NFL: Green Bay quarterback Rodgers wins third MVP award

TAMPA -- Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers was named NFL's Most Valuable Player for a third time on Saturday after a stellar 2020 campaign in which he led the Packers to a league-best 13-3 regular-season record.

Seeded first in the NFC, the Rodgers and the Packers missed out on a Super Bowl berth when they fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC championship game.

Rodgers, 37, had perhaps the best season of his 16-year career, leading the NFL with 48 touchdown passes and a completion rate of 70.7%. He threw just five interceptions all season.

Rodgers joins a short list of three-time winners that features Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and his own former Green Bay teammate, Brett Favre.

"The guys on that list are guys I grew up watching, idolizing," said Rodgers, who also won the award in 2011 and 2014. "To join that list of guys who've won it more than twice is pretty special.

"To have won it in my fourth year as a starter was very special, and now to win it in my 13th year as a starter, in a new offense, is pretty amazing and something I'm really proud of," Rodgers said.

The NFL announced its season-ending awards in a televised ceremony on Saturday night as part of the festivities surrounding Sunday's Super Bowl 55 in Tampa.

Tom Brady and the Buccaneers will be taking on Patrick Mahomes and his reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.

Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald scooped his third Defensive Player of the Year award in four seasons.

Donald was the best defensive player on the Rams' top-ranked defense in 2020.

He generated a league-high 76 quarterback pressures, including in playoff games, with 13 1/2 quarterback sacks.

The 29-year-old's 85.5 career sacks rank third-most in a player's first seven seasons since the NFL began tracking individual sacks in 1982.

He's just the third player ever to win three Defensive Player of the Year awards, joining J.J. Watt and Lawrence Taylor.

Washington Football Team quarterback Alex Smith was named Comeback Player of the Year, making his first appearance in a game in week five since November 18, 2018, when a grisly right leg injury ended his season and threatened his career.

Smith, who endured a severe infection and 17 surgeries, played eight games and went 5-1 as a starter to help Washington make the playoffs for the first time since 2015.

He missed the first-round game against Tampa Bay with a calf injury.

He finished with 1,582 passing yards with six touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Coach of the Year honors went to Cleveland's Kevin Stefanski, who guided the Browns to their first playoff win in 25 years in his first season at the helm.

Stefanski garnered half of the 50 votes, with Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott earning seven.

Stefanski's Browns posted their first 11-win season since 1994 -- the last time Cleveland won a playoff game.

His offensive system allowed third-year quarterback Baker Mayfield to flourish, and helped make the Browns the league's third-best offense in the red zone.

Agence France-Presse

Eagles QB Wentz out for season with torn ACL

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz has a torn ACL in his left knee and will miss the remainder of the season and playoffs, coach Doug Pederson announced Monday.

The 24-year-old Wentz, who was expected to be an NFL MVP candidate this season, underwent an MRI on Monday morning after suffering the knee injury in Sunday's 43-35 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.

It usually takes a player six to nine months to recover from the required surgery.

Wentz was injured when he took a big hit on a third-quarter touchdown run that was called back because of a penalty. He came up limping after absorbing multiple hits on the run but stayed in the game and threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery four plays later to give the Eagles the lead.

Wentz was 23-of-41 passing for 291 yards and four touchdowns with one interception before leaving the game.


Nick Foles replaced Wentz on the next drive for the Eagles (11-2), who clinched the NFC East title with Sunday's victory at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for their first division title since 2013.

Foles, who was 6 of 10 for 42 yards after coming into the game, will now be the starting quarterback.

"The reason we went out and got Nick Foles are for reasons like this," Pederson told reporters in his press conference Monday. "I hate it for Carson, and the season he's having."

With his four touchdowns passes Sunday, Wentz now has 33 to move past Sonny Jurgensen for the most TDs in a single season in franchise history, a record that stood since 1961. Wentz completed 60.2 percent of his passes for 3,296 yards with just seven interceptions in 13 games this season.

The Eagles next face the New York Giants this Sunday before a Christmas Day game against the Oakland Raiders and a season finale against the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 31.

"I'm absolutely ready," Foles said after Sunday's game. "That's what I'm here for."

(Posted by Steve Keating in Toronto)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Newton crowned season MVP, Favre into Hall of Fame

SAN FRANCISCO -- Cam Newton was crowned the National Football League's Most Valuable Player here Saturday as the Carolina Panthers quarterback warmed up for the Super Bowl with two honors on the sport's annual awards night.

Newton, who had been the runaway favorite to scoop the MVP award after a record-breaking season which saw him pass for 35 touchdowns and rush for 10 more, also won the offensive player of the year award.

The 26-year-old signal-caller's father Cecil was on hand to collect the honors on behalf of his son before a star-studded audience at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in downtown San Francisco.

Newton's rivals for the MVP award were New England Patriots veteran Tom Brady and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer.


Television comedian Conan O'Brien launched the evening with a jab at the movie industry's Academy Awards, which has been reeling from accusations of institutional racism after no black actor received a nomination.

"Winning an NFL honor is like winning an Oscar -- if the Oscars nominated black people," O'Brien quipped. There was more glory for Carolina Panthers with head coach Ron Rivera winning the coach of the year award.

Rivera masterminded a 17-1 campaign for the Panthers to guide them into Sunday's Super Bowl against the Denver Broncos.

Houston Texans star J.J. Watt was named defensive player of the year while Jameis Winston of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was named rookie of the year.

Like Newton, Rivera did not attend the ceremony as he prepares his team to face Denver.

Meanwhile the awards saw confirmation of the latest batch of players to be admitted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The eight-strong class of 2016 was headed by Green Bay Packers legend Brett Favre, the three-time MVP winner who held the all-time passing yardage record until it was surpassed by Peyton Manning this season.

There was also a poignant confirmation for late Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler, who died of colon cancer last July.

Stabler's entry came just days after researchers revealed the man known as "The Snake" during flamboyant playing career in the 1970s had been suffering from the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) before his death.

Other NFL figures to enter the Hall of Fame included owner Edward DeBartolo, coach Tony Dungy, defensive end Kevin Greene, wide receiver Marvin Harrison, tackle Orlando Pace and guard Dick Stanfel.

However there was no place for the often polarizing figure of Terrell Owens, a six-time Pro Bowl selection who played 15 seasons in the NFL which included stints at the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys.

"Unfortunately I did not make it," Owens wrote on Twitter after his snub. "CONGRATS to the 2016 HOF CLASS. Thanks to ALL MY FANS for ur unwavering love & support. #ONLYGODCANJUDGEME."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com