"Clay Matthews was ROBBED"...
Those words coupled with an explicit or two flooded my Facebook news feed last night. I got a few tweets and texts messages, pretty much in the same context. I agree...
Clay Matthews was ROBBED!
... BUT... There is a case to be made for Troy Polamalu being awarded the 2010 Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) Award.
... BUT... Why can't anyone give us a straight answer in just what it takes to win this award or the MVP award for that matter. Why is there no definition to just WHAT these voters who claim to be smarter than you & I in the world of sports? Really though, I think the players association & NFL ownership have agreed more on a yet to be resigned CBA than these writers have... For YEARS!
One school of thought is that the winner of this award goes to the defensive player with the best statistics; the other is that the award goes to the player whose defensive unit is lost without said player. What we had here was a race between both schools, if you will...
Clay Matthews is a ______. I bet the majority of sports fans finish that sentence off with the word "BEAST" or "MONSTER"; and they would be absolutely accurate. The guy is a freak of nature and defensively, there is nothing more fun than seeing him fend off 2 offensive linemen, or an offensive lineman and a running back and then laying the smacketh down on a QB. Nothing! Unless he's doing it against your team and then you're pissed for about 5 seconds. They show the replay, and then you applaud him for BEAST of a play and silently wish he was a member of your defensive unit.
I live in Wisconsin, I watched a lot of Packer games and I would give my 1st born for Clay to end up as the Giants Middle linebacker. Fact!
60 Tackles, 13.5 Sacks, 2 Forced Fumbles, 1 INT (which he returned for a TD) for an undersized middle linebacker who didn't even start in his Senior year as a linebacker @ USC. Fact!
Oh! And he was a walk on... Fact!
You've heard the stories. The commentators won't shut up about it during games in which he played and he deserves the accolades. America LOVES an underdog! We want to see him win because it means maybe even your fat ass can put down the donuts, stop partying like a Rockstar and make it in the NFL.
Troy Polamalu is ____________. Has great hair... Just kidding, the completion of that sentence usually ends with "The Heart and Soul of the Pittsburgh defense". It's pretty much what we're all used to hearing. When Polamalu doesn't play, the Pittsburgh defense get downgraded to the likes of the Chargers defense . They go from an A to a C. (If BoB Sanders ever makes it a full season I'm voting for him being DPOY cos the Colts D is Swiss cheese without him.)
It's ridiculous how much of a game changer he is, not saying Clay isn't but I love watching tape of Polamalu because of how fast he can get from Point A to B to C to D and still make a tackle behind the line or make a key pick.
A quick look at his stats: 63 Tackles, 1 Sack, 1 Forced Fumble, 7 INTs (1 returned for a TD). The one forced fumble came in a game late in the season against the Ravens which helped the Steelers clinch the division.
Troy edged Clay out by 2 votes... 2 stinking votes. That's how close this was, despite Troy missing 2 games & Clay missing 1. Look at the stats, for their positions, both players were outstanding.
The voting breakdown were as follows: 17 for Troy, 15 for Matthews, 6 for Julius Peppers 2 for Brian Urlacher and 1 each for Ed Reed and Haloti Ngata. I won't get into how (while I LOVE me some Ed) Reed & Ngata didn't deserve votes. It's tough to say where those 2 votes could have gone so I'll save you and myself the speculation.
It's hard to beat out "the heart and soul" of anything. Troy is absolutely deserving of the award and has been a class act about it, tweeting that Clay and others deserved the award over him.
...BUT ...
I'm like you...
I love an underdog and I really wanted Clay Matthews to win!
Clay Mathews had three sacks the last seven games. He played well the first part of the season, but its player of the years not first ten games. Also he wasn't even the best linebacker, that goes to D. Ware. :) More tackles and more sacks, plus he was doubled team the whole season not just part of it. Good Day!!!
ReplyDeleteClay Matthews was in the middle of the Pack (Pun intended) when it came to his play this season. He actually reminded me a lot of a baseball player who swings for the fences all the time. He may hit 50 Homeruns but I bet he strikes out a quite a bit too. He had a lackluster season.. Blah blah.. Suh had a better season as a rookie DT so don't even get me started.
ReplyDeleteShane - Point noted. You actually bring up another flaw in the voting system. If your team doesn't have a winning record, nobody gives a hell... Hence no votes for D Ware. And Clay was double teamed all year also, cry me a river.
ReplyDeleteAshwin - Years of being a Lions fan has blinded you. He was a beast this year & when he wasn't able to beat a double team, the double team in fact created opportunities for other members of the defense... The voting system is flawed.
Lack of votes for people on shitty teams, like Dallas' shitty defense, isn't a flaw in the voting. I guess if we want to look at numbers, then Jerod Mayo and his 175 tackles makes him most deserving of the DPoY. I am finding it hard to argue that the two most deserving players on the best two defenses(ppg) are the top vote getters, thus exposing a major flaw of sorts?
ReplyDelete