Receivers 0-for-ever as MVPs
bar facemask on his helmet, no less.
Meanwhile, that was the year a San Diego Chargers wide receiver named Wes Chandler set a league record that still stands, averaging 129 receiving yards per game. He was going at a (fairly unsustainable) pace that would have set a single-season record of nearly 2,000 yards.
Anddo you know how many MVP votes Wes Chandler received?
None, apparently, although five votes remain unaccounted for, according to the website mvpvotingwordpress.com.
In order, the voting went like this: Mosley, Chandler’s quarterback Dan Fouts, Marcus Allen, Joe Theismann (must have been a big year for onebar helmets) and Danny White — who threw 12 interceptions in nine games!
Alan Page, a defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings, won this award (which is celebrating its 60th anniversary) in 1971. Brian Sipe won it. Roman Gabriel won it. Boomer Esiason won it.
Jerry Rice never did. Randy Moss never did. The most recent time a wide receiver even received a single first-place vote (among 50) was 1998, when Moss garnered four.
Kordell Stewart received firstplace votes between then and now. So did Bobby Wagner, a linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks. Chad Pennington, James Harrison, Ray Lewis, Priest Holmes, Derrick Brooks, Brian Urlacher, Eddie George and Donovan McNabb have received first-place votes, as well.
But no receivers. In fact, a receiver has finished as high as second in MVP voting only three times: Rice in 1995 and 1987; Kansas City’s Otis Taylor in 1971.
So I know what I’m getting into here as I make the case for Antonio Brown as at least a serious candidate. The MVP is basically the quarterback of the year award. That position has pulled in 41 of 59 possible trophies, with a running back having the next-best chance.
Could this be why receivers are so demonstrative?
Are they desperate for somebody to notice them?
Quarterbacks are kind of important. I get that. In fact, my ballot right now (I am not a voter) would have Tom Brady first and Carson Wentz second. But I would put Brown a close third — and if he were to, say, outperform Brady Dec. 17 when the Patriots visit Heinz Field (a matchup commonly referred to as “Part 1”), why not him?
“Tony Toe Tap” is on an unholy tear of late with 20 catches for 313 yards and five touchdowns in the past two games. That’s a career for some. If he keeps this up, people are going to start comparing him to Mark Mosley any day now.
Honestly, I would only consider a receiver for MVP if he is having a special year. Brown is. He leads the league in catches and yards. He is on pace for 116 catches, 1,738 yards and 12 touchdowns. But it’s not just the numbers. It’s the degree of difficulty combined with the clutch factor.
The Steelers are literally winning games on account of Brown’s brilliance. Consider:
• In the season opener, when Brown caught all 11 passes thrown his way, he jumped out of the stadium to haul in a desperate, secondand-18 heave. That possibly prevented the Cleveland Browns from getting the ball back in good field position and tying the game. Or winning it.
• In Kansas City, Brown corralled a deflected pass and sprinted to the end zone for a 51-yard touchdown to provide what proved to be the winning score.
• At Indianapolis, he set up the winning field goal at the gun with a 32-yard run-and-catch.
• Against Green Bay, he set up the winning field goal at the gun with a ridiculous toe-tap along the sideline and then one of his many perfectly run patterns — a 14-yard pitch-andcatch with Ben Roethlisberger, who is pretty good in his own right, as is running back Le’Veon Bell.
I haven’t mentioned how much attention Brown attracts on a play-toplay basis and how that makes everyone’s job easier.
Nobody has to tell Brown’s teammates that he is a legit MVP candidate. Ramon Foster mentioned it this week. Mike Hilton did, too, saying, “Personally, I think he is the MVP. If it’s not given to a quarterback, he should be No. 1 on the list.” If you define MVP as the player most valuable to his team, then 15 quarterbacks would qualify, because their teams would crumble without them. Brady and Wentz, on top of pure value, are having transcendent seasons.
But think of the Steelers without Brown. I don’t know where they would be, but I have a feeling the Monday night game in Cincinnati, or certainly the game next weekend against Baltimore, might actually matter in the AFC North Division race. And nobody would be talking about the New England Patriots game just yet, because the Steelers probably wouldn’t be in the conversation for top seed.