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Yesterday, the NFL announced that Charles Woodson won Defensive Player of the Year. Most football fans agreed that the Defensive Player of the Year was going to be either Charles Woodson or Darrelle Revis, both cornerbacks.

Jets coach, Rex Ryan, obviously disagreed with the voting when he said, “This, in my opinion, was the best year a corner has ever had, the most impact a corner has ever had in the National Football League. That’s my opinion. Apparently, that wasn’t how everybody felt.”

Counting Stats

So, who really deserved the award?  First, the counting stats.

A quick look at the normal counting stats seems to agree with the voters choice of Woodson for DPOY. He has two more sacks, four more forced fumbles, three more interceptions and two more Touchdowns. The one stat that Revis leads Woodson in is passes defensed.

Revis fans claim that Passes Defensed tells more of the story. They’ll normally cite the following quote from Peter King on Twitter, “revis played 9 games this year mostly isolated on players who have made at least 1 pro bowl. none had more than 35 receiving yards.”

Coverage

Using Pro Football Focus, lets look at both Charles Woodson & Darrelle Revis in coverage.

These numbers seem to support the idea that Revis is a better shutdown corner. This season, Quarterbacks threw at Revis more than Woodson and he responded by holding them to a 36.9 Completion % and a 32.3 QB Rating, while drawing less flags. Woodson’s numbers are nothing to scoff at, Pro Football Focus had him as the #2 coverage corner in the NFL, but Revis clearly had a better season in coverage.

Run Defense

Although not as important as coverage, lets use Pro Football Focus again to look at Woodson & Revis in run coverage. I’ll use their Stops statistic, which is defined as “Cumulative number of solo defensive tackles made which constitute an offensive failure (including sacks).

These numbers give the edge to Woodson against the run game. According to Pro Football Focus, Woodson is the best NFL cornerback against the run and it isn’t even close. His 37 Stops is number on in the NFL among Cornerbacks. Pro Football Focus gives Woodson a score of +15 against the Run, second best is Antoine Winfield at +6.8 (Revis is at +0.4).

Rushing the Quarterback

Of all the jobs of a Cornerback, this is definitely the least important. Once again, lets use Pro Football Focus to see who was best at pressuring the opposing team’s quarterback.

It looks like the Jets rarely, if ever, sent Revis on a blitz. Woodson on the other hand plays in a 3-4 and occasionally blitzed the quarterback. Obviously each cornerback plays in a different defensive scheme, but this edge clearly goes to Woodson. Pro Football Focus had him as the 3rd best cornerback at rushing the quarterback (behind Brandon McDonald and Brandon Flowers).

Conclusion

Both cornerbacks had incredible seasons. Since 1981, only two other cornerbacks have ever won the award (Rod Woodson in 1993 & Deion Sanders in 1994). The fact that this award was between two cornerbacks speaks volumes about the seasons they both had.

My take is that Darrelle Revis had one of the greatest seasons a shutdown cornerback could ever have in the NFL.  The Jets put him out on an island and asked him to shut down the opposing teams’ best wide receiver – and he did.  Most years he would clearly be the best cornerback in the NFL – and frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year.

While Revis is the best coverage corner in the NFL, I believe Charles Woodson is the best all around cornerback.  He was the best cornerback in the NFL against the run and one of the best in coverage and pressuring the quarterback.  He forced 13 turnovers (7 more than Revis) and scored 3 touchdowns (2 more than Revis).  Revis had a great year, but Woodson was even better.

Unfortunately, Brett Favre and the Vikings won round 1 against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. I’m very disappointed by the loss, but I still feel extremely confident that Ted Thompson made the right decision a few years ago when he picked Aaron Rodgers over Brett Favre.

So, I thought I would compare Favre and Rodgers thru their first 20 career starts.

Once again, I feel pretty confident that Ted Thompson made the right move.

The 2009 preseason just ended and Aaron Rodgers had a 147.9 QB Rating.  He threw for 465 yards with 6 TDs and 0 interceptions.  Incredible numbers, but how much stock should we put in it?  It’s just preseason, right?  Should Packer fans be excited?

The answer is, yes, they should be really excited.   It’s not because of his preseason, but Rodgers had a very good year last season as well.  In his first year starting, Rodgers ended the season in the top 6 in Attempts, Yards, TDs & QB Rating.  All of this for someone who didn’t turn 25 until the end of last season.

Let’s compare his Age 25 Season to a few other Quarterbacks.

3764 Yards / 28 TD / 14 INT / 85.7 QB Rating

3882 Yards / 33 TD / 14 INT / 90.7 QB Rating

4131 Yards / 26 TD / 23 INT / 84.1 QB Rating

4038 Yards / 28 TD / 13 INT / 93.8 QB Rating

That’s the Age 25 Seasons of Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning & Rodgers.  Pretty good company.

