NFL Alumni 2010 Awards; does Bill Parcells show bias to his former teams?
Granted these are relatively minor awards; in fact I don't recall of ever hearing about them before. But the format is rather interesting; Bill Parcells chose three finalists in each of eleven categories, and then any retired NFL player could vote.
Several of the three finalists listed by Parcells were rather interesting - in some cases not so much by who was included, but by who was excluded. Here is a link to his nominees:
NFL Alumni Names Finalists for 2010 Player of the Year Awards
Most notable to any fan of New England that only one person from the Patriots organization was nominated by Parcells: Tom Brady at QB.
- Bill Belichick did not get nominated for Coach of the Year; Todd Haley, Lovie Smith and Mike Smith did.
- Tom Brady was not nominated for Player of the Year; Parcells' choices were Clay Matthews, Troy Polamalu and Philip Rivers.
- Vince Wilfork did not get nominated at DL, but Buffalo's Kyle Williams did.
- Jerod Mayo did not get nominated at LB, but Patrick Willis did.
The Patriots were not alone among former organizations that Parcells worked with that he may have snubbed. For example neither Darrelle Revis nor Devin McCourty were nominted at DB, but Parcells did include former Pat Asante Samuel, as well as Tampa Bay's Aqib Talib. In fact Parcells nominated more Miami personnel (Jake Long and Cameron Wake) than he did from any of his previous employers; there was one each from the Pats (Brady), Jets (Dustin Keller), and Cowboys (Jason Witten), and none from the Giants.
Below is a link to the winning nominees - which include Rivers over Brady at QB. It's tough to say whether or not this is an accurate picture of how retired NFL players assessed the performance of these individuals in 2010 because there is no mention anywhere on how many former players voted.
NFL Alumni Names Winners of 2010 Player of the Year Awards
Some more discussion on the nominees as well as the winners from the world wide leader:
Bill Parcells provides his list of elite players - AFC East Blog - ESPN
NFL alumni pick Rivers over Brady - AFC East Blog - ESPN
