The question is where to send the Brett Favre Trophy, better known as the NFL Most Valuable Player Award. It’s not really named for Favre yet, although you sometimes wonder whether the whole process should be suspended until he retires.
Rarely have there been so many good candidates:
Jamal Lewis is MVP. He’s about to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record for the Ravens.
Peyton Manning is MVP. No, it’s Colts teammate Marvin Harrison.
Tom Brady is MVP because he’s the only New England Patriot anybody can name.
Steve McNair is MVP. He spends his weekdays in traction and his weekends dressing in a telephone booth for the Titans.
Priest Holmes is MVP. He’s about to break the all-time touchdown record for the Chiefs.
LaDainian Tomlinson is MVP. He plays for a bad Chargers team yet was leading the league in rushing and receiving yardage until Lewis played Cleveland again last week.
Michael Vick is MVP, and he can prove it. His Atlanta Falcons collapsed without him, and their coach was fired.
Torry Holt is MVP. He’s the league-leading receiver and plays for the Greatest Show on Turf.
Donovan McNabb is MVP. As he goes, so go the Philadelphia Eagles.
Favre is MVP. Anybody who watched him Monday night couldn’t argue.
Dante Hall is MVP. The Chiefs haven’t been the same since he stopped returning kicks for touchdowns.
Jake Plummer is MVP. The Broncos are a completely different team with him.
Randy Moss is MVP, at least whenever the temperamental Viking feels like playing.
Ray Lewis is MVP. There has to be at least one defensive candidate and the Ravens’ Lewis sets the tone.
So who is it?
Fortunately, the ballots don’t have to be marked until Monday. It’s that close.
The best cases can be made for Jamal Lewis and Brady.
Lewis is not only closing in on Dickerson, he is carrying Baltimore on his shoulders on the way. Only 154 yards from breaking Dickerson’s 2,105, Lewis has played on an offense that started rookie Kyle Boller at quarterback and now has journeyman Anthony Wright. The wide receivers don’t take pressure off Lewis, although tight end Todd Heap is playing like Jeremy Shockey only wishes he could play.
If the MVP vote were up to the Cleveland Browns, Lewis would win running away. In two games against them, Lewis rushed for 500 yards, including a single-game-record 295. The Browns haven’t tackled him yet. Every back should get two shots against the Browns. Also, every offensive player should have Ray Lewis on his defense.
Brady is the one constant in a season of flux for coach Bill Belichick’s Patriots. They have started 42 different players because of injury and design. Brady wasn’t deemed good enough to make the Pro Bowl ahead of fellow quarterbacks McNair, Manning and Kansas City’s Trent Green–but he was good enough to win all the big games. Brady beat McNair and Manning head to head, and he also beat McNabb.
Brady has been the quarterback in 15 games that have been decided by seven points or less in his career. The Patriots have won 14 of them. He never has lost an overtime game (7-0) and is 23-4 in games played after Nov. 1.
McNair was the early-season front-runner until Manning beat him twice. Manning became the pick until Brady and then Plummer beat him.
Favre, of course, is usually forgotten. Ever since he won three MVP awards in a row from 1995-97, it’s as if voters are looking for excuses to give it to somebody else. Because Favre has started every game for 12 seasons, he is taken for granted. Playing with such inconveniences as a broken thumb on his throwing hand is more expected than admired.
Two of the final regular-season games Sunday could decide this thing. Denver and Plummer play at Green Bay starting at 3:15 p.m. The Packers need it. At 7:30, it’s Pittsburgh at Baltimore. Lewis may need to beat the Steelers for his Ravens to win the AFC North.
At least one ballot will not be marked until late Sunday night.
Lame duck: Nobody thinks of Kansas City’s Dick Vermeil as a lame-duck coach, but his contract expires at the end of the season.
Vermeil regrets making a hasty decision to retire two days after winning the Super Bowl in St. Louis and won’t make that mistake again.
The oldest head coach in the NFL at 67, Vermeil says this time he’ll have his decision made before the end of the playoffs. If Vermeil were to step down, he’ll recommend offensive coordinator Al Saunders as his replacement.
Green expects Vermeil to return.
“When I was going through my contract negotiations [last spring], that’s one of the things I wanted to know,” Green said. “And he made it clear then that if things went well and if we accomplished the things we wanted to accomplish, if we went to the playoffs and had the success he wanted to have, he’d be back. . . . Personally, I think he’ll be back.”
No-fight league: As the NFL’s director of football operations, former San Francisco wide receiver Gene Washington has a lot to do with assessing fines for touchdown celebrations.
“When was the last time you saw a fight on an NFL field?” Washington asked. “A long time, right? So guys don’t fight because they know, No. 1, we’re tough on fighting. They know we are tough on taunting, which leads to fights.
“If these antics were to continue, and we’re not able to control it leaguewide, you’ll revert to players taking care of it on the field. A coach can tell his player, `If you’re taunted by another player, the league will take care of him. You don’t have to do it. Your manhood is not being challenged.’
“That’s the word around the league. Coaches tell their players so they don’t get penalties, the league will take care of it.”
Wide-eyed: Raiders backup quarterback Tee Martin got into Monday night’s game against the Packers and threw four times to Jerry Rice.
“After my first pass, I was just like, `Wow! I just threw a pass to Jerry Rice,'” said Martin, 25. “I’ll never forget that.”
Martin said he may have to rank the moment as his best in football–or at least equal to winning the 1998 national championship at the University of Tennessee.
The shopping coach: The Cowboys’ Bill Parcells sounds like he dreads Christmas shopping.
“Sometimes I need a little assistance in that regard since I don’t go to stores, so it’s hard for me,” he said. “I’ve only been in like one mall my whole life.
“You can’t go there. It’s dangerous, those places. It’s all so intimidating. You get intimidated when you go in those, uh, ladies’ stores and that stuff. That’s the truth. I don’t know what I’m looking at or what I’m doing.”
Shopping for coaches: The Giants already have interviewed former Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin. He is believed to be at the top of the list of Jim Fassel’s replacements. The Giants also like both Patriots coordinators, Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel, as well as Nick Saban of LSU, Kirk Ferentz of Iowa, Ralph Friedgen of Maryland and Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith.
Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi disputes the notion that because he did not hire Fassel, the two never got along.
“Everybody thinks you want your own guy,” Accorsi said. “What difference does it make? If I came here and [Vince] Lombardi was here, would I say, `Gee, I want my own guy’? No, you’d ride his coattails to championships, that’s what you would do. But that’s the way the business is. It’s perceptions.”
Vikings cold outside: The Vikings need to win at Arizona to clinch the NFC North. They have lost 16 of their last 17 games outdoors. They beat the Packers to open this season and haven’t won outdoors since. They didn’t win outdoors last season either.
So long, Art: Art Modell, 78, will watch his last regular-season game as an NFL owner Sunday night. He’s selling the Ravens to Steve Bisciotti. The team will have a halftime ceremony to induct Modell into the ring of honor.
