The Football Diner Big Top 5
Most Unlikely MVP Candidates
by Jody Jamieson
3/10/2008
 
The NFL, and the AFC in particular, seems a little upside down at the moment. Buffalo, Tennessee and Denver lead their respective divisions, Indianapolis are under .500 and the Chargers needed a late comeback against the Oakland Raiders just to get to .500. With the way the season has gone thus far, it's easy to focus on what has gone wrong thus far for those respective favourites, but Top Fives is a happy place, and this week we look at those who are outperforming their billing, as today we look at 5 of the most unlikely MVP candidates. Sure, it's not likely one of these 5 will get the MVP award come January, but these guys are big parts of their teams success, and probably weren't anywhere near the top of your list a month ago. If they can lead their respective teams to the post season then you never know.
 
5. Kurt Warner
 
Warner didn't do himself or the Arizona Cardinals any favours this weekend with a nightmare performance against the Jets at the Meadowlands. Warner may have passed for over 450 yards and a couple of touchdowns, but was responsible for 6 turnovers which ultimately cost them the game in a wild one. Warner has had a good start to the year and while the Cardinals have dropped back to 2-2 after winning their first two games, they're still nicely placed in a rather weak division. With Seattle struggling, the Rams being dreadful, and the Niners being a team in transition, despite a steady start, then the Division is there to be won if they can step up. When you lose 56 points it can be nailed down to your defense on some days, but when turnovers are giving the opposition a short field then this is not always the case.
 
While the Cardinals desperately try to get Matt Leinart to be their guy, Leinart shows no signs of being ready to run the offense, and Kurt Warner shows no signs of slowing down. Warner had a really good year last year
 
4. Brandon Marshall
 
Jay Cutler's favourite target had an interesting off season. How many of you guys have crashed through your TV doing anything, never mind wrestling with your brother. The fact that the full story came out was incredible as I wouldn't want the world to know I was wrestling, and I slipped on a McDonalds wrapper and smashed through a television set, meaning I couldn't do a job I'm paid millions to do for the next 4 months.
 
But if you can look past the foolishness, there is no doubt that Marshall is becoming one of the premier wide receivers in the NFL right now, and while the Denver Broncos can't play defense, their offense is scoring enough points to make it interesting. Denver are 3-1 despite the defense being all over the place, which is a testament to a nice running game, a really good young quarterback and a pair of excellent wideouts in Marshall and rookie Eddie Royal, who has made the transition very well. If the broncos do make the playoffs most of the focus will be on Jay Cutler. Even if they don't make it though you can almost guarantee that providing he doing have another WWE moment, Marshall will catch 100 passes, and probably make the Pro Bowl.
 
3. Jake Delhomme
 
Tommy John surgery has become rather controversial in America right now, moreso in baseball. Young kids are trying to get the surgery as it is supposed to be able to make you pitch even faster than you did pre-surgery. In football however it's another pitfall of a physical game that can leave you battered and bruised. Delhomme missed 14 games last year and no-one thought he would be at 100% to start this season, such is the severity of the rehab process with such a procedure. Delhomme has come back firing bullets, and despite Steve Smith's 2 week suspension to start the year, Delhomme was able to lead his team to two wins, including a last second win in San Diego.
 
Carolina were a popular dark horse pick in the off-season, but realistically they weren't supposed to be 3-1 at this time, with the schedule they had and with Smith's suspension. Delhomme has been the breath of fresh air that David Carr and Vinny Testaverde weren't last year and continues to show that NFL Europe could develop quarterbacks. With the Saints still being quite inconsistent, and Tampa Bay being good, but not great, then the Panthers have a great chance to win the South.
 
2. Michael Turner
 
We all knew Michael Turner could run the ball. We saw signs of it when he spelled LaDanian Tomlinson in San Diego. What we weren't sure of was whether he could carry the ball 20 times a game and not lose any of his power or speed. In exactly 20 carries against the admittedly hapless Lions, Turner took it 220 yards. He hasn't slowed down any either and leads the NFL in rushing through the first 4 weeks. The best thing Turner is doing is making things slightly easier when the Falcons ask rookie quarterback Matt Ryan to pass.
 
