Elite Company in a Meaningless Category (or perhaps not?)
In team games, individual awards don’t mean much. Ask Alex Rodriguez.But, its worth noting that the NFL has issued 12 individual awards so far this year in the American Football Conference anyway:
9 for players of the week, and 3 for players of the month of September.
Of these 12, the Jets have claimed 3: Chad Pennington was AFC Offensive player of the week in week one, Kerry Rhodes was AFC Defensive player of the week in week 3, and Laveranues Coles was just today announced as AFC Offensive Player of the Month.
Coles has been Chad’s favorite target, racking up 24 catches for 331 yards and a 13.8 average YPC. He already has 2 100+ yard games, and is on pace for 128 catches, 1765 yards, and 5 TD.
It’s also worth noting that two other teams in the AFC have claimed 3 of these awards: Indianapolis and Baltimore. Buffalo, Cincinnati, and Jacksonville each have one.
Am I suggesting we’re anywhere near as good as these two teams? Of course not. That’s why they play the games.
But I think its important to note that Mangini and company promised to put our limited number of “playmakers” in position to make plays, and thus far they have kept their promise.
