AFL Team of the Mid-Year...2015

As of round 12, we're about halfway through the "home-and-away" schedule, and both afl.com.au AND the Age have put out their mid-season Top 22's - so let's all compare notes, shall we? Following Football is also going to share where our records have each player listed in the year-long Player Of The Year voting, so we can have our own say, so nyeah! :)

Consensus first team choices:

Alex Rance (Richmond) – back (32 points, 79th place)                                       

Michael Hurley (Essendon) – back (70, 11th)                                 

Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn) – half-back (72,10th)

Dan Hannebury (Sydney) – centre (111,2nd)                                      

Matt Priddis (West Coast) – centre (88, 4th)                                 

David Armitage (St. Kilda) – centre (88, 4th)                             

Todd Goldstein (North) - ruckman (88, 4th)

Nat Fyfe (Fremantle) – ruck-rover (195, 1st)

Dylan Shiel (GWS) - rover (92, 3rd)

Scott Pendlebury (Coll) – half-forward (80,7th) 

Lance Franklin (Sydney) – half-forward (79, 8th)

Luke Parker (Sydney) – half-forward (66,14th)

Mentioned on both sets of ballots:

Tom McDonald (Melbourne) – back (58,24th)                                    

Matt Boyd (Western) – back (41, 53rd)

Jamie Elliot (Coll) – half-forward  (37, 65th)                   

Andrew Gaff (West Coast) – centre (62, 20th)

Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle) – ruck (35, 68th)

First Team on one ballot or the other:

Heath Shaw (GWS) – back (13, dnp)                                               

Harry Taylor (Geelong) – half-back (42, 50th)                            

Corey Enright (Geelong) – half-back (54, 30th)

Jarrad McVeigh (Sydney) – half-back (59, 22nd)

Bachar Houli (Richmond) – half-back (37, 65th)                           

Lachie Neale (Fremantle) - rover (53, 32nd)

Robbie Gray (Port Adelaide) – h-forward (69, 12th)

Top Twenty vote getters on the FF ballot NOT listed above:

Patrick Dangerfield (Adelaide) - 73 points, 9th place

Dustin Martin (Richfield) - 67, 13th

Luke Hodge (Hawthorn) - 66, 14th

Bernie Vince (Melbourne) - 65, 16th

Eddie Betts (Adelaide) - 64, 17th

Jack Stevens (St. Kilda) - 64, 17th

Trent Cotchin (Richmond) - 63, 19th

It's worth remembering as you look at this list that offense always gets more accolades than defense does, and the backs and half-backs simply aren't going to get the numbers of votes overall that the ball-handlers in the middle and the scorers up front get. But to watch Alex Rance as a tagger, or Bachar Houli and Corey Enright knock away marks, or Harry Taylor clear out a contest and start the ball the other way is at least as important, maybe more so, than anything done up front. There's no denying, though, the beauty of what's going on in the middle - all of the top six vote getters at the moment sit in the Unanimous section above, and all work the center of the field: Nat Fyfe (of course), Dan Hannebury, Matt Priddis, David Armitage, Todd Goldstein, and Dylan Shiel, with numbers seven and eight unanimous half-forward selections year-in, year-out (Scott Pendlebury and Buddy Franklin). 

The 4th annual NFL Honors were tonight...

...and it was interesting to watch the NFL try to do Hollywood... 

Seth Meyers did a great job...to the Boston native's credit, he spent a good chunk of the monologue skewering BallGhazi, or DeFlateGate, or whatever else we call it...

JJ Watt is apparently either a demi-god or was being softened up not to get the MVP award...although he did become the first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year...

Thomas Davis made me cry just a little bit when he won the Walter Payton Man of the Year award...

Aaron Rodgers had one of the better lines of the night telling Peyton Manning that his quad looked pretty good and he should come back already...Rodgers won the MVP but came up second best to Davis for the Man of the Year...

None of the Patriots or Seahawks were there, or allowed to be there (it seemed). Rob Gronkowski won Comeback of the Year, and his four brothers and mother accepted for him. Two of the brothers took credit for his toughness by beating upon him throughout his childhood...

Odelle Beckham Jr. got lots of credit for The Catch... but Larry Fitzgerald earned the first ever Art Rooney Sportsman of the Year, deservedly so...

Arizona Cardinals' coach Bruce Arians earned his second Coach of the Year honors, and DeMarco Murray of the Cowboys was Offensive Player of the Year.