The common knock against Rodgers last year was all of the close games the Packers lost last year.  Let’s examine a few of those games.

Lost 19-16 against Tennessee Titans.

With 5:30 to go, Packers kick a Field Goal to tie it at 16.  It goes into Overtime and Tennessee wins the Toss and drives down the field for the win.

Lost 28-27 against Minnesota Vikings.

With 6:00 to go, Packers kick a Field Goal to take a 6 point lead.  Next drive, the Vikings score on a 29 Yard TD run by Adrian Peterson.

Lost 35-31 against Carolina Panthers.

With 2:00 to go, Packers kick a field goal to take a 31-28 lead.  The Panthers take the ball and after a pass-interference call, DeAngelo Williams scores a TD to take a 35-31 lead.

Lost 24-21 against Houston Texans.

With 6:00 to go, Rodgers throws a 9 yard TD pass to Jordy Nelson, tied at 21.  As time expires, the Texans hit a Field Goal to win 24-21.

Lost 20-16 against Jacksonville Jaguars.

With 5:40 to go, Packers kick a field goal to take a 16-14 lead.  Maurice Jones-Drew then scores a TD for the Jaguars and win 20-16.

Lost 17-20 against Chicago Bears.

With 0:25 left in the game, Mason Crosby’s FG is blocked and score remains tied at 17.  The Bears win the toss and kick a FG for a 20-17 win.

So, perhaps Rodgers should have turned those FG drives into TD drives, but the defense still gave up game winning scores 6 times last season within the last 6 minutes of the game.  With a stronger defense, Rodgers has at least 4 more Fourth Quarter Game winning drives.

Here is a rundown of the Fantasy Football Draft I just completed tonight.  It is a 10 team PPR league.  Everything is pretty standard, except there is no Team Defense.

Round: 1
(1) Fringe Radicals – Adrian Peterson RB
(2) Appalachia Snake Handlers – Maurice Jones-Drew RB
(3) Decadent Society – Michael Turner RB
(4) Hot Beef Injection – DeAngelo Williams RB
(5) Team Zillmer – Matt Forte RB
(6) Decatur Staleys – Steven Jackson RB
(7) Lumley Castle Crashers – Chris Johnson RB
(8) At Least I Can See – LaDainian Tomlinson RB
(9) Butte Phuckers – Steve Slaton RB
(10) Traxman’s Evil Wizards – Larry Fitzgerald WR

I was keyed in on Chris Johnson at #7.  If he wasn’t there, I probably would have gone with Steve Slaton.

Round: 2
(11) Traxman’s Evil Wizards – Drew Brees QB
(12) Butte Phuckers – Frank Gore RB
(13) At Least I Can See – Brandon Jacobs RB
(14) Lumley Castle Crashers – Andre Johnson WR
(15) Decatur Staleys – Clinton Portis RB
(16) Team Zillmer – Randy Moss WR
(17) Hot Beef Injection – Tom Brady QB
(18) Decadent Society – Calvin Johnson WR
(19) Appalachia Snake Handlers – Peyton Manning QB
(20) Fringe Radicals – Marion Barber RB

My dream was to get Slaton in the 2nd round, but I would have been happy with Gore.  They were both gone, so I went with my top rated WR.

Round: 3
(21) Fringe Radicals – Greg Jennings WR
(22) Appalachia Snake Handlers – Roddy White WR
(23) Decadent Society – Reggie Wayne WR
(24) Hot Beef Injection – Brian Westbrook RB
(25) Team Zillmer – Steve Smith WR
(26) Decatur Staleys – Anquan Boldin WR
(27) Lumley Castle Crashers – Kevin Smith RB
(28) At Least I Can See – Marques Colston WR
(29) Butte Phuckers – Dwayne Bowe WR
(30) Traxman’s Evil Wizards – Ronnie Brown RB

I’m not wild about this pick, but I wanted to get another solid RB and I didn’t think there would be an undisputed starter left for the next round.  It’s a PPR league, so I chose Smith over Grant.

(more…)

While I enjoy a pun among friends, I cannot stand it when I see it in journalism.  The worst offender of this practice has to be in sports.  If I don’t see it in a headline on ESPN or SI, I have to see and hear it every week as a special feature or segment.  The worst one is watching Phil Simms’ “Football Phil-osophy” every Sunday.

Anyways, I might have heard the worst sports puns I’ve ever heard on Sunday.  Not only that, but they came within 30 seconds apart on a Westwood One radio station.  The commentator was doing the highlights for the Dolphins/Ravens playoff game and used the following puns:

• “It was so quiet, you could hear a fin drop.”
• “That’s so Raven”

Terrible.