Brees Wins Offensive Player of the Year

After completing the best season ever by a Saints QB, Drew Brees was named the league's Offensive Player of the Year today. The award could not have gone to a more deserving player this year.

While early in the season it looked as though Brees could capture the MVP award, the Saints finished 8-8 and out of the playoffs. That caused him to not even receive a vote for the top award, which went to Peyton Manning of the Colts. But Offensive Player of the Year was his award all season long.

Brees threw for 5,069 yards this season and 34 touchdowns with a passer rating of 96.3. He is also a finalist for the FedEx Air Player of the Year, which is voted on by fans.

Congratulations to Drew on a great season.

Lost Season 5: Watch for Spoilers

We're now a little more than two weeks away from the Lost Season 5 premiere event and I can't wait ... which can be a bad thing, since the media were able to screen the first two episodes recently. This means, that there are even more spoilers lurking on the Interwebs. So be careful about which Lost sites you visit because you may end up knowing more than you want to about the upcoming season.

Doc Jensen on EW.com got to see the episodes and he doesn't give away major details in his preview column. But a few sites have gone into more detail and I've had to stop reading halfway through some articles. This NY Post article gives away a little more than I wanted to know, though it remains vague enough for them to get away with it. This TV Guide review is the one I stopped reading about halfway through.

It's tough, but patience will pay off. I already feel like I know too much about the first episodes, but for the most part, I've remained spoiler free and the main things I know are things that could be deduced from the Season 4 finale. I have enjoyed the teasers that ABC has been doing as part of the Dharma Initiative online game that was discontinued, but even those have shown full scenes from the season.

But on Jan. 21, it will all be worth it as Season 5 will kick off and fans will have new questions to ponder as the series winds down. Until then, Namaste.

Tigers win Chick-fil-A Bowl, 38-3

Say what you want about Les Miles, but the guy knows how to get his team ready for a bowl game. Just look at his bowl results at LSU:

• Peach Bowl: LSU 40 Miami 3
• Sugar Bowl: LSU 41 Notre Dame 14
• BCS Championship: LSU 38 Ohio State 24

Add to that the 38-3 beating LSU put on Georgia Tech on Dec. 31 in the Chick-fil-A Bowl and Miles is 4-0 in bowl games with an average margin of victory of more than 28 points. Not bad for a guy is is constantly criticized by his own fans and who, on more than one occassion, has looked to be moving on from LSU.

However, in true LSU fashion, fans can't simply be happy with the bowl victories. They want to know why the team didn't show as much effort all year long, why can Miles get his team ready when there's three weeks to prepare but not week to week, and the ever popular, why wasn't Jordan Jefferson starting all year? Fans will always complain.

There are many factors to why LSU shows up in bowl games. Miles is a good motivator. Some teams will have a let down in a bowl or simply look like they don't want to be there (i.e. Alabama vs. Utah in the Sugar Bowl), but Miles has avoided this. A big factor to LSU's bowl success is the three week layoff itself. The time off between the end of the regular season and the bowl game allows little nicks and other injuries time to heal. There's no time for these injuries to heal during the brutal SEC schedule, so players are playing hurt week to week. In the bowl games, LSU is at its healthiest since the opening game of the season.

So I give my congratulations to the LSU Tigers, the 2008 Chick-fil-A Bowl champions. Sure 8-5 isn't where fans thought this team would finish, but after their bowl victory, 2009 looks a lot more promising than it did a few weeks ago, especially with the announcement today of John Chavis as the new defensive coordinator. LSU fans expect no rebuilding years in the SEC, so its time to reload and go after the conference title again next year.

New Doctor Who: Matt Smith

Matt Smith was named the 11th Doctor this weekend. He'll be taking over the TARDIS for David Tennant in 2010 and at age 26, he'll be the youngest actor ever to play the Doctor. Other than that, I do not know much about him.