Finally, to see Jim Kelly get a standing O from the NFL fraternity before introducing the eight member Hall of Fame class of 2015 was touching. Then, the most touched member of an obviously elated crowd of electees was veteran Vikings' lineman Mick Tinglehoff, who was selected by the veterans' committee and was almost overwhelmed by the moment. Also elected were 'contributors' Ron Wolf and Bill Polian, along with five other players: Jerome Bettis, Will Shields, Tim Brown, Charles Haley, and the late great Junior Seau, a recent suicide from concussion trauma, who was represented by his two sons (who are the spitting image of him!). 

Bill Simmons and Aussie Rules Football

This question happened to show up in Bill Simmons' NFL Predictions column Friday in Grantland - the "Best Ball" method of his was described in last week's column, and its essentials are explained adequately herein...

Q: Saw your “Best Ball” idea for the NBA. Did you know that Australian Rules Football uses that exact process to determine their MVP? After each game the referees vote for 1st, 2nd and 3rd most influential player in the game. The player with the most total points (3 for 1st, 2 for 2nd, 1 for 3rd) over the season wins the Brownlow Medal (the defacto MVP). Votes are sealed after every game, so the Brownlow is announced live at a postseason Red Carpet event with all the players there. This creates an ESPYs-esque unintentional comedy factor, in addition to a phenomenal gambling opportunity. Who wouldn’t want to get in on some amazing Robin Lopez +/- 1.5 NBA Best Balls action? Anyway, Aussie Rules Football is the best sport on earth, and I’m 100% all-in on the NBA Best Balls concept.
—David E., Chicago

BS: Proving yet again that Australians are the coolest people on the planet. I’m still waiting for my first moment when I say to myself, “I wish Australia weren’t there.” Australia is like the Robert Horry or Philip Baker Hall of continents — it just makes everything it touches a little bit better. Well, except for tennis majors. I still think the Australian Open needs a gimmick that’s better than, “Our court is blue, we’re not on grass or clay, and we’re not in New York.” I vote for cheering/booing during play in all Australian Open matches. And the tennis community has to look the other way with PED use for those two weeks — as opposed to the other 50 weeks, when the tennis community still looks away. Don’t get me started.

The first ever FOLLOWING FOOTBALL NFL All-League TEAM!

We're going to take a shot at this All-League team business (since everyone else does!). Unlike MOST such endeavors, we're trying something that sounds simply ridiculous on the surface...we refused to name our team until the regular season ENDS! None of this "2 games to go" stuff for us! It's All-League for the 2014 SEASON...and the season didn't end until Sunday! (We have similar semantic complaints for not calling it the "first annual"...it's not annual until we do it again next year!)  Please understand, this goes against our anti-fantasy football mindset...but there are indeed certain players that stand out above their peers.

Okay, so, here goes!

Quarterback: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay.
   As much as we love Peyton around here, Rodgers has yet to throw an interception in Wisconsin this year! Only one of his interceptions (out of a whopping five) was arguably his fault: four of the five hit his receiver's hands first. He has done more with less for years, this year no exception.
Running Backs: DeMarco Murray, Dallas / Marshawn Lynch, Seattle
  It's the year of the DeMarco - we would've liked to see him hit 2000, but in a pass-happy league, 1900? is a pretty amazing feat! As for Marshawn, anyone who won't put up with the insufferability of the press is cool with us! After the back breaking run against Arizona in week 16, it was hard to give it to anyone else.
Wideouts: Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh / Dez Bryant, Dallas
   Brown led all receivers by something like twenty catches in 2014, but even so he never looked as dominant as Bryant looked on occasion, especially against the poor overmatched Colts secondary a couple weeks back. (Although his last game against the Bengals looked DANGED impressive...)
Tight End: Rob Gronkowski, New England
   Hard not to give it to one of the old guard; Antonio Gates, for example, or Vernon Davis.. But Gronk has been too critical to the Patriots' success this year. He leads all tight ends in yardage by a wide margin, and is tied for total catches with 82. 
Offensive Line: Dallas Cowboys
   This should absolutely be a team unit award. Following Football recognizes the unit which works together the most effectively, and no unit was as good as the Cowboys, especially during the first half of the year.

