Clay Matthews, Defensive Player of the Year

[sheepshead]

Announcement any minute

[mission]

can i delete mine? :x

[sheepshead]

sorry my brother-scoped ya by a minute

[mission]

sorry my brother-scoped ya by a minute

ya i had to make a baby bottle... dammit

[Scott Campbell]

ya i had to make a baby bottle... dammit


Being from the dairy state, I support fresh squeezed.

[steve823]

There going to announce it on NFL network in 9 minutes.

[mission]

Being from the dairy state, I support fresh squeezed.

I do (did?) also but mom can't keep up with demand ;)

Ahem.

[red]

awesome news, good job clay

packers 2 years in a row

[Smidgeon]

Who'll take next year? Raji?

[RashanGary]

When Clay was healthy in the early part of the season he was a freaking beast. I hope this week off from all out play helps heal his leg. He's been coming on stronger, but one more game at 100% would be nice.

[red]

i guess all the reports were wrong, troy polamalu won it by 2 votes over clay

[mission]

what a joke

[steve823]

bullshit.

[Gunakor]

Troy deserves this every bit as much as Clay. Congrats to him.

It's not bullshit. You could flip a coin between Clay and Troy to decide who the best defensive player in the league is. 1a and 1b, but the award can only go to one person. I think the voting reflects that. Again, congratulations to Troy Polamalu on a well deserved award.

[DannoMac21]

Well....that's fucked.

[steve823]

Screw that. I'm saying it's bullshit because of all the bogus reports. And Polamalu was hurt for a bunch of games how does he get it over Clay who was only out for 1.

[Freak Out]

The jinx is on.

[Iron Mike]

http://cdn.ksk.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/allenguh.gif

[theeaterofshades]

I hope this makes the Claymaker angry. You won't like him when he's angry.

[Scott Campbell]

Congrats Troy! And congrats to Clay for finishing 2nd.

[bobblehead]

Its been a great revenge year for the packers...Clay having 4 sacks and a Forced Fumble in the game would finish it off nicely.

[VegasPackFan]

This is just extra motivation!

[Tarlam!]

The jinx is on.

This. We're way too confident around here.

[mission]

This. We're way too confident around here.

I'd hate for Fritz to go out and have bad game on Sunday.

[3irty1]

Polamalu with 17 votes
Clay Matthews with 15
James Harrison with 8
Julius Peppers with 6
Brian Urlacher with 2
Ed Reed with 1
Haloti Ngata with 1 also

Nice to know that the assholes who voted for Urlacher are responsible for the gap between Troy and Clay.

Brian Urlacher:
125 tackles, 4 sacks, 2 FF, 1 INT

Desmond Bishop in 12 games:
103 tackles, 3 sacks, 2 FF, 1 INT, 1 TD

Maybe Bishop should have gotten a vote.

[MadtownPacker]

This. We're way too confident around here.
Quit acting like a lil bitch. I was about to post a congrats to CMIII but I am much happier to post about how this is a good thing. Im starting to get the feeling there will be alot of punishment laid out by both sides. Congrats to Palomalou but I think Matthews was the pick and come Sunday I hope he wants to go off.

[Little Whiskey]

Troy P.
Tackles Interceptions Fumbles
G GS Comb Total Ast Sck SFTY PDef Int Yds Avg Lng TDs FF
14 14 63 49 14 1.0 0 11 7 101 14.4 45T 1 1




T. Will
Tackles Interceptions Fumbles
G GS Comb Total Ast Sck SFTY PDef Int Yds Avg Lng TDs FF
16 16 57 50 7 1.0 -- 20 6 87 14.5 64 0 1


a few less assisted tackles, more passes def, and one less Int. numbers look pretty close.

[MadtownPacker]

But who has better hair?

[Freak Out]

Both have "it" and are game changers....

Troy. P is a badass and gets more press than CMIII....but thats soon to change.

Lets go Packers!

[mraynrand]

But who has better hair?


http://cleatsandlapels.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/nick-barnett.jpg

[mission]

is that nick barnett?



(scary)

[DannoMac21]

Troy P.
Tackles Interceptions Fumbles
G GS Comb Total Ast Sck SFTY PDef Int Yds Avg Lng TDs FF
14 14 63 49 14 1.0 0 11 7 101 14.4 45T 1 1




T. Will
Tackles Interceptions Fumbles
G GS Comb Total Ast Sck SFTY PDef Int Yds Avg Lng TDs FF
16 16 57 50 7 1.0 -- 20 6 87 14.5 64 0 1


a few less assisted tackles, more passes def, and one less Int. numbers look pretty close.

C'mon man. You're not gonna realistically compare Tramon and Polamalu, are you? Maybe they had similar stats...but so do LeBron James and Monta Ellis. Tramon's a lockdown corner...Polamalu's a Clay-like game changer. Hence the play in Tennessee this year jumping the line at the goal line. Just makes insane plays.

With that, Clay still should've won.

[Patler]

I suspect in some voters minds Matthews tapered off too much the last half of the season, with just 3 sacks in the 7 games after the bye. Many will not appreciate the affect he had apart from sacks, because they will not have seen him that much. Many of the voters see these guys only occasionally, so reputation will always be a part of the voting. For those reasons, usually they get mentioned and votes one year, then win it sometime after. Matthews' time will come if he stays healthy, especially with the increased notoriety from the playoffs, and hopefully a stud-like performance in the Super Bowl !

[Gunakor]

Screw that. I'm saying it's bullshit because of all the bogus reports. And Polamalu was hurt for a bunch of games how does he get it over Clay who was only out for 1.

