Our MVPST Is Josh Cribbs

In my mind, there are 3 obvious MVP choices this year in the NFL. Here are ours in order:

Peyton Manning: Curtis Painter nods in agreement
Chris Johnson: The guy is just insane. One of the best seasons ever.
Drew Brees: Fell off toward the end, but after they beat the Pats he was the leading candidate.

While I think Peyton will and deserves to win the award, and other players deserve mentions as well (like Andre Johnson) I think Josh Cribbs deserves some praise for what he did this year. Of course being on the Browns, who had to win 4 in a row to get to 5-11, there is little chance he enters the discussion.

Cribbs had 2,510 all-purpose yards this year, which is 5th all-time and he averaged 14.9 yards per touch, which is 6th all-time. Now let's take into consideration the Browns:

27th in point differential
32nd in yard differential
29th in take-away ratio
29th in points
32nd in yardage gained

Cribbs had over half the yardage the entire team did. He was third on the team in points scored with 36 behind James Harrison and the kicker Phil Dawson. His 6 TDs scored were achieved by 4 different methods: 3 kick-off returns, a punt return, a rushing TD, and a receiving TD. The 2 return TDs had against Kansas City broke the NFL career record. He also recovered 2 fumbles on defense. There is also the calculation that cannot me measured in stats which is his ability to make teams give the Browns good field position. Of course, with Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson's performances this year they often did nothing with it. Cribbs was even asked to come in and run a version of the wildcat. He played in every game,even after taking a monster hit at the end of the Ravens Monday night game.

This is where the Bears missed the boat on Devin Hester in my opinion. This is how you utilize someone with explosive speed and return vision. So while Cribbs will not hoist the hardware(he did make the Pro Bowl however) in a few weeks or even be in the voting, he gets our Most Valuable Player on a Shitty Team Award. Since this blog is not lucrative we have little to offer Josh, so a 'atta boy' will have to do.