Georgia Football: Sony Michel the Real Rookie of the Year

Former Georgia Football running back, Sony Michel is a Super Bowl champion. The rookie put together an impressive season. Despite his success, he had on the field this season, Michel got snubbed by the NFL.

The New England Patriots won Super Bowl 53 against the Los Angeles Rams on February 3, 13-3. A primarily defensive ballgame included a few field goals and one touchdown.

Sony Michel scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter giving the Patriots a 10-3 lead. The rookie running back also ran for 26-yards and a first down which set up the Patriots last field goal of the game.

He ran 18 times for 94 yards and one touchdown averaging 5.2 yards a touch. Not many rookies can put up those numbers in the biggest game of football, much less a veteran back.

Since January 13, Michel has toted the rock 71 times for 336 yards and six touchdowns. He averages 4.7 yards a carry.

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Despite running for over a thousand yards on the season, Michel wasn’t one of the finalists for the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year. Even Nick Chubb was a finalist.

Instead, Saquon Barkley, who plays for the New York Giants won the award over Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Barkley takes the Rookie title

Barkley won the 2018 AP Offensive Rookie of the Year on February 2. I get why he is the winner as well. However, I don’t think the panel got it right.

Like Michel, he played in 16 games, carried the ball 261 times for 1,307 yards averaging 5.0 yards a touch and scoring 11 touchdowns. He also caught 91 balls for 721 yards and four scores.

I’m not going to pretend like that isn’t impressive because it is impressive.

Barkley carried the Giants offense on his shoulders, broke records and a lot of people believed he earned the Rookie of the Year title.

However, there are only minimal differences between Michel and Barkley’s rookie seasons. The receiving numbers for one and from scrimmage rushing yards is the other.

Barkley was one of the best rookies in the NFL, but I don’t think he deserved to win Rookie of the Year. He is a natural playmaker that can turn nothing into something.

The Giants had no one else to help him, so of course, he had impressive numbers. However, something he didn’t do was help lead his team to a Super Bowl win.

If rookie of the year goes to the best rookie, then every game that player participates in should be taken into consideration.

For that to happen, the rules must change. Voting shouldn’t occur until after the Super Bowl when there are no games left for a player to make his case.

Time for Changes in NFL  Voting System

Currently, the NFL hosts the ‘NFL Honors’ on the eve of the Super Bowl.   At these awards, the Associated Press has eight awards it announces.

According to an article on AP Insights,  a cross country media panel of 50 picks the winners. These media members cover the NFL regularly and do all of the votings.

A majority of the voters are the same each year. Troy Aikman, Chris Collinsworth, Tony Dungy, and Herm Edwards are four of the more well-known voters.

None of the panel members work for the NFL Network and are independent of the league itself.

This panel only looks at what players did during the regular season. I searched as to why the regular season is the only thing used with these awards. The article from AP Insights didn’t give any knowledge as to why this is.

I found an article from Mike Florio from 2011 with his opinion being the NFL needed to improve this voting process. However, this article still doesn’t take into consideration postseason play.

So what happens if a rookie, like Michel, is in the playoffs, makes a deep run and ends up in the Super Bowl? Why do those players get left out of contention they are stilling building their season resumes?

My Proposal for Voting changes

Every single game should be a consideration for player of the year awards.

Regardless of if a team makes it to the playoffs, loses or wins in the Super Bowl, if the season’s still going, the stats should count.

I can see why this appears unfair because not every single player participates in the postseason because not every team can make it.

However, if these awards go to the right guys each year, then wouldn’t that put them on some of the better teams? Shouldn’t what a player does in the playoffs, especially if he helps his team go to the Super Bowl be something taken into consideration?

Yes, they should.

If a player is essential to a team’s success and has been all season long, why should that significance be shut off when the postseason comes around?

They shouldn’t. I have seen players have tremendous playoff games, but never win one of these awards. To me not counting these games make the awards unfair.

These awards are supposed to go to the best offensive and defensive players of the year and the best rookies of the year. The panel doesn’t take into consideration the biggest football game of the year.

If the panel wants to get it right, adding postseason games to the criteria should be included.

Making a Case for Sony Michel

As a rookie, Michel played in 16 games and started 10 of them. He has 280 carries for 1,262 yards averaging 4.6 yards a carry and 12 touchdowns.

With the same amount of games played, Barkley only outrushed Michel by 45 yards. Michel did have 19 more carries than Barkley did though.

The whole argument of Michel plays for the Patriots so what he did wasn’t as impressive, is an irrelevant argument to being the best rookie. Actually, shouldn’t playing for the best team be a good thing for rookies?

Who cares who if he plays for New England. Without Michel, this season, especially this postseason, the Patriots may not have won the game.

What the rookie New England back did during the playoffs should impress anyone. But yet, it doesn’t count toward these awards.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, the six postseason touchdowns he scored were the most by an NFL rookie. Another Georgia running back, Terrell Davis was the last to do it in 1997.

He was also the first New England rookie to score a touchdown in a Super Bowl, according to a tweet by CBS Sports HQ.

Michel had six 100-yard rushing games this season. Despite missing the entire preseason, some of training camp and two games due to injury, what he accomplished is quite impressive.

He showed poise throughout the Super Bowl and came up big when it mattered. He did that all postseason. Michel almost had three consecutive 100-yard games. He was four yards shy in the Super Bowl.

If he got those four yards, then he might have been the Super Bowl MVP. Instead, Julian Edelman won respectively with ten catches for 141 yards. However, the plays that Michel made, it surprised me that he wasn’t the most valuable player. I mean he scored the only touchdown.

He isn’t the type of player that gets upset for not getting Rookie of the Year or Super Bowl MVP. Instead, Michel works hard for the team, makes plays when it matters and is happy as long as the Patriots win.

Michel showed that after 16 games, he could handle the biggest stage in all of football.

Instead of bowing down to the adversities that faced him all season and folding under pressure, he rose to the occasion. He ran the ball well and scored the touchdown to win the game. I don’t care how good Barkley’s stats are; he didn’t do what Michel did.

Michel won the Super Bowl for the Patriots, now that deserves a little recognition.