Tennessee Titans Chris Johnson Wins Offensive Player Of The Year
2009 O Player Of The Year
Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson won the 2009 NFL Offensive Player of the Year award. The second year pro Johnson earned 38 1/2 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL to easily beat out New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees, who received nine votes.
The fastest man in pro football set a league mark for yards from scrimmage (2,509) and becoming the sixth player with a 2,000-yard rushing season and is the first NFL player to finish with at least 2,000 yards rushing and 500 receiving (503).
Johnson became the first player to run for three TDs of 85 yards or longer in a season; no NFL player had even done that in a career. He’ll start next season with a streak of 11 100-yard rushing games; Barry Sanders holds the record with 14 in 1997.
In November, Johnson rushed for 800 yards, the best month of any running back in NFL history. By then, it was a one-man show in the Tennessee backfield; as a rookie, Johnson split duties with LenDale White, and rushed for 1,228 yards and nine TDs. This season, White got only 64 carries a year after running for 15 touchdowns in 2008.
Johnson is the first Titan to win the honor, but the third player in franchise history. Quarterback Warren Moon won in 1990 as a Houston Oiler, and Earl Campbell took the award from 1978-80 with the Oilers.
League MVP Peyton Manning of Indianapolis drew 1 1/2 votes, and San Diego Philip Rivers got one.
To All Of Vince Young’s Detractors, Take Your Shots Now
Deep In The Hearts Of Texas
For few years now, the ‘In’ thing is to say or post something negative about Vince Young. To some degree it was understandable if his name happened to be talked down on by a Texas A&M University, University of Southern California alumni or fan. Somewhere along the lines the negativity became malicious by a large portion of people within the sports reporting world. Young may not be a starter at the current moment but that can be said about a few other former college stars now employed in the NFL and the spitefulness seems to never land anywhere near their direction.
So for all of the Vince Young detractors out there, does your mouth open or your fingers start typing today after hearing the latest VY story? Do those same cynics now go in hiding, for they where that small to begin with or do they continue to jab just out of pure hate?
For one day at least, Young stepped up to try to fill the void for the late Steve McNair’s two young sons. Young surprised 11-year-old Trenton and 5-year-old Tyler on Wednesday by showing up at their house and taking them to their school’s “Dear Dads Breakfast” at a local restaurant.
“Those are my boys,” Young told the Tennessean. “I wouldn’t say it was to pay anyone back; it was just out of love. Steve would do it for me. He pretty much did it for me when I was growing up. I have a history with the boys and I want to do anything I can. I am their big brother.”
Julie Dilworth, admissions director at St. Paul Christian Academy said “They were thrilled … the boys came to school with huge smiles on their faces.”
McNair and Young’s connection runs from McNair’s days playing in the city of Houston for the Oilers who later moved to Tennessee, where Young would eventually be drafted third overall. Their relationship stemmed before draft day as Young attended numerous of McNair’s football camps when he was young. McNair was later shot and killed on July 4th.
Besides being there for McNair’s sons, Young gave other kids at the school jerseys and autographs. Isn’t that what life is all about, picking up someone when they are down, showing them