Upon Further Review - Week 9 in the NFL (Part 1)

Well my ears are still seriously ringing from the Modest Mouse concert last night - which is throwing off my equilibrium - which is making typing a little more difficult than normal. So if there are more typos today than normal, that's what I'm blaming it on. But suffice it to say that if you weren't there last night, you missed out in a big way.

While I have a couple of quiet minutes here I thought I would put together a little mid-season NFL review - even if it is a week or so late. My plan is to look back at my pre-season predictions and see how they stack up so far. I'll start with the award winners and then I'll go through the individual teams.

NFL MVP: My prediction was Tom Brady... and I gotta say, I'm feeling pretty good about that pick right now. Through 9 games Brady has thrown for almost 2,700 yards, 33 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. Right now, this is a mortal lock... but trust me, the prediction weren't all this good.

Offensive Player of the Year: My prediction was Anquan Boldin... and in my defence - who knew that Matt Leinart would A) be a really bad quarterback and B) get hurt, thus ushering in the Kurt Warner Era 2.0 - plus Boldin has been hurt this season as well. Right now this could be Tom Brady or Randy Moss... but my darkhorse pick is Adrian Peterson (that's the Minnesota Adrian Peterson - not the Chicago one).

Defensive Player of the Year: My prediction was DeMarcus Ware... and while he's having a nice season with 7 sacks and 42 tackles so far - unless he has a monster second half, he's probably not going to get the nod. But I'm hard pressed to think who should win this award. How about this - Jared Allen of the Kansas City Chiefs. He is half a sack off the league lead with 8.5, plus he has 2 forced fumbles and 29 tackles. And he's been able to do this despite missing the first 2 games of the year because of a suspension. (Editor's Note: It just came to me who should win this award - Indy's Bob Sanders. He flys all over the field and pretty much single-handedly makes that defence viable)

Offensive Rookie of the Year: My prediction was Adrian Peterson... and might I say - boo ya! This is a slam dunk, mortal lock. My prediction was based on one run in the pre-season against the Jets and he hasn't disappointed so far. Peterson is like a monster reincarnation of Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker - he's fast and runs low, hard and angry.

Defensive Rookie of the Year: My prediction was Patrick Willis... and I guess I should just add another boo ya! Not only is Willis the leading rookie tackler - he's the top tackler in the league with 83. Of course San Francisco's defence is always on the field - so that helps with the tackles number. Willis also has one sack and one interception.

Comeback Player of the Year: My prediction was Donovan McNabb... and like the man said, sometime you eat the bar and sometimes the bar, well, he eats you. It's not like McNabb has had a really bad season - he just hasn't had a good season. He's got 9 touchdown passes to 4 interceptions - that looks ok until you remember that he had 4 touchdown passes in one game against Detroit. Ask any McNabb fantasy owner how they feel about him and their reaction will sum up how his season has gone so far. So who is it going to be you are asking yourself? Well now with Larry Johnson gone for the year, if Priest Holmes plays well down the stretch he's got a good shot.

The First Annual Shaun Alexander Anti-Comeback Player of the Year Award: Ok, so I didn't predict this one in the preseason because I just made it up - but of course the winner is the man the award is named after. I know that Alexander has been banged up all season but I've never seen someone run so tentatively in my life. I've also never seen a player get booed by his home fans with such venom... well, a player outside of New York anyway.

Coach of the Year: My prediction was Mike Nolan... and you can put that one straight into the NO column. The 49ers are terrible and it's pretty clear that Norv Turner is not only killing the San Diego Chargers but his departure as offensive co-ordinator in San Francisco is killing the 49ers as well. As much as I hate Cleveland - right now my pick would be Romeo Crennel. Or possibly Jeff Fischer in Tennessee.

First Coach to Be Fired: My prediction was Tom Coughlin... and that's a no. There are so many bad teams that you can pretty much take your pick in this category: Scott Linehan, Cam Cameron, Eric Mangini, John Fox (although he probably gets a pass because of the injury to Jake Delhomme). And even some big names could be on the hot seat: Lovie Smith, Andy Reid, Brian Billick, Mike Shannahan, Norv Turner. But it's got to be Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati, right? I thought he was supposed to be a defensive guy. They are a terrible team.

Biggest 1st Round Draft Bust: My prediction was Ted Ginn Jr. in Miami... and that looks pretty solid so far. He's got 7 receptions and 1 touchdown - but those 7 receptions have gone for 141 yards. Should we count JaMarcus Russell in this category? Probably not just yet eh. But how bad are the Raider quarterbacks going to have to play for Russell to get into a game this year. I know he missed all of camp and some of the season but surely by the end of the year they've got to give him a look.

Well that was pretty much it for my predictions and I don't think I did too bad. I'm no smooth talking Emmitt Smith but hey - I try my best.