This Just In: Darrelle Revis is Awesome, AP is Clueless

…in other news, kittens are cute and water is wet.  I know.  But (with all apologies to CuteSports), how exactly is Charles Woodson Defensive Player of the year?  By a 2 to 1 margin?

You have seen Darrelle Revis play, right?

Yes, I know interceptions and defensive touchdowns are the “flashy” stats, and Woodson had 9 of one and 3 of the other (Revis, by comparison had 6 INT and scored once).  But you know what a defender’s main goal is?  To stop the other team’s offense.  Here’s what some of the league’s star receivers did against Revis this year:

Randy Moss — 9 receptions for 58 yards (2 games)

Andre Johnson — 4 receptions for 35 yards

Terrell Owens — 6 receptions 44 yards (2 games)

Kellen Winslow — 4 receptions 26 yards

Chad Ochocinco — 2 receptions 28 yards (all in the 2nd of their 2 games)

I think it goes without saying none of those gentlemen scored a TD.

Woodson definitely held his opponents’ stats down, too, just not to the degree Revis did (I included their only two common opponents):

Larry Fitzgerald – Regular season 3 receptions, 17 yards, 1 TD   postseason 6 receptions, 82 yards 2 TD

Sidney Rice – 9 receptions 110 yards, 1 TD (2 games)

Kellen Winslow — 4 receptions, 57 yards, 1 TD

Chad Ochocinco — 4 receptions, 91 yards 1 TD

Actually, in the case of those two common opponents, both Winslow and Ochocinco averaged their second highest yards per catch of the season in the games they played against Woodson. Make of that what you will.

I don’t deny Woodson is a great cornerback. But Revis made the leap this season from “better than average” to “nearly unstoppable.” At the very least this should have been a win for Woodson in an excrutiatingly tight vote, not the 2-1 cakewalk it was.

Don’t be sad, Darelle.  GM still loves you!

That’s better.