Going Out With A Bang

Giant Player Awards
We have reached the point of the year where soon there will be no more football for a long time. As much as I love football and the Giants, I cannot see myself commenting and reading football related rumors and draft junk for months. Instead of going out with a whimper, like the Giants did this year, I'm hoping to go out a bang and spend hours giving fictional awards to the players.

The general premise is "taken" from Bye Dawk's work on BGN

This is pretty much a "vacation" until real news comes. I'll be back for the draft, and then when Preseason stars. This site is awesome, and I've learned tons that I would never learn anywhere else. Here it goes...

Offensive MVP- Eli Manning

via cache-07.gawkerassets.com
(First Win at the New Stadium)

What can be said that hasn't? In a year where we were supposed to rely on the running game, and our receivers might as well have have been in the CFL, Eli proved the haters wrong. Rarely could the running game get it going once the puff cream part of the schedule was over, yet Eli kept us in most of the games. The scary part is that Eli set personal records in pretty much everything across the board; QB Rating (93.1), Completions (317), Completion Percentage (62.3%), Yards (Only the third NYG QB to go over 4,000 yards with 4,021), Yards per game (7.9), Yards per attempt (7.9), and Touchdowns (27), despite having a broken foot for most of the season. Only knock I can think of is that he seemed to fumble it a lot this year (13, with 8 lost). Manning isn't the reason we went 8-8 this year.

This is what we have to look forward to

Honorable Mention: Steve Smith

via assets.giants.com

Defensive MVP - Ow this hurts
Honestly no one really deserves this. Seeing how much Kenny Phillips meant to us, I'd be inclined to give it to him. But MVPs need to play most of the season. I'd have to give it to Justin Tuck despite having a down year. Tuck was cheapshotted by Fat Waste of Space (I mean Flozell Adams), and was never really the same after that first Cowboys game. Still, he stayed on the field and while everyone else was giving up, he'd still be trying to make a play. Tuck never complained, and never blamed his injuries. For the 2nd worst defense in Giants history, Tuck never tried to make excuses, even when half the team was injured. For that, I salute him

(Type in Flozell Adams on Google, and the 5th suggested search is "Flozell Adams Cheap Shot)

Honorable Mention: Terrell Thomas
Made a great leap from his rookie year, and at times was our best cornerback. Made the most of a crappy year with 5 interceptions, and 70 tackles

See Here for one of the few good games defensively

Most Pleasant Surprise - Steve Smith

The year begun with questions about who or what Eli would throw to. Jerry Reese NEEDED to get a playmaking receiver or the giants would suffer. Ha, we only wish our receivers were our problem. OUR Steve Smith stepped up in a big way and shattered the New York Giant reception record by 25 receptions, and had the 2nd most yards in Franchise history (more than Plax ever had). He also became the first Giant receiver in the probowl since Homer Jones in the 60's. 'Nuff said.

Honorable Mention- Bruce Johnson

Played more than he ever should have and his interception of Romo in Week 2 is still fresh in my mind.

Biggest Disappointment - The Whole Freaking Defense

Alright, that's a cop out. I can't put CC Brown or Rouse because they weren't expected to do anything when the season started. Bill Sheridan will have to work. Did he get the short end of the stick? Yeah, very few people could succeed with the amount of injuries the Giants had this year.Did he show he could do a good job despite things getting tough? NO. And that is why he was deservedly fired. His schemes did not take the abilities of his players into account, and we had times where CC would be responsible for covering top receivers.

via www.nypost.com

(In Honor of the Who - Nobody knows what it's like... To be the bad man)

(Dis)Honorable Mentions - Chris Canty
Injuries prevented him from fulfilling what I'm sure is a talented player. But you wouldn't know from this year.

Aaron Ross: After spending the off season saying how he was back into football, and that he'd stay healthy, he had no less than 3 separate injuries to the same leg. He only played 4 games, and part of them were coming in a rotation as a safety.

The "Thanks for your many years of excellent service, but you make too much money so we have to cut you" Award - Antonio Pierce

It's a shame alright, but he's a liability now. We'll all remember him for that time he took on 2 linesmen to stop a screen from getting anywhere vs the Packers.

The "You're a big fat waste of space, so get the heck off our team" Award - Rocky Bernard

Had one sack all year, vs Kansas City. Was pretty much invisible most of the year. Was a HEALTHY scratch for a game or two. And still made $3.5 million this year according to yahoo.

via blog.nj.com
(Rocky Bernard (95) in the most work he did all season)

The "I'm sure the other team enjoyed you escorting them to the endzone" Award - CC Brown

A big hitter with little to no other redeeming qualities. We might as well not covered the other team's players when he was around.

This picture isn't with the Giants, but it's pretty much sums up CC. He shouldn't have even bothered getting off the ground

via a.espncdn.com

(I actually found a Picture where CC did something good. But he's still on the ground...)

Lock This Guy Up Longterm NOW Award- Steve Smith

Come on, just because he has another year on the rookie contract and a possible lock out doesn't mean he shouldn't be paid. He's a legitimately good person, and works hard. For once, I'd like a good person and a great player to be rewarded.

Toughest SOB Mark Bavaro Award - Equal Winners: Kevin Boss and Ahmad Bradshaw

What an example these two set. Kevin Boss gets rocked out there and still manages to catch the ball. I remember 3 distinct different Helemt to Helmet Shots and the Bossman still made the catch. Can't forget that game vs KC where he was visibly hurt, but he needed to get back to the line so the Giants could spike the ball and kick a field goal. Had he not done this, an injury time out would have ended the half. Few other players could do that.
Bradshaw played with TWO broken feet. How can you play runningback with two broken feet? And still be a shifty devil, and make physic defying cutbacks.

Honorable Mentions: Rich Seubert, Madison Hedgecock

This is for playing unglorified spots with big injuries that make playing nearly impossible. If you're hurt, the last thing you want to do is face 250-300 lb behamoths, but that's exactly what these two did.

The Best Player with an Incredibly Frustrating Flaw Award - Mario Manningham

A player with so much talent, yet so many flaws. There's this Amazing bobble catch

via 1.bp.blogspot.com

and then other easy catches that were dropped that I don't want to look up. Concentrate on the dang ball Mario

Honorable Mention- Lawrence Tynes

Great in the clutch, yet couldn't hit a thing from under 25 yards. I don't understand it. Also, his kickoffs were horrible. Even allowing for those pooch kicks, the others weren't too inspiring.

Worst. Play. Ever. (Of the year)

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2009121313/2009/REG14/eagles@giants#tab:watch

I'm still crying. How can someone just not... pick.. up... the ball? I mean some many other times were the ball is obviously dead, but still someone runs to the endzone. This would have all been avoided if Boley could have just intercepted the ball in the first place. It's better to be forgotten.

Free Bradshaw's "Are you fking kidding me" Award - Brandon Jacobs

He gets it cuz he had an injury in week one, could’ve missed a few weeks (maybe half of the season?? Maybe less?) and then who knows?

Maybe the idea that he got his contract and gave up is wrong. But maybe it was a clause in his contract that says if he plays a certain amount of games he gets some extra $$.

So that's all I could think of. Enjoy, and thanks for reading.