I watched the Doctor Who Confidential interview on youtube (see below) and will wait to see what direction he takes the character before forming an opinion. I know there are already people complaining that he's too young and they don't like the choice. But there were also people complaining about Tennant's selection as well and now he's one of the most beloved actors ever to play the part. Oh well, you can't make everyone happy.

I do know that I'm excited to see where Steven Moffat takes the series. He has written some of the best episodes of the new series and with him in charge, the show can go in any direction.

NFL Postseason Awards

I know a few of these have already been named, but here are my picks for NFL postseason awards:

Offensive Rookie of the Year:
Matt Ryan, QB, Atlanta - I have to agree with the voters and give the award to Matt Ryan. There were some great rookie running backs this year -- Chris Johnson, Matt Forte and Steve Slaton, especially -- but quarterback is the media darling every year and Ryan was tops. No offense to Joe Flacco, but Ryan was the cream of the crop of the rookie passers.

Defensive Rookie of the Year:
Jerod Mayo, LB, New England - I also have to agree with the voters here as well. Mayo led the Patriots in tackles with 128, 100 solo. At the draft, this pick seemed to be a little bit of a reach, but now he's the top defender from the '08 class.

Coach of the Year:
Mike Smith, Atlanta - The Falcons were perhaps in the worst situation possible last season, losing Michael Vick and head coach Bobby Petrino. They rebound with an 11-5 record and a playoff berth. Mike Smith did a heck of a job with a rookie QB and no expectations.

Comeback Player of the Year:
Kerry Collins, QB, Tennessee - Kerry Collins was in the trash pile a few years ago. Tennessee snagged him to be the veteran presence for Vince Young. Young went down with an injury early this year and Collins hasn't let go of the starting job since. He led the Titans to the AFC #1 seed in the playoffs and a 13-3 record.

Offensive Player of the Year:
Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans - Drew Brees threatened Dan Marino's passing record this year and came up 16 yards short. His 5,069 yards passing make him only the second player in NFL history with 5,000 passing yards. His 34 touchdown passes tied for the league lead with Phillip Rivers. Brees led the league's #1 offense. Who would be more deserving of this award?

Defensive Player of the Year:
DeMarcus Ware, DE, Dallas - Ware finished the year with 20 sacks and 84 tackles. He tied the NFL record with a sack in 10 straight games this year. Ware looked to be a man among boys as he rushed the passer this year.

Most Valuable Player:
Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota - Peyton Manning is getting the most MVP buzz right now, but he and the Colts looked terrible early in the season. Peterson was solid throughout the year and he is the main reason the Vikings won the NFC North. He led the league in rushing with 1,760 yards and had 10 touchdowns. With the revolving door of Gus Frerotte and Tarvaris Jackson at quarterback, Peterson was the bell cow for Minnesota.

Great season by Drew Brees

Congratulations to Drew Brees on completing the greatest season by a Saints quarterback ever. Unfortunately, in the Saints 33-31 loss to Carolina, Brees fell just 16 yards short of beating Dan Marino's passing yardage record.

Brees finishes 2008 with 5,069 yards passing, becoming only the second player in NFL history with more than 5,000 yards through the air in one season. He also threw for a career high 34 touchdowns. His 17 interceptions were costly this year, but when he is forced to through the ball as much as the Saints did this year, some passing will be picked off.

Its hard to imagine where the Saints would be without Drew Brees. Sure, an 8-8 record and sitting at home for the playoffs isn't great, but this is the Saints we're talking about. The year before Brees arrived, they won 3 games. Saints fans were disappointed with not going to the playoffs again, but with the history of this franchise, 8-8 isn't bad.

The future remains bright for the Saints. They have lots of young talent and Brees is still in his prime. The offseason focus will be on the defensive side of the ball and a few changes should be made on that side.

Another offseason story that fans will follow is the future of Deuce McAllister. Deuce said that he definately wants to play next year and didn't rule out playing with another team if there isn't an opportunity in New Orleans. He wants to stay with the Black and Gold, but money will be a huge factor. Fans would love to keep Deuce, but the NFL is a business and a tough one at that.