Troy Polamalu wins NFL Defensive Player of the Year award

Last night the NFL announced that Troy Polamalu, the safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers, won the Defensive Player of the Year award, edging out his Super Bowl opponent Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers. It's no surprise that the two defensive stars in the league will be facing off in the championship. Both these players have raised the level of play of the players around them and either would have been a worthy pick for the award. The rest of the NFL awards will be announced throughout the week leading up to the big game Sunday. Here's the way I see it going down...

MVP: Aaron Rodgers

Rodgers has his team in the Super Bowl and, despite a rash of injuries throughout the year, has been able to keep the offense potent. Rodgers threw for 3,922 yards with 28 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions this year for the Pack. Most importantly though Rodgers has gotten hot when it matters most, late in the year and in the post-season. The Packers quarterback won two must win games to get into the playoffs against two very good teams in weeks 16 and 17. An eye-opening destruction of the New York Giants by the score of 45-17, in which Rodgers threw for over 400 yards, and a gutty 10-3 win over the Bears in week 17. He then went into Philadelphia and bested Mike Vick, threw for 360+ yards in a decisive win over the #1 seeded Atlanta falcons in the Georgia Dome, and still had enough gas in the tank to beat the Bears at Soldier Field to clinch the NFC.

Runner up: Tom Brady

If Tom Brady hadn't choked and lost to the Jets in the playoffs, he'd probably be the MVP. I know we're only supposed to take the regular season into account when picking the MVP, but I think that's rubbish. Rodgers was more clutch and won when it counted. He's the MVP in my eyes.

Coach of the year: Mike McCarthy

Sticking with the Packers theme; I think Mike McCarthy is worthy of the Coach of the Year award. Don't be fooled by the Packers' #6 seed. They were hit by a slew of injuries in the early weeks of the season, many to starting players. In week 1, starting veteran running back Ryan Grant, a huge part of the teams' offensive gameplan, was put on injured reserve (ending his season) after breaking his ankle. A few weeks later Jermichael Finley, their budding sophmore tight end and Rodgers' go-to target in a pinch, was lost for the year as well with a knee injury. The list goes on and on as the injuries continued to pile up; other key players to go down were safety Morgan Burnett, linebackers Nick Barnett, Brandon Chillar and Brady Poppinga. In total, the Packers lost a mind-boggling 16 players to season ending injuries, as well as dealing with the normal nicks and bruises of the NFL grind. Rodgers missed a game, veteran receiver Donald Driver also missed multiple games. Somehow, through all this, Mike McCarthy was able to stay competitive and deliver wins week in and week out. His bench players stepped up, played well, and stayed focused throughout the setbacks.

Runner up: Todd Haley

Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley did an amazing job leading his team to a 10-6 record. Despite bowing out in the opening round of the playoffs to the Ravens, the Chiefs had a very good season. The Chiefs won only four games in 2009 and some were speculating that Haley may be replaced. Haley was able to balance the workload of his backfield successfully as the Chiefs had the #1 rushing attack in the NFL this season. Matt Cassell's exceptional play also reflects favorably on Haley, who stuck with him despite a rough 2009 campaign with the team.

Offensive rookie of the year: Sam Bradford

Last year's #1 overall pick in the draft earned instant credibility in my mind. Any player who can immediately go into St. Louis and turn things around from the way they had been going for the last few years is okay in my book. The team's 7-9 record in 2010 may not look too impressive, but if you consider that the team could only muster six wins in their previous three seasons, then you can start to see how Bradford had affected things. Not much else has changed either, although an improving defense was a boon to Bradford's success, the offense remained mostly the same. Once Bradford was inserted, he made good decisions and some clutch throws. The result was wins and a near playoff berth. He's my vote for Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Runner up: Mike Williams

The young Buccaneer wideout was spectacular in his debut season, catching nearly 1,000 yards worth of passes and scoring 11 TDs. Considered a raw talent that needed to be groomed over a few years when he was drafted last year, Williams came into training camp on fire and looked much more mature than originally thought. He was one of the hottest players in the preseason and was able to keep that momentum going into the regular season, as he scored TDs in first two NFL games. He quickly became the go-to guy for Josh Freeman. Seeing as both these guys are very young, it's going to be exciting to see what they can do as a combo in the coming seasons for the improving Bucs. And with Freeman's cannon arm and Williams' speed and size, the sky is the limit.

Defensive rookie of the year: Ndamukong Suh

Ndamukong Suh, the overall #2 pick in last April's draft, recorded 10 sacks and generally wreaked havoc on opposing quarterbacks all season. The rookie defensive tackle was voted into the pro-bowl. Suh is a soft spoken guy and a hard worker, and considering he is only going to get better, things are looking at least slightly brighter for Detroit Lions fans.

Runner up: Devin McCourty

The Pats rookie cornerback ended the season with 89 combined tackles and seven interceptions. The seven interceptions was best among NFL rookies and second only to superstar Ed Reed, who had eight. Like Suh, McCourty played in the Pro Bowl last week and considering he was happy to just make the team in September, it's safe to say McCourty had an amazing rookie season.

Comeback player of the year: Mike Vick

For me, this is the story of the year. The return from arrest for dog-fighting, public humiliation and a lengthy jail stint to NFL superstar wasn't a seamless one. Vick looked rockyin 2009 when he took the field and was only a shell of the QB he was in Atlanta pre-jailtime. But after an injury to Eagles' starting QB Kevin Kolb in week one this year, Vick took flight once again. The guy won our hearts back with his ridiculous arm, his lightning quick reactions and his legs. My love for Vick is well documented. The guy is once again the most dynamic player in the league.

Runner up: Brandon Lloyd

I don't think anyone would have predicted that a guy who caught eight passes for a paltry 177 yards in 2009 would be this beastly. Lloyd returned to relevancy to the tune of 1,448 yards on 77 catches and 11 TDs. The 1,448 yards was the best in the NFL for any receiver. Credit recently canned Broncos coach Josh McDaniel's passing prowess for the improvement. Lloyd had never caught more than 48 balls before and had never received for more than 733 yards, both of which he did way back in 2005 for the 49ers. Doubling those totals was quite impressive and it will be interesting to see how he does next season without McDaniels.