All this week, we’ll be bringing you our awards for the 2005 NFL season:
Offensive Rookie of the Year
Defensive Rookie of the Year
Offensive Player of the Year
Defensive Player of the Year
Coach of the Year
MVP
Disappointment of the Year
Here are our picks for Disappointment of the Year. Disappointment of the Year:
Ryan McGowan: New York Jets
At the start of the year, a lot of experts had the Jets pegged to win the AFC East, or at least finish right behind New England and pull a wild card. This was supposed to be Chad Pennington’s breakout year, with new offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger primed to open up the offense to take advantage of his quarterback’s strong arm. Curtis Martin was supposed to carry his load on the ground, and Herm Edwards was finally going to get this team over the hump and knock off the vulnerable Pats. What a difference a few months make. The Jets are in a pathetic state right now (and I’m not talking about New Jersey, but rather their situation). Their fans have nothing left to cheer for except for girls to take their tops off at halftime at the Meadowlands (true story). In Week 1, I picked the Jets as my lock of the week, getting three points against the Chiefs. They were summarily dismantled by Kansas City, and the disaster that was the 2005 season was on. How dumb does that pick look now?
Teri Berg: Atlanta Falcons
Lots of talking heads are giving the “biggest disappointment” award to the Eagles, and Philly was the biggest collapse of the season, going from Super Bowl contenders with a load of talent to a 6-9 bust with injuries and in-fighting galore. But you can’t really say the Eagles’ implosion was unexpected (see Bill Simmons’ analogy comparing Philly’s 2004 trade for Terrell Owens to dating a girl with STDs). My pick is the Falcons because they had the second most stupifying collapse — and, significantly, it came totally out of the blue and whacked glorified frat boy Jim Mora and his frustrated QB upside the head. It was the unexpectedness of the Dirty Birds’ implosion that captured my vote.
After contending for the NFC title last season, expecting their second straight winning season, and counting on making a credible push for the Super Bowl this season, the Falcons lost steam quickly this year and, at 8-8, failed to make the playoffs. The offense is a mess — supposedly still building toward a West Coast offense, though that seems misleading at best. What’s worse, their generally solid defense went to hell on the same slippery slope that swept out Vick, his receivers and that porous offensive line. All those Michael Vick jerseys that fans buy and all the freebie Pro Bowl passes he gets aren’t going to help this team get back on track. This is a team that’s sending six players to the Pro Bowl — aside from Vick, what happened here? Surely Vick doesn’t deserve to go to Hawaii, but many of his teammates do — there IS talent in Atlanta. So where’s the coaching? Someone there has to do some thinking, and someone’s gotta do some work. Otherwise, Mora’s going to need more than the smelling salts he so coyly sniffs on the sidelines to give him and his Falcons some life.
Vin Diec: Willis McGahee and the Buffalo Bills
Willis and his team go hand in hand. For a back projected to be top 5 in most fantasy draft boards and a team that many picked to be a wild card team and potentially challenge for the division title, they sure did stink up the joint. First, let’s talk about McGahee. His 1247 yards were respectable. But remember, this is the back who was supposed to carry the offense with first year starter JP Losman at the helm. And of course there was the little item of calling himself the best back in the league in week 7 and then going out and scoring exactly 1 TD for the rest of the year. Nice work, Willis.
Then we have the Bills. They follow up a 2004 season where they went 6-2 in the final 8 games by dumping Drew Bledsoe. Then JP Losman takes the reins and looks worse than Cameron Diaz without makeup so they switch to Kelly Holcomb, a career backup known for QB controversies. Well, everything implodes and the coach walks out after they hire back the oldest man on the planet. You gotta feel bad for Bills fans.
Trevor Freeman: Nate Burleson, Minnesota Vikings
Thankfully Polk High was still able to pull through and win its Fantasy Bowl, however it was in no thanks to the Mr. Burleson. I’m sure that I am not the only fantasy owner who went ahead and pulled the trigger on Nate Burleson in the first four rounds. Burleson was supposed to have a “Randy Moss” type year. Instead he turned out to be one of the great fantasy busts of our time. 30 catches, 328 yards, 1 TD, and 100,000 people making
the “Who Farted” face.
Who is your biggest disappointment of the year? Comment below.
2 replies on “SC 2005 NFL Awards: Disappointment of the Year”
My Pick(s) Surprisingly, my biggest disappointment of the year would be the Arizona Cardinals. I know, I know, the Cardinals are bad every year.
However, I figured that they could only improve on an already good defense when they drafted Antrel Rolle in the first round. However, he had just 28 tackles and 1 interception, playing just 5 games due to injury.
The addition of Kurt Warner as a supposedly steady choice for quarterback seemed to blow up in Arizona’s face, since Josh McCown and even John Navarre got playing time.
I thought J.J. Arrington would have a solid first year as the team’s running back, figuring he would get the ball a whole lot. Wrong. Marcel Shipp got more carries and Arrington rushed for just 370 yards and 2 touchdowns. He only started in 5 of the 15 games he played.
The receiver tandem of Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald had me believing that, with Warner as quarterback, the Cardinals would have the ability to score touchdowns in bunches. That was the only thing I got right. The two combined for 17 touchdowns even with Boldin missing 2 games due to injury.
Overall, I had the Cardinals (in the weak NFC West) finishing as high as either 8-8 or 9-7, perhaps closing in on a wild card spot. Instead, they finished 5-11, just 1 game ahead of the woeful 49ers.
ALSO: The Oakland Raiders were a disappointment. Many sports-oriented people (myself NOT included) had the Raiders, thanks to the addition of Randy Moss, winning the AFC West. One writer on CBS Sportsline even had them going to the Super Bowl. Randy Moss would only score 8 touchdowns, the Raiders would finish 4-12, and Norv Turner (not surprisingly) would get fired.
Thoughts? Ideas?
Cardinals were the chic pick to win the NFC West but the problem with the Cards is that they’ve never been a winning team and never will. There’s something completely cursed about that franchise. NFC East or West, it doesn’t matter, they are destined for bottom of the barrel.
Oakland disappointed me too. I fell victim to the “sure they have no defense, but they’ll drop 40+ on enough people to win the west.” Meanwhile I believe they didnt beat a single team in the west.