Chiefs' Final Wrap-up

I spent so much of my time over the past few weeks wrapping up the Chiefs' 2006 season. It's about time that I put the final nail in that coffin. Here is my overview of the good, the bad, and the ugly for the Chiefs last season.

Offensive player of the year:
Larry Johnson. Raise your hand if you're surprised by that choice.

Defensive player of the year:
Tamba Hali. You know what pisses me off about the sports media? They have become so obsessed with fantasy football that they are now blindly choosing award winners by paper statistical achievements. Tamba Hali should have been neck-and-neck with Demeco Ryans for Defensive Rookie of the Year; instead, Hali did not even crack the top 4 in the voting. I absolutely cannot believe there are voters out there who actually think Mark Anderson was a better defensive end than Tamba Hali. First, Hali lines up to two career backup defensive tackles; Anderson lines up with Tommie Harris and Tank Johnson, one of the most lethal tandems in the NFL. Anderson is a pure pass rusher; Hali is an every-down lineman. Anderson's outstanding 12 sacks were only marginally better than Hali's very good 8.5 sacks, but Hali's 58 tackles far surpass Anderson's 28. Tamba, you deserved better than that.

Biggest disappointment
The big uglies up front becoming... just ugly. Jordan Black was better than expected, but he was still lousy. The problem is, the rest of the offensive line was just as bad.Special Teams player of the year:
Dustin Colquitt was simply outstanding. Bernard Pollard comes in a close second. The rest... ouch. Dante Hall went from being the "human joystick" to being the "human Atari." Lawrence Tynes was a good kicker, if punching yourself in the stomach repeatedly is your thing.

Greatest play of the year:
Block punts are such a rarity. I'm hard-pressed to think of the last time before the 2006 season that the Chiefs blocked a punt and recovered it for a touchdown. The fact that Bernard Pollard managed to block 3 punts in one season is beyond words. His blocked punt and touchdown against Jacksonville may have very well put the Chiefs into the playoffs.

Greatest steal:
A young, unknown defensive back out of UCLA that is drafted in the 7th round, chooses football over baseball, then becomes an impact player. Congratulations, Jarrad Page. I absolutely cannot wait to see what you can do as you become even better with each passing game.

Greatest success story:
Damon Huard. He went from being a career backup to being practically a household name.