Steve Serby's 2021 NFL awards: Aaron Rodgers claims two
BREAKING: The annual Serby Says NFL Awards will now be unveiled once a year.
If you hate the Cowboys, sorry.
The envelope, please:
MVP: Aaron Rodgers (QB, Packers)
It was tempting to consider Jonathan Taylor or Cooper Kupp, but after consultation with my crack staff, we couldn’t choose between them. So 35 touchdowns against four interceptions and a 13-3 record wins the day over Tom Brady and latecomer Joe Burrow. The award does not consider lying about one’s vaccination status.
MVUP: Aaron Rodgers (QB, Packers)
Our first Most Valuable Unvaccinated Player award winner. NFL on CBS analyst Charles Davis, one of the best and brightest, said he believes A-Rod might not view the grass is greener elsewhere. “I just thought he got better and better as the season went on,” Davis said. “They like playing for Aaron Rodgers. I think there’s a much better chance he comes back now. It certainly seems like he’s in a really good spot with his head coach and play-caller [Matt LaFleur] and what they’re doing. I don’t know that it’s a slam dunk that he’s out of town.”
LVUP: Kirk Cousins (QB, Vikings)
Our first Least Valuable Unvaccinated Player, for being forced to miss must-win showdown with Packers.
Offensive player of the year: Jonathan Taylor (RB, Colts); Cooper Kupp (WR, Rams)
Both are friends of Serby Says. Kupp (138-1,829-15) needs 12 catches against the 49ers to break Michael Thomas’ 2019 single-season record and 136 yards to break Calvin Johnson’s 2012 record.
“It’s the combination of mind, body, confidence, savvy, whatever word you want to use,” Davis said of Kupp, “but I do think that sometimes we underrate the athletic ability of these guys. I’ve been crazy about him since college [Eastern Washington], and what he’s going now frankly doesn’t surprise me … although to this level? Look, very few people have gone to this level.”
Taylor has 317-1,734-18 rushing and 37-342-2 receiving. “He’s not just a big guy that plods and grinds it out,” Davis said. “His ability to go from zero to 60 is pretty impressive for his size. And he gives that team an identity, and is enjoying carrying that identity. They know he’s coming, he knows that they know, and he LOVES the challenge.”
Defensive player of the year: T.J. Watt (LB, Steelers)
Even if he wasn’t another friend of Serby Says, 21.5 sacks — one shy of Michael Strahan’s single-season record — will always do the trick. “T.J.’s got plenty in his arsenal, but his determination, how he plays the game,” Davis said, “and I’ve talked to a bunch of pass rushers over the years, and to a person they all said the same thing: It’s usually not your initial move that wins the deal. Are you going to make a second, a third move in order to get to that quarterback? And that’s T.J. Watt to a tee.”
Coach of the year: Mike Vrabel (Titans)
The guy loses Derrick Henry (foot) in Week 8, and is 5-3 since and has secured a second straight AFC South title. And if he beats the Texans on Sunday, he’s the AFC’s top seed. His tough and resourceful and resilient team is a reflection of him as much as any team is a reflection of its head coach.
“He wanted to make big improvements on the defensive side of the ball, committed to it, they’ve done that,” Davis said. “Number two, Derrick Henry goes out … look at the numbers running the ball. And can you name who’s running it? There’s a grittiness and determination that characterize how he played that manifest itself through his team, and they play that way for him.”
Runner-up: Urban Meyer (Jaguars)
That was a joke. It’s Zac Taylor (Bengals), who captured the franchise’s first AFC North crown since 2015. Time for an Ickey Shuffle.
Offensive rookie of the year: Ja’Marr Chase (WR, Bengals)
Imagine how productive he’d be if he had played with Burrow in college. Yes, another bad joke. “Speed, control, power,” Davis said, “and he knows how to regulate it and use it and maximize each one of those at the proper time. He puts fear in defensive backs by the way he comes off the line of scrimmage. So you may take an extra step or trot out of your backpedal before the snap even starts, so now he pulls up short, catches it, beats you underneath. He creates the advantage by putting your heels on every snap.”
Defensive rookie of the year: Micah Parsons (LB, Cowboys)
From red flags coming out of Penn State to silly comparisons to Lawrence Taylor. But he’s a problem, wherever he lines up. “If you voted him Pro Bowl at linebacker, you’d be correct, right?” Davis said. “If you voted Pro Bowl at edge rusher, you’d probably be correct. He’s one of those run-chase-hit linebackers, but he also can take people on. My comp for him coming out was Dont’a Hightower. But a better athlete.”
Comeback player of the year: Dak Prescott (QB, Cowboys)
“That injury was enough to really change how you play the game,” Davis said, “and I don’t think that Dak changed the way he played the game, in fact he adapted to it and just got better.”
Burrow deserves kudos, but the tiebreaker is Prescott’s gruesome ankle injury came over a month before the Cincinnati Kid tore up his knee. “One of our most overused terms is it factor … [Dak’s] got it,” Davis said.
Assistant coach of the year: Dan Quinn (defensive coordinator. Cowboys)
It always helps having Parsons and Trevon Diggs and DeMarcus Lawrence, but what an upgrade over Mike Nolan. “He’s not coaching the Legion of Boom now,” Davis said. “So he’s adapted to what he’s had.”
