his team to the number one seed this year while Barber led the Giants to the NFC East title. Player X led his team to a wild-card spot where they were bounced out right away.

Among those three, who's the best? Alexander for having the most TDs and leading his team to a number one spot, but with the least yardage? Barber for having the most yards from scrimmage and leading his team to a division title, but the least amount of TDs? Or Player X for being close to the top in both stats, but leading his team to "only" a wild-card spot?

Like Croup said, it's not completely cut-and-dry that Alexander will get the MVP. He probably will, but it'll be closer than you think.

[Croup]

Cause I like stats (mmm, stats), here are Alexander's and Barber's final rushing numbers, along with a third player from a few years back:

		Att	Yards	Avg	TDs
Alexander	370 	1880	5.1	27
Barber		357	1860	5.2	9
Player X	253	1359	5.4 	18

And their totals from scrimmage (i.e. including receptions):

		Total yards	Total TDs
Alexander	1958		28
Barber		2390		11
Player X	2189		26

Note that the record for most yards from scrimmage in a season is held by Marshall Faulk (2429).

Alexander led his team to the number one seed this year while Barber led the Giants to the NFC East title. Player X led his team to a wild-card spot where they were bounced out right away.

Among those three, who's the best? Alexander for having the most TDs and leading his team to a number one spot, but with the least yardage? Barber for having the most yards from scrimmage and leading his team to a division title, but the least amount of TDs? Or Player X for being close to the top in both stats, but leading his team to "only" a wild-card spot?

Like Croup said, it's not completely cut-and-dry that Alexander will get the MVP. He probably will, but it'll be closer than you think.

I suppose my point with all of this is simply that Alexander is not far and away a shoe-in for the MVP, especially not when he was outgained by 400 yards and especially not when there are other players who are more important to their respective teams.

It's not Barber's fault that his team only won a division title and not a first round bye. In fact, it's probably Barber's "fault" that his team is in the playoffs in the first place. As I said earlier, a Seahawks team with a more average running back is not a dominant team, but is still in the playoffs. The Giants without Barber don't make the playoffs and the Bengals without Palmer don't make the playoffs. Those players are more important to their teams than Alexander is to the Seahawks.

[Raft Boy]

I suppose my point with all of this is simply that Alexander is not far and away a shoe-in for the MVP, especially not when he was outgained by 400 yards and especially not when there are other players who are more important to their respective teams.

It's not Barber's fault that his team only won a division title and not a first round bye. In fact, it's probably Barber's "fault" that his team is in the playoffs in the first place. As I said earlier, a Seahawks team with a more average running back is not a dominant team, but is still in the playoffs. The Giants without Barber don't make the playoffs and the Bengals without Palmer don't make the playoffs. Those players are more important to their teams than Alexander is to the Seahawks.

What I wanted people to think about is that between Alexander and Barber, each claimed an edge over the other in some statistical categories, but Alexander won out on the team placement. Player X, while leading the league that year in numbers, took his team to the playoffs, and just barely at that.

What I purposely didn't mention right away, is that Player X was Marshall Faulk in the 2000 season when he won the MVP award that year. Faulk won not just because he was the best player in the league, but because without him, the Rams don't make the playoffs at all. That team needed every yard and touchdown that Faulk gave them just to stay alive in January. The Giants, and especially the Bengals, will say that their MVP candidates are in similar situations like Faulk. Seahawks could also make that arguement, but it doesn't ring as solidly as the other two.

Look back to last year when Manning won it. He got every vote but one, which went to Vick. There was (and still is) some griping from me about it, but I can see the arguement for it. Heck, there were some who said that Culpepper should have gotten a vote or two for his record-breaking season, but the Vikes went 8-8. Hardly crucial to the team's "success".

This is going to be a very close finish, and every player I mentioned in the poll has a legitimate arguement for why they should win. Which is just fine with me, cause it makes for good discussion.