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2007 Mid-Season Studs and Duds

By Michael Bean

By BigBlueShoe from StampedeBlue

Hard to believe, but we are now halfway into the 2007 NFL season, and just like last year, the SB Nation football writers have made their picks on the Mid-Season Studs and Duds of 2007. The categories are the same as last year, and like last year the writers could add in their own selections for best and worst. The criteria for the categories was for the writers to look at Weeks One through nine cumulatively and make a judgment on who was great and who sucked harder than Kim Kardashian in the alley behind an LA night club. So, for example, while Drew Brees has played well the last three weeks, from Weeks One to Five, he really, really stunk. His cumulative play from Weeks One to Nine made him a nominee in the Worst Player category.

Also, many writers made it clear that while Patriots coach Bill Belichick is 9-0, his getting caught cheating after Week One tainted his legitimacy. Therefore, it was requested he be left off the Best Coach nominee list. Of course, that didn't stop writers like Kirkendall and TheSportsGuru from writing in his name anyway. Some added Belichick into the Worst Coach list. Shockingly, they were writers who cover AFC East teams (cough*cough*Matty I from Phinsider*cough*cough). All that said, here are the 2007 NFL Mid-Season Studs and Duds, presented by the football writers of SB Nation:

NFL Mid-Season Awards:

The Studs:

NFL MVP: Tom Brady, New England Patriots

Offensive Player: Tom Brady, New England Patriots

Defensive Player: Osi Umenyiora, New York Giants

Head Coach: Mike McCarthy, Green Bay Packers

Rookie: Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings


The Duds:

Worst Player: Marc Bulger, St. Louis Rams

Worst Coach: Scott Linehan, St. Louis Rams

Worst Rookie: tie between Green Bays' Justin Harrell and Miami's Ted Ginn Jr.

As always, the writers chimed in with their thoughts about some of the players they voted for:

JasonB over at Bleeding Green Nation didn't think Usi Umenyiora deserved the same kind of defensive accolades others did:

I think Barret Ruud(league leader in tackles), Trent Cole(leauge leader in sacks), & Sean Taylor(leauge leader in INTs) deserve mention. Especially Taylor who is on a winning team and has been consistently good. Let's face it, 6 of Umenyoria's 8 sacks came in one game... one, terrible, game...
As you can see, JasonB still has the shakes from witnessing Osi sack his team's QB a record 6 times in one game. Somewhere, ETVal is still smiling about that game. TheSportsGuru thought the entire Rams roster deserved a spot on the Worst Player category:
Anyone on the St. Louis Rams - At least the Dolphins have no talent...
VanRam continues to shake his head and wonder what went wrong. Brandon over at Acme Packing Company stood up for his boy, Justin Harrell:
[Justin] hasn't done much, but he's got some stuff working against him. He missed most of last season and is still probably recovering somewhat from his torn labrum no matter what he says. Plus he's fighting for playing time at a deep defensive tackle position where the Packers are legitimately seven deep.
And finally, BrianG at Buffalo Rumblings offered one of the more interesting comments on the MVP and Best Offensive Player:
MVP: Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis Colts

- Peyton is doing his best Tom Brady impression this season, winning games despite a rookie LT, missing his favorite wideout and injuries in his backfield.  The difference: Manning has a personality, and a non-evil coach.


Off. Player: Tom Brady, QB, New England

- Brady is doing his best Peyton Manning impression this season, throwing touchdowns at a record-setting pace with his shiny new offensive weapons.  The difference: most of those touchdowns are coming in garbage time as the Pats mercilessly run up the score in their vendetta against the league.  Plus, Brady's just a tool - see his arm rub-down at the end of games.

As you can see, love and respect runs a plenty in the AFC East. Thanks to all SB Nation football writers that voted. We will do another Studs and Duds at the end of the regular season.

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