Peter King Midseason Awards -- Lots of love for the Saints (1 Viewer)

[Pepper]

could someone post the Saints related excerpts? SI.com is blocked out here at work by the firewall...

 

[longtime lurker]

If there was ever a typo to laugh at.........

lmao!!!!

 

[guillermo]

Mickey Loomis certainly deserves Excecutive of the year, to me reason enough is the couple of trades he made on draft weekend that got Jeff Faine and Hollis Thomas here. All without giving up any draft picks.

Two solid starters without losing draft picks is something you do not hear on the NFL.

Besides that:

1) He hired who may be the Coach of the Year
2) Signed the Comeback player of the year, and candidate for MVP
3) He got the most solid draft class in the NFL

The man really got in one year what many won't get during their whole careers.

 

[shrike3000]

could someone post the Saints related excerpts? SI.com is blocked out here at work by the firewall...

MVP

1. Drew Brees, quarterback, New Orleans; 2. Peyton Manning, quarterback, Indianapolis; 3. Larry Johnson, running back, Kansas City. I realize it's heresy to not pick Manning as MVP, and he'd probably run away with it, and maybe he should. There is nothing I can say or write to diminish what Manning has done for an 8-0 team. He has been brilliant in every way, in every game. I pick Brees, however, because he has been the single most important figure in picking the Saints up by their bootstraps, against incalculable odds. Brees embraced the Herculean on-field task of making the Saints competitive again, and he embraced the off-field task of doing whatever a player can do in making a city feel like a city again. He's on pace for a 4,406-yard passing season, which would be 836 yards more than he ever threw for in San Diego, and he has done this less than a year after undergoing surgery to repair the torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. The Saints are 6-2, in first place in a division in which everyone thought they were a lock to finish last. Brees, and the Saints, will need a precipitous drop to lose my MVP vote.

Offensive Rookie

1. Marques Colston, wide receiver, New Orleans; 2. Marcus McNeill, left tackle, San Diego; 3. Jahri Evans, right guard, New Orleans. What? No Reggie Bush? Not with a 2.6-yards-per-carry average. Colston, the third-to-last pick in the draft, wins over the No. 2 pick. That's what 700 yards and a league-high seven touchdown catches (tied with Torry Holt) does. McNeill and Evans, eight-game starters without high profiles, have been superb for two of the top six scoring offenses.


Coach

1. Sean Payton, New Orleans; 2. Mike Holmgren, Seattle; 3. Herman Edwards, Kansas City. Edwards lost his quarterback in a Week 1 debacle and found his offensive personality in Johnson the last three games. No good team has lost more players than Seattle since the end of the last season (Steve Hutchinson in free-agency, Shaun Alexander for five games, Matt Hasselbeck for two) and stayed as competitive as the Seahawks have. But this is Payton's half-season. The Saints were 53 zombies at the end of last season, and rightfully so. He laid out a blueprint in the offseason to make them competitive, and now they're a playoff contender.


Executive

1. Mickey Loomis, general manager, New Orleans; 2. Charlie Casserly, CBS Sports (formerly Houston's GM). 3. Scott Pioli, Before being ushered politely into the TV world, Casserly had his best draft as a GM: Williams and Ryans are playing great on defense, and two second-day draft picks are starting on offense, including tight end Owen Daniels, who has as many TD catches as any other tight end (five). The Patriots get media-whipped for their player losses every year, particularly this season with the Adam Vinatieri and Deion Branch defections, and here they sit at 6-2, eighth in scoring offense, fourth in scoring defense -- and with an extra first-round pick next April from the Branch trade ... as if the Patriots need a draft-day advantage.

But Loomis and his scouting staff came up with an incredible catch last April. What other playoff contender has had two seventh-rounders start by midseason? New Orleans has had Colston starting all season, and Zach Strief started at left tackle on Sunday and shut out Simeon Rice in Tampa. If safety Roman Harper and defensive end Rob Ninkovich hadn't been hurt in the first half, this would be one of the most productive drafts ever in regards to immediate results.