Breaking it Down - 2011 Award Winners
Andy Lopusnak
Tuesday July 26, 2011
Guess the league lost my address with all my moves crisscrossing the country as I've still not received a ballot for the end of the season awards and All-Arena teams like I did in 2008 and last year. Nonetheless, here's the Breaking it Down version of the AFL awards and All-Arena teams.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER - Nick Davila, Arizona QB
I have a sneaking suspicion that the league will give this to Aaron Garcia, but Davila was outstanding on the league's best team week-in and week-out. Davila tied the AFL single-season mark with 117 passing touchdowns, while leading the league in passer rating and having the least amount of interceptions of any player that started at least ten games. As for Garcia, he did have 18 more passing yards than Davila, but also had seven more interceptions on a team that was not as dominate as the Rattlers in 2011.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR - Tommy Grady, Utah QB
Despite missing the last four and a half games of the season, Utah gunslinger Tommy Grady was the best offensive weapon in the league. He was on pace to obliterate league record for total touchdowns, passing touchdowns and passing yards before suffering an injury in Week 16. Even without playing those four-plus games, Grady finished the year third in passing touchdowns (107). His nine games with 300 or more yards passing were the most in the league this season.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR - Michaeux Robinson, Jacksonville DB
Robinson shattered the league record for pass breakups (50). He had nearly double the number of pass breakups of the next closest player. Robinson also finished third in the league in interceptions (eleven) and total tackles (113.5). He anchored a defensive unit that league allowed a league-low 40.7 percent of its fourth downs.
IRONMAN OF THE YEAR - Lonnell DeWalt, Pittsburgh WR/LB
On page seven of the league's 2011 Record & Fact Book, it defines "ironman" as "participants playing both offense and defense." The AFL has forgotten this in its weekly awards by giving this once most-honored honor to players that don't play both offense and defense. Yes, the term ironman has lost its luster since free substitution was established in 2007. Again for the second straight year, Breaking it Down is saddened by the lack of true ironmen in this league. It sickens me to give this to someone that averaged less than three catches and 30 yards per game; but Pittsburgh's WR/LB Lonnell DeWalt is the closest thing to an ironman the league saw this year. DeWalt caught 45 balls for 489 yards with 21 touchdowns and caught two 2-point conversions on offense. On defense, he posted 53.0 stops, four interceptions (one returned for a TD), four pass breakups, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble. DeWalt's numbers were far superior to those of last year's AFL Ironman (DeJuan Alfonzo: catches in just four of 16 games and no receiving TDs until the last game of the season), who without question statistically was the weakest Ironman of the Year winner in the league's history. FYI, if the league gives this to DeWalt, he would be the first Ironman of the Year recipient to not be named to an All-Arena team.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR – Vic Hall, Chicago DB
Hall played just 13 games and set league marks interceptions (15 which was broken in Week 20 by Orlando's Rayshaun Kizer) interception return yards (222 - also topped by Kizer in Week 20). He was averaging 8.4 tackles per game when he was hurt - that average led the league. Hall's 24 pass breakups were the fourth most in the league. There are a lot of other worthy rookies like Hall's Rush teammate WR/KR Reggie Gray and Dallas FB Derrick Ross that had All-Arena seasons, but for Hall to do what he did in just 13 games in an offense dominated league was unbelievable.
KICKER OF THE YEAR - Carlos Martinez, Georgia Kicker
Martinez led the league in scoring (146) and extra point percentage (91.1). He finished second in field goal percentage (61.1).
BREAKOUT PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Tim Cheatwood, Cleveland MLB
If this award is meant for someone that played last year and had a breakout this season, then there's a bunch of guys that had big improvements from 2010 to 2011 like Jacksonville's Jomo Wilson, San Jose's Chad Cook, Chicago's Johnnie Kirton and Arizona's Virgil Gray. However, the improvement of Gladiators MLB Tim Cheatwood was astonishing. In 2010, he had one sack and one forced fumble. This season he finished tied for the league lead in sacks (12.5) and forced four fumbles. Cheatwood also posted an interception, recovered four fumbles (one returned for a touchdown) and had a safety.
OFFENSIVE LINEMAN OF THE YEAR - Mark Lewis, San Jose OL/TE
Lewis started all 18 games for the injury-prone SaberCats. Despite playing center in seven and a half games, Lewis lead the AFL in receiving yards (167) and yards per catch (15.2) by an offensive lineman on eleven catches with four touchdowns. He was called for just two holding penalties all year long. Lewis also was on the field for every field goal, extra point and kickoff the entire year.