The Falcons were really tipped to struggle this year, and while they still might, they are 2-2 and looking ok. Certainly they look like they can score points. With Matt Ryan showing good poise and giving the Falcons a decent passing game, and Turner running the ball effectively, this combination could spark their offense into winning enough games to be competitive in the NFC South.
 
1. Kerry Collins
 
Off the field it has really been a tough few weeks for the Titans with the Vince Young situation. On the field it's been a completely different story as they roll over all comers and sit 4-0 at the top of the AFC South. We all knew they could play defense, but with question marks over Young and his receiving core, and an unknown quantity joining LenDale White in the backfield, you wondered if they could score enough points to be competitive.
 
Enter Kerry Collins. When Young got injured in Week 1 and Collins stepped in you know he could still play, but you wondered what he would really bring to the table. So far it's been so good that Young will be back on the bench when he's fully fit as Collins is on fire. He's been a steadying influence for an offense that has misfired at times over the past couple of years. Collins has been around the block long enough, and has had a pretty good career. He led the Giants to Super Bowl XXXV before it all went wrong against the great Ravens defense. Collins has proved since he came in that he's the best thing for this team at the moment, and with the AFC South absolutely up for grabs, he's got a chance to take the Titans back to the play-offs. If he keeps up his level of play maybe he'll get some MVP votes. It would certainly be a great story.
 
Random Thoughts
 
So after all the whining and finger pointing in Jet land, Broadway Brett comes out after a rough Monday night in San Diego to absolutely destroy the Arizona Cardinals. As I touched on earlier, short fields always help an offense, but you've still got to put the ball in the Endzone, and a few hours later, the Eagles showed with short field after turnovers that wasn't a given. Favre did what he never did in Green Bay and threw for 6 touchdowns in the game and the maddeningly inconsistent Jets are 2-2. If this is Favre finally getting comfortable with the system then maybe this team can go onto big things after all the hype.
 
Joe Flacco is one of those quarterbacks that you just enjoy watching. Sure, he's raw, and he will make mistakes, but I love his poise in the pocket. I like his ability to keep the play alive, and boy do I love his arm. Flacco does have the type of throwing arm you just fall in love with. It's dangerous as another guy who had that type of arm was Jeff George and things never went particularly well for him, but for the moment Flacco is great to watch. A nice kid in a tough situation who has done a good job is the type of guy you root for.
 
The most relived man in Dallas on Sunday had to be Washington Redskins center Casey Rabach. If you didn't see the game Rabach commited two penalties in quick succession to take touchdowns off the board, before the Skins eventually settled for a field goal. A Portis touchdown run was wiped off on a hold, and a great play by Jason Campbell pass to Antwaan Randle El was taken off as Rabach was illegally downfield. It's one of those things you can laugh about when it all works out in the end, but I'll bet he was the happiest man in that locker room after a rough series could have cost his team the game.
 
And Finally...
 
Staying with the Redskins, I had almost written them off after their laughable showing against the Giants in Week 1. They looked awful, they looked indisciplined, and they looked like they'd rather be somewhere else. A couple of nice wins against the Saints and Cardinals at home made you wonder. The Cowboys on the road was going to be a real test for them and rookie head coach Jim Zorn, and they passed with flying colours. They played defense pretty well and stifled a tough Cowboys team. Shawn Springs in particular shut Terrell Owens down in the first half. Despite the one dimensional offense which was geared almost entirely to Owens (which is another issue for another day, but it seems TO's selfishness is about to undermine the Cowboys) Springs was left almost exclusively in single coverage against Owens and did a fantastic job.
 
However the real story is on offense where you have to tip your hat to Zorn. Jason Campbell seems to be thriving in that offense right now, and the one thing that impressed me the most about the performance was the play calling, as they had the Cowboys off balance all day. They weren't scared to give the ball to Portis and let him take it into space when the situation almost demanded a pass, and they reaped the benefits. Zorn is guiding that ship in the right direction, which you wouldn't have thought three weeks ago. Hats off to him.