Throw away the 9 interceptions he had then, right?





And it was supposed to be more gooder, not more better, d'oh!

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Jesus Christ, I didn't say that and you KNOW I didn't. You have a wonderful capacity for misconstruing people's words sometimes.

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The latest discussion hovered around my claim that Clay is not a top 5 3-4 OLB. So naturally you'd compare the sacks because they are most accurate stat to measure players of that position.

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Of course you compare stats. But focusing on just sacks as a determinant of most valuable player, which is what some people seemed to be doing, makes no sense to me. A player could lead the league in sacks and not be the DPOY if, for example, he was a sack specialist who did little else. Whereas, like I said, Charles Woodson didn't lead the league in any one statistical category (other than TD returns), yet his overall impact was obvious to everyone. Similarly, even when he was injured, opposing defensive coordinators had to account for Matthews every game. That says a lot.

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I said Wake is better than CM3 because he has more sacks and TfL than him, and Suggs is better because he's the best run stopping 3-4 OLB in the league. And I'm talking solely sacks here?

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While you can debate how well CM3 matches up to past DPOY winners, you have to compare him to his competition from this season. (Polamolu, Wake, Harrison, Peppers, Revis)

For me, these awards must take into account a few things:
1. How well the team did.
2. The players stats.
3. What the team would be like if that player was gone.

With these in mind, I can't say that any other player deserved it more.

The Packers finished with a good record and a great defense (that removes Cameron Wake from the discussion).

If you look at stats alone. You can safely remove Harrison (10.5 sacks) and Peppers (8 sacks)from the ballot.

If you look at the value that the player had the team, The Steelers D allowed 14pts a game in the games that Polamolu played in and 12.5 in the 2 games he missed (granted 1 game was against the abysmal Panthers). Revis had down year, and the Jets D did not crumble in the games he missed (they won all 3, allowing an average of 22 pts.

When you look at Clay's importance to the Packers, it becomes more evident. He was injured early against Washington. The Packers lose that game by 3pts, the lose the next week against Miami by 3 pts, both games in overtime. The Packers D get 1 sack during the time that CM3 misses and, if anyone remembers those games, our pass rush was non-existent.

So basically, I can think of no player who deserves this award more than Clay. GO PACKERS!

Superb analysis. You expressed what I was trying to drive at, only far better than I possibly could have. +1

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So Wake is better at getting sacks and Suggs is better at run stopping, but Clay is high in the discussion for both sacks and stopping the run. That makes me wonder if he's in the discussion for both, how is he not tops?

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Wake gets more sacks and more TfL than Matthews, so he is better at rushing the QB and run defense. Though Wake is not as good in run defense as his 12 TfL suggest (top 3 in the league), he is still very good.

Suggs is nearly as good a sacker as CM3, but much better in run defense.

I'm not saying CM3 is a LOT worse than them, I'm just saying that if I had to pick which player was better I'd edge toward Suggs or Wake. Maybe when CM3 has a chance to play a full season healthy he'll change my mind.

While millertime's post is very informative, this isn't defensive MVP, it's DPOY so I don't think a team's record has a lot to do with deciding the winner. It's like saying Rodgers wasn't good in '08 because our team was only 6-10.

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I wonder why Ed Reed is not in the mix? 8 interceptions in 10 games played.... Seems to me that he should at least be in the discussion.

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