Winner:Peyton Manning
HOW COULD YOU not pick a 37-year old quarterback who had 55 touchdowns in 16 games, throwing for 5,477 yards and got his team to the Super Bowl? Sure, it’s obvious the arm strength isn’t what it was but Manning adjusted beautifully and concentrated short, quick and accurate passes that helped Denver retain possession, move the chains and frustrate defences. 55 touchdowns! That’s Madden stuff.
Honourable mentions: JJ Watt, LeSean McCoy.
Offensive player of the year (not named Peyton Manning)
Winner:LeSean McCoy With 1,607 rushing yards, McCoy proved himself to be the perfect running back for Chip Kelly’s new Philadelphia Eagles offence. Shady is the also the first Eagle to lead the league in rushing since 1949 as well as besting the NFL with 2,146 yards from scrimmage and 79 rushing first downs.
Honourable mentions: Josh Gordon, Matt Forte, Jamaal Charles.
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Defensive player of the year
Image: Darron Cummings/AP/Press Association Images
Winner:JJ Watt
If you go by the number of wins the Texans had, you probably didn’t ever consider Watt as the defensive player of the year but you could make an argument that Watt was even better this year and he was the virtually unanimous DPOY last season. He made an astonishing 67 stops on defence, nearly 50% more than any other defensive end. Imagine how bad Houston would have been without him.
Honourable mentions: Robert Quinn, Robert Mathis, Vontaze Burfict, Richard Sherman.
Winner: Calvin Johnson Just the one touchdown for Megatron when he faced off against the Dallas Cowboys in week eight but he still made 14 catches for a phenomenal 329 yards, just seven short of Flipper Anderson’s all time record. It was Johnson’s fifth career game over 200 yards and beat his previous best by nearly 90 yards.
Honourable mentions: Peyton Manning v. the Ravens Wk1, Robert Mathis v. Seahawks Wk8
Winner:New England Patriots 34 @ Denver Broncos 31 (OT)
This game had so much going for it but by far the best part was Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick giving possession of the football to the Denver Broncos in overtime because he felt the wind was more of a factor than handing the ball to one of the game’s best quarterbacks.
TheScore.ie's NFL end-of-season awards
Most valuable player
Winner: Peyton Manning
HOW COULD YOU not pick a 37-year old quarterback who had 55 touchdowns in 16 games, throwing for 5,477 yards and got his team to the Super Bowl? Sure, it’s obvious the arm strength isn’t what it was but Manning adjusted beautifully and concentrated short, quick and accurate passes that helped Denver retain possession, move the chains and frustrate defences. 55 touchdowns! That’s Madden stuff.
Honourable mentions: JJ Watt, LeSean McCoy.
Offensive player of the year (not named Peyton Manning)
With 1,607 rushing yards, McCoy proved himself to be the perfect running back for Chip Kelly’s new Philadelphia Eagles offence. Shady is the also the first Eagle to lead the league in rushing since 1949 as well as besting the NFL with 2,146 yards from scrimmage and 79 rushing first downs.
Honourable mentions: Josh Gordon, Matt Forte, Jamaal Charles.
Defensive player of the year
Winner: JJ Watt
If you go by the number of wins the Texans had, you probably didn’t ever consider Watt as the defensive player of the year but you could make an argument that Watt was even better this year and he was the virtually unanimous DPOY last season. He made an astonishing 67 stops on defence, nearly 50% more than any other defensive end. Imagine how bad Houston would have been without him.
Honourable mentions: Robert Quinn, Robert Mathis, Vontaze Burfict, Richard Sherman.
Individual performance of the year
YouTube: detroitlionsnfl
Winner: Calvin Johnson
Just the one touchdown for Megatron when he faced off against the Dallas Cowboys in week eight but he still made 14 catches for a phenomenal 329 yards, just seven short of Flipper Anderson’s all time record. It was Johnson’s fifth career game over 200 yards and beat his previous best by nearly 90 yards.
Honourable mentions: Peyton Manning v. the Ravens Wk1, Robert Mathis v. Seahawks Wk8
Game of the year
YouTube: MrThekingrdog
Winner: New England Patriots 34 @ Denver Broncos 31 (OT)
This game had so much going for it but by far the best part was Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick giving possession of the football to the Denver Broncos in overtime because he felt the wind was more of a factor than handing the ball to one of the game’s best quarterbacks.
Honourable mention: Chiefs @ Colts, Wildcard round.
The Redzone: Seattle worthy winners but Peyton’s place in question
Manning determined to use Super Bowl hurt as motivation next season
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