Easterbrook handed out his annual non-QB, non-RB award today. I have no real problem with the award itself, because it's a nice concept. I do have a problem with this year's winner though...
Winner: Matt Light. I toyed with giving the Non-QB Non-RB NFL MVP to the entire New England offensive line, best part of the league's first 18-0 team. Certainly, you could hand a shiny trophy to Patriots' guard Logan Mankins, who looks like the next John Hannah. But no other NFL lineman has played as well as Light this season. He is rarely noticed by announcers because he almost never makes mistakes. Light operates alone when protecting Tom Brady's blind side -- the Patriots' scheme almost never offers tight end or running back help to an offensive lineman. One reason the New England passing offense is so effective is that there are always at least four receivers in the pattern; this could not happen without excellent left-tackle play. Most New England rushing yardage this season has come to the left, Light's side. Light joined the Patriots seven seasons ago, so his arrival has coincided exactly with the team's current Super Bowl run. In Light's past two Super Bowl appearances, he made Jevon Kearse and Julius Peppers disappear. If you're not looking forward to watching Light and Umenyiora duke it out Sunday, you don't like football.
At best he's the third best player on the Pats' O-Line, yet he wins it over Randy Moss, Bob Sanders, Albert Haynesworth, and multitudes of other more deserving players.
And i'm not even going to get into his "the Patriots' place in history won't be cemented until we find out what's on the confisgated tapes" argument earlier in the column.