DEFENSIVE LINEMAN OF THE YEAR – Read more for answer
Since the best say five non-defensive backs in the game are MLBs, I don’t think the league should give out this award. Tampa Bay’s Cliff Dukes, Cleveland’s Tim Cheatwood and Dallas’ Dusty Bear are all primarily linebackers that occasionally played and started on the line. Those three players led the league in sacks. Jacksonville’s Derrick Summers finished tied with Bear for third in sacks and if the league gives this to a true linemen, then it should go to Summers. If the league lumps in the three MLBs because they played some games on the line then it should go to Dukes, who lead the league in sacks every single week of the season.
RECEIVER OF THE YEAR - Jesse Schmidt, Iowa WR
Schmidt lead the league in scoring (334), touchdowns scored (55) and receiving touchdowns (55). All three of those rank as the second most in AFL single-season history. His 168 receptions and 2,171 receiving yards were second in the league. Schmidt was the only player in the league to have two separate games with six or more touchdowns scored, including his seven-TD performance against Chicago on April 16. His 13 games with 100 or more receiving yards tied for the most in the league. This game is all about touchdowns and Schmidt had six more receiving scores than any other receiver this year.
COACH OF THE YEAR - Kevin Guy, Arizona
The Rattlers dominated games this season. They set an AFL record with 16 wins in the regular season and their two losses were each by a single point with the game decided in the final second. Guy's Rattlers finished second in the league in scoring offense and scoring defense (1st place scored just three more total points). Even the special teams unit was superb finishing with the best average yards per return on kickoffs and had the most combined kick returns (KO, MFG) for touchdowns in the league. Arizona posted an unbelievable +34 turnover differential (next closest team was at +20) and also led the league in third-down conversions 62.0% - next closest team had 52.4%).
ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR - Matt Sauk, Utah Asst. Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator
Last year, Sauk was the offensive coordinator of the ArenaBowl champion Shock and this year he took over one of the worst offensive units in AFL history (the 2010 Blaze were dead last in almost every offensive category). This year, Sauk's offensive unit set an AFL record for passing touchdowns tossed. Utah finished second in total offensive touchdowns, total offensive yards, passing yards, as well as third in passer rating and total points scored. The Blaze's 60.1 points per game is the highest of any non-playoff team in league history thanks largely to its defense giving up a league record 1,117 points on the year.
2011 BREAKING IT DOWN ALL-ARENA TEAM
My All-Arena team is a bit different from the league's version as they lump all offensive linemen as a whole and the same with the defensive linemen. This All-Arena team specifies a center, a tight end and a nose tackle. I hope the league will start doing this in the future. If you honor a mack and jack linebacker, then you should do the same thing for the center, tight end and nose tackle positions.
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POSITION
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FIRST TEAM
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SECOND TEAM
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QB
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Nick Davila, Arizona
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Aaron Garcia, Jacksonville
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FB
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Derrick Ross, Dallas
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Chad Cook, San Jose
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WR
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Rod Windsor, Arizona
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Tiger Jones, Dallas
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WR
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Jesse Schmidt, Iowa
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Maurice Purify, Georgia
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WR
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Donovan Morgan, Philadelphia
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Reggie Gray, Chicago
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OL/TE
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Mark Lewis, San Jose
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Jason Boone, Utah
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CENTER
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Randy Degg, Jacksonville
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Brennen Carvalho, Arizona
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OL
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Devin Clark, Arizona
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Chris Johnson, Dallas
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DB
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Michaeux Robinson, Jacksonville
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Andre Jones, Milwaukee
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DB
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Rayshaun Kizer, Orlando
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J.C. Neal, Tulsa
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DB
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Vic Hall, Chicago
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Virgil Gray, Arizona
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JLB
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Marlon Moye-Moore, Orlando
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Kelvin Morris, Chicago
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MLB
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Cliff Dukes, Tampa Bay
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Tim Cheatwood, Cleveland
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DL
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Bryan Robinson, Kansas City
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Tyre Glasper, Arizona
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NT
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Tim McGill, Tampa Bay
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Mark Weivoda, Chicago
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DL
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Derrick Summers, Jacksonville
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Caesar Rayford, Utah
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KICKER
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Carlos Martinez, Georgia
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Taylor Rowan, Spokane
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RETURNER
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Virgil Gray, Arizona
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P.J. Berry, New Orleans
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Agree? Disagree? Please post your comments on the ArenaFan message board.
Andy Lopusnak is an 11-year AFL front office veteran, spending time with the Tampa Bay Storm, San Diego Riptide and Grand Rapids Rampage. He works as a statistician for NFL and college sports for CBS Sports and is a freelance photographer. Lopusnak received two Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of South Florida and has been a fan of ArenaBall since its inception.