Defensive Tackle: Ndamukong Suh, Detroit / Terrence Knighton, Denver
   We know it would be easier to pick more DEs and call them all front liners, but the DT is just as crucial to the success of the defense, if not as spectacular. Suh really is that spectacular, though, when he's behaving himself  (unlike Sunday) and not costing his team penalty yards or himself fine money. Knighton has clogged up the middle for the deceptively good Bronco D all year.
Defensive End: JJ Watt, Houston / Calais Campbell, Arizona
   Watt has been insanely spectacular this year. He led the league in just about every category - sack yardage, QB hits, blah, blah, blah... - besides catching passes, running back both a fumble and an interception, selling popcorn at halftime, and God only knows what else. Bill Simmons once said that the only thing that could've made his season any better is throwing a touchdown pass...and that's coming. The Arizona Cardinals have had one of the great defenses all season, and Campbell is one of the primary reasons why. Our other choices here, Mario Williams in Buffalo and Cameron Wake in Miami, would have been just as qualified: Campbell's recognition is as much for Arizona's defense as a team as for his own talents on the field.
Linebackers: Luke Kuechly, Carolina / Justin Houston, Kansas City / DeAndre Levy, Detroit
  Kuechly never heard the rule about not supposing to be as big a numbers guy in the pros as in the ACC. Houston merely set the Chiefs record for sacks, leading the league with 22 (beating even Watt this year, and the second highest all time!). Levy played solidly all season, and particularly towards the end of the year.
Safeties: Earl Thomas, Seattle / Patrick Peterson, Arizona
   All right, technically Peterson is probably a cornerback, but what we love about his game is his ability to hit as well as cover, not to mention his kick return talents, and so we're getting him on our field one way or another. Thomas, however, is a pure safety who's as good as they get, year after year.
Cornerbacks: Richard Sherman, Seattle / Darrell Revis, New England
   Rarely have two such defenders existed the same season, where no sane QB throws to their side regardless of which favorite receiver of his is running patterns with that DB. But neither Sherman nor Revis were successfully challenged all season, really.

Placekicker: Matt Bryant, Atlanta
   Perfect on extra points, 28 of 31 on field goals with all three misses past 50 yards long (and he made seven of those, the most in the league), and a complete kicker. 
Punter: Sam Koch, Baltimore
   Second in gross average, his inside 20s/touchback ratio of 9 to 1 is outstanding, and very few returners actually ran back punts (and rarely for distance, averaging less than seven YPR).
Return specialist: Darren Sproles, Philadelphia.
   It's tempting to give Devon Hester a career-achievement award here, but he didn't have the year Sproles did in his new home in Philly, where he almost single-handedly kept them afloat when the offense struggled this year.
Head coach: Pete Carroll, Seattle
   What the former USC escapee has done in Seattle is downright amazing: defense AND offense are clicking, and the sheer ability to avoid the usual post-Super Bowl deflation (the major cause of the slow start this year was injuries, not SBD) needs to be recognized!

Notable exclusions: QB - Tom Brady, New England; Russell Wilson, Seattle; Tony Romo, Dallas; Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh. RB - LeVeon Bell, Pittsburgh; Arian Foster, Houston; LeSean McCoy, Philadelphia; CJ Anderson, Denver; Jamaal Charles, Kansas City. WR -  AJ Green, Cincinnati; Odelle Beckham, Jr., NY Giants; Julio Jones, Atlanta. TE - Julius Thomas, Denver; Jimmy Graham, New Orleans. OL - Seattle; DE - Mario Williams, Buffalo; Cameron Wake, Miami, DeMarcus Ware, Denver. LB - LaVonte David, Tampa Bay. S - Charles Woodson, Oakland; Glover Quin, Detroit. CB - Aqib Talib, Denver; Vontae Davis, Indianapolis. PK - Adam Viniteri, Indianapolis; HC - Bill Belechick, New England, Bruce Arians, Arizona; Jim Caldwell, Detroit.

TOTAL Recognitions by team: SEATTLE, 4 (6 counting exclusions), DALLAS, 3 (4 counting exclusions), NEW ENGLAND 2 (4), DETROIT 2 (4), ARIZONA 2 (3), DENVER 1 (5), PITTSBURGH 1 (3), PHILADELPHIA 1 (2), ATLANTA 1 (2), HOUSTON 1 (2), KANSAS CITY 1 (2), BALTIMORE 1 (1), GREEN BAY 1 (1), CAROLINA 1 (1), INDIANAPOLIS 0 (2), CINCINNATI 0 (1), BUFFALO 0 (1), TAMPA BAY 0 (1), NY GIANTS 0 (1), NEW ORLEANS 0 (1), MIAMI 0 (1), OAKLAND 0 (1). None from NY Jets, Cleveland, Tennessee, Jacksonville, Washington, San Francisco, St. Louis, Minnesota, Chicago, or San Diego (although it killed us to leave Rivers off).