When all the games in the final week of the regular season came to an end, there was a wave of praise from both inside and outside the league.
Lu Ke's performance this season is not inferior even to the peak seasons of the four elite quarterbacks, whether it is the brilliant record of winning 16 games or the highest quarterback rating in history of 124.5; whether it is four times Winning the honor of the National League Offensive Player of the Week, and still dominating the quarterback data, all of them are enough to occupy a place in the long history.
The season has just ended, and the discussion about the regular season MVP is already off the charts!
In addition to Lu Ke, Peyton Manning, who returned from injury this season, delivered top performance, Aaron Rodgers, who performed at his peak for the second consecutive season, and Matt Ryan, who completed the best performance of his career. They will all be strong contenders for the season's Most Valuable Player.
Then there's Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. This top running back was selected to the Pro Bowl in his rookie season in 2007. After four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and four consecutive Pro Bowl selections, he fell into a trough in 2011 and missed all relevant honors for the first time. This year Rebounded strongly and created its own history——
Adrian Peterson became the second running back since Earl Campbell in the 1980 season to advance at least 150 yards in seven consecutive games; at the same time, he was hit or tackled by a defensive player. After the physical contact, Adrian still advanced a full 1,019 yards, which is also the best record in history.
Once again, he ran for 2,097 yards in a single season, which was only eight yards away from the highest single-season running record of 2,105 yards set by Eric Dickerson in the 1984 season. Unfortunately, he ranked second; however, Adrian's The result was created in 348 runs with the ball. On average, each run can advance six yards, which is staggering.
Seattle Seahawks Marshawn Lynch's "Beast Mode" is famous, but Beast Mode needs to shine, and sometimes it doesn't work; and Adrian has proved that he is a stable and strong performance in sixteen games throughout the season. The current No. 1 seed among the best running backs in the league.
By the way, Adrian is close to setting a historical record in Eric Dixon's last game of the regular season, but he needs to complete 208 yards, which is even more difficult than Lu Ke's five touchdowns. , and finally faced a powerful sniper from the rival Green Bay Packers in the same district. Although the Vikings won the game, the Packers extinguished Adrick's hope of making history.
Does all this sound familiar? It can be seen that the season-ending games of the National League West and National League North are full of sparks and tension!
If nothing else, the 2012 regular season MVP will be born among the above five players, and Lu Ke and Adrian are undoubtedly the biggest competitors.
The most surprising thing is that among the four elite quarterbacks, Drew Brees has yet to win the regular season MVP. In the MVP selection, he lost to Payton in the 2009 Super Bowl winning season. -Manning, in his peak season last year, he met the more powerful Aaron Rodgers. This is also a small regret in Brees' career so far.
As an aside, in 1986, New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor won the MVP of the season. It was the last time that a non-quarterback or non-running back player in the league was elected the most valuable player of the regular season. In the twenty-five years since then, all regular season MVPs have been won by quarterbacks and running backs.
Among them, the quarterback won twenty times and the running back won seven times. However, two years have ended in a tie. The first time was in 1997, when Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre and Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders tied. The second time was in 2003, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair.
Since 2007, quarterbacks have won the regular season MVP five times in a row, all won by the four elite quarterbacks, Manning twice, Brady twice, and Rodgers once. Judging from the current momentum, Lu Ke Ye still has a huge advantage. The only question is——
Lu Ke is only a sophomore this year. Is he too young? Does Adrian Peterson, entering his sixth year in the league, deserve more recognition? Is Drew Brees, who once again had an excellent season, more suitable than Lu Ke? After all, Lu Ke is still young and is only in his second season. The long-term future is still ahead. He still has a chance, right?
Historically, it is not that young players have won the regular season MVP. The award was established in 1957, and in the first season of 1957, Cleveland Browns rookie running back Jim Brown won the award. This award was awarded twice in a row the following year and in 1965.
In addition, when Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton won the regular season MVP in 1977, Houston Oilers running back Earl Campbell in 1979, and Miami Dolphins' Dan Marino won the regular season MVP in 1984, they were all second-tier players. Grade students.
Of course, there is also Kurt Warner who can never be forgotten. When he won the regular season MVP in 1999, it was his second season, but it was the first official season, writing a wonderful fairy tale for Cinderella.