Interim coach of the year: Ron Middleton (Jets)
Riverboat Ron played to win when head coach Robert Saleh was on the COVID list, beat the Jaguars, got a game ball and retired 1-0.
Executive of the year: Bill Belichick (Patriots)
A $312 million free-agent spending spree and drafting QB Mac Jones with the 15th pick. It helps that his head coach knows what to do with all the new pieces. “The moves that they’ve made, and don’t forget, he did make the move at 15 and grabbed the quarterback and never made a move to go up when there was a run on quarterbacks,” Davis said.
The wink and a prod: Wink Martindale (defensive coordinator, Ravens):
“I don’t think we’re ready to buy a gold jacket for Joe yet,” got Joe Burrow’s attention. “I didn’t think it was a necessary comment,” Burrow said after throwing for 525 yards and four TDs in a 41-21 rout Dec. 26.
Most improved New York player: Braxton Berrios (WR, Jets)
Absolute baller. A keeper.
Least improved New York player: Denzel Mims (WR, Jets)
Eight catches this season, zero career TDs. A 2020 second-round bust.
The Petrino: Urban Meyer (Jaguars)
Bobby Petrino quit with a 3-10 record as Falcons coach in 2007 to take the Arkansas job less than 24 hours after assuring owner Arthur Blank he was staying. He belonged in the NFL as much as Meyer did.
Once a Steeler, only a Steeler: Ben Roethlisberger
His bust in Canton belongs next to Eli Manning’s.
The Rex Ryan: Aaron Rodgers (Packers)
For showing us his fractured pinky toe.
Best play by an offensive lineman: Robert Hunt (offensive tackle, Dolphins)
A 327-pound flip into the end zone for a 6-yard TD catch that sadly didn’t count. Accepting for Hunt, Vikings center Garrett Bradberry and Jets tackle Conor McDermott.
The Richard Sherman ‘You Mad Bro’?: Tom Brady (QB, Buccaneers)
Yup, the GOAT was mad when he cursed at Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen for having the audacity to shut him out in prime time.
Best trade: Matthew Stafford (QB, Rams)
To the Lions, for QB Jared Goff, a 2021 third-round pick and first-round picks in 2022 and ’23 … which don’t figure to be premium picks with coach Sean McVay chasing Super Bowls. Has tailed off (three TDs, five INTs) in the past two games, but that leaves him at 38 TDs against 15 INTs. Yes, I know he’s thrown four pick-sixes. And just duck if you spot his wife Kelly with a soft pretzel in her hand. “But the payoff has to be playoff time,” Davis said. “They didn’t get him just to win the division or get to the playoffs. … They got him to get back to the Super Bowl.”
Worst trade: Sam Darnold (QB, Panthers)
From the Jets, for a sixth-rounder in 2021 and second- and fourth-rounders in 2022. Coach Matt Rhule is still in the quarterback market. “He just has not been able to settle into a comfort zone,” Davis said.
Best free-agent signing: Trey Hendrickson (DE, Bengals)
Signed to a four-year, $60 million contract to replace Carl Lawson, he’s proved he’s no one-hit wonder with 14 sacks. “I think a lot of people thought that Cam Jordan made Trey Hendrickson two years ago,” Davis said. “It’s been interesting how the teammates talk about this guy — locks in like no one’s business. And in the middle of practice, he’ll be locked in like it’s a game. It’s not just motor. He’s a really good athlete.”
Worst free-agent signing: Antonio Brown (WR, Buccaneers)
Bruce Arians went too far this time with his no-risk-it-no-biscuit philosophy. Can’t imagine TB12 and Gisele keeping the lights on for this guy now. “From the outside view looking in, I don’t think it’s any accident he can’t stay in one place very long,” Davis said.
The Neil O’Donnell: Zane Gonzalez (PK, Panthers)
After suffering a quad injury during pregame warm-ups that landed him on IR, did anyone remind him that the Jets $25 million 1996 free-agent prize pulled his calf muscle in warm-ups forcing Frank Reich to start at quarterback for Rich Kotite?
WORST ROUGHING THE PASSER: 20,000-way tie
Worst taunting penalty: Cassius Marsh (LB, Bears): Called by hip-check zebra Tony Corrente
The V.K. Krishna Menon: Joe Judge (Giants)
It was hardly the record 1957 United Nations speech given by India’s former finance minister explaining the country’s position on Kashmir that lasted over seven hours, but the coach’s epic 11-minute postgame rant in Philadelphia seemed as long at the time.
The All-Madden: Quenton Nelson (guard, Colts); Aaron Donald (DT, Rams)
The nasty offensive lineman turns defenders in his path into turduckens.
“I watched a little bit of the ‘Hard Knocks,’” Davis said, “and it’s real easy to see Quenton Nelson as just a grunt who just likes beating people up. He’s a smart guy, really intelligent football player … who likes beating people up (laugh). He’s a technician too, he’s not just a mauler, which allows him to finish people off as a mauler.
“Aaron Donald is really old-school because he plays it about the way that Merlin Olsen and those guys played,” Davis said.
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