Troy missed 2 games while CMIII missed 1 and a half. I don't see the difference there TBH.

Polamalu is the better player. He's the best player on the best defense in the league. He's the AFC version of Charles Woodson. He can do it all.

And for the record, I still think Woodson is a better player than Matthews too.

[mraynrand]

All awards of these types have significant popularity contest features built in - even if the voters try really hard to make it based only on on-field production, impact, and effort. Despite the fact that guys can get major contracts and contract bonuses based on things like MVP and Pro Bowl awards, and HoF voters look at these awards, the great athletes and competitors understand that these awards are ultimately worthless to what they achieve on the field. Yes, recognition is great and important, but action and results stand on their own. Jim Brown, Deacon Jones almost never wanted to talk about awards, they wanted to talk about how they ran someone over on the field. Deacon Jones wanted to break an offensive lineman's spirit and defeat him utterly, not get voted prom king.

[steve823]

Troy missed 2 games while CMIII missed 1 and a half. I don't see the difference there TBH.

Polamalu is the better player. He's the best player on the best defense in the league. He's the AFC version of Charles Woodson. He can do it all.

And for the record, I still think Woodson is a better player than Matthews too.

Hell no. I feel like this is a lifetime achievement award. No doubt Polamalu is good but this year he didn't have the impact Harrison and Matthews had. This should have been between James Harrison or Clay Matthews , period.

[3irty1]

This reminds me of when Jeter won the MVP a couple of years ago. Troy didn't have the best season but nobody's season was way better either so they just gave the defensive player of the year award as a lifetime achievement award.

[3irty1]

Hell no. I feel like this is a lifetime achievement award. No doubt Polamalu is good but this year he didn't have the impact Harrison and Matthews had. This should have been between James Harrison or Clay Matthews , period.

Haha I just said essentially the same thing.

[swede]

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z236/dsteenswede44/associated20press_dewey_defeats_truman_L-1.jpg

[Brandon494]

Hell no. I feel like this is a lifetime achievement award. No doubt Polamalu is good but this year he didn't have the impact Harrison and Matthews had. This should have been between James Harrison or Clay Matthews , period.

Im guessing you didnt watch one Steelers game this year.

[bobblehead]

http://www.nfl.com/players/cameronwake/profile?id=WAK155481

so why was clay or anyone else so much better than this guy?? Other than he had more talent around him? As a matter of fact I bet Wake wouldn't even get on the magical "playmakers" list that seems so important. To take it further he didn't get one single vote even though he was pretty superior to Uhrlicker (and a couple others who got votes)

[VegasPackFan]

I have a problem with the Urlacher votes - give me a fuckin break.. That is just irresponsible bullshit.

[Jimx29]

who has the votes for this?

[3irty1]

who has the votes for this?

Urlacher's mom for sure.

[steve823]

Im guessing you didnt watch one Steelers game this year.

I'm guessing you just watched the highlights. I'm in Pennsylvania for football season so I watch every Eagles/Steelers game ,except whenever the Packers are on of course.

Now, I'm not taking ANYTHING away from Polamalu, he's a great, humble player who I respect. But Harrison had an outstanding year as did Matthews. To be honest and objective, Harrison was even better than Matthews. The only thing I can see for an arguement for Clay is that Harrison has Woodley, the most underrated player in the league across from him, while Matthews had Zombo/Jones/Walden.

Harrison was the best player on the Steelers defense this year and should have won it, but I honestly think all the fines he was given and bad media he got took away from his stellar performance on the field. Good for Polamalu, he's been a top safety in the league year after year, but like I said before, this seems like a lifetime achievement award.

[Tarlam!]

Nice post,Steve823.

Let's hope neither get to Rodgers this Sunday. They're both friggin' monsters and I don't want to see another concussion.

[Freak Out]

No doubt...Harrison is a guy that try's to take you out every chance he's given. It's not just about the tackle with him.

[steve823]

Agreed on Harrison. While Harrison is a monster though, I'm actually worried more about the Woodley/Bulaga matchup. Bulaga has been solid lately but Woodley is great and always steps up in the playoffs. Check this out: http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/24053/page/espntexas/lamarr-woodley-peaks-in-the-postseason

Clifton can neutralize Harrison ,but might get beat a few times, but I'm hoping Bulaga doesn't get consistently beat by Woodley. This is the thing with the Steelers, that is different from most teams. For example when we play the Bears if Peppers is doing good you slow him down with chip blocks or a te on his side, but you can't do that with Pittsburgh because you pick your poison in Harrison/Woodley.

[mraynrand]

Harrison was a beast in the Divisional game versus the Ravens. He took over the game in the second half. I thought Joe Flacco was going to start crying he was so afraid.

[denverYooper]

Agreed on Harrison. While Harrison is a monster though, I'm actually worried more about the Woodley/Bulaga matchup. Bulaga has been solid lately but Woodley is great and always steps up in the playoffs. Check this out: http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/24053/page/espntexas/lamarr-woodley-peaks-in-the-postseason

Clifton can neutralize Harrison ,but might get beat a few times, but I'm hoping Bulaga doesn't get consistently beat by Woodley. This is the thing with the Steelers, that is different from most teams. For example when we play the Bears if Peppers is doing good you slow him down with chip blocks or a te on his side, but you can't do that with Pittsburgh because you pick your poison in Harrison/Woodley.

Just like Public Enemy, Bulaga's gonna Shut 'em Down.