In other words, even including Kurt Warner, there are only five players in history who can win the regular season MVP in their sophomore season; and except for Warner, all of them were in the distant 1980s. before. So, what will happen this year? Can Lu Ke still make history?
All the answers will be revealed during Pro Bowl Weekend!
For now, the most important thing is the wild card game that is about to start in a week.
After seventeen weeks of fighting and fighting, all the playoff spots for the 2012 season have been settled.
American League.
AFC West champion, Denver Broncos, 13 wins and 3 losses, top seed.
AFC East champion, New England Patriots, twelve wins and four losses, second seed.
AFC South champion, Houston Texans, twelve wins and four losses, third seed.
AFC North champion, Baltimore Ravens, 6 wins out of 10, fourth seed.
Two wild card teams.
Second in the American League South, the Indianapolis Colts, with 11 wins and five losses, are the fifth seed.
Second in the American League North, the Cincinnati Bengals, with six wins and six losses in ten, are the sixth seed.
Overall, the American League still shows a stable attitude. The four division champions are basically familiar faces. The only slightly immature Houston Texans have also entered the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
The biggest surprise came from the fall of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers, who were plagued by injuries this season, only achieved a record of eight wins and eight losses. They missed the playoffs again after 2009. Of course, the 2012 season in the American League North was a roller coaster. The Ravens and Tigers in the same division as the Steelers were also riding a roller coaster, thrilling all the way to the end, and their overall performance was the worst among the four major divisions in the American League.
The American League East and American League South are still the same. The surprise comes from the recovery of the Indianapolis Colts. Although Andrew Luck's performance is unsatisfactory, the overall strength of the Colts is still there, and they quickly changed from Peyton Mann to Ning recovered from his injuries. He still held the No. 1 pick last season and made it back to the playoffs this season.
Looking back at the overall situation, the only difference between the American League playoff spots in the 2012 season and the 2011 season is that the Indianapolis Colts replaced the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In fact, overall, the main members of the strong team camp and the weak team camp have not changed. Even the Colts and Steelers have not changed much——
The former ranked last last year and has risen this year. The main reason is Peyton Manning's injury. After the quarterback was re-selected in the draft, he immediately returned to the previous year's posture; the latter was the fifth seed in the American League last year and is ranked seventh in the American League this year. Although they missed the playoff spot by two wins, they still have an absolute advantage over other weak teams.
Weak teams such as the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Buffalo Bills are still weak teams and have not been able to cause too much trouble and turmoil.
In fact, even the winning and losing records are almost the same, with only small fluctuations.
This is why people always say that American League games lack excitement and suspense.
What is worth mentioning in the American League this season is not the playoff team, but the No. 1 pick winner, the Kansas Chiefs. This is undoubtedly the biggest surprise of the season.
During the offseason, San Francisco 49ers' former No. 1 draft pick quarterback Alex Smith moved to the Kansas City Chiefs. This was one of the blockbuster trades second only to Peyton Manning.
You know, in the American League West in the 2011 season, the Denver Broncos entered the playoffs with a record of eight wins and eight losses, while the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders also had eight wins and eight losses, and the Kansas Chiefs, who were at the bottom of the division, had seven wins and nine losses. . Everyone says this is a rookie fight, but for them, the playoffs are just around the corner.
Manning joins the Broncos and Alex joins the Chiefs. Naturally, the changes in the NFC West are worth looking forward to.
But unfortunately, Alex suffered serious injuries this season - mainly due to the unsatisfactory pocket protection of the offensive line. Therefore, he suffered a concussion, a right leg injury and a shoulder injury, although they were not in the season. The serious injury was reimbursed, but the entire season still became intermittent and fragmented, which also completely disrupted the team's rhythm of the game.
What's more, the overall situation of the Kansas City Chiefs in recent years has been worrying, and this year they have fallen to the bottom in a cliff-like manner.
With two wins and 14 losses, the Kansas Chiefs truly touched the bottom of the abyss and won the No. 1 pick in the 2013 draft.
But people's eyes always stay on the winner, and no one cares about the loneliness of the loser. Even Peyton Manning was ignored after his injury, and Alex Smith was no exception. Unless Alex can be like Manning and emerge from injury again, his career will fall into a quagmire——
When Manning chose the Denver Broncos, everyone said it was a gamble; Alex chose the Kansas Chiefs, so why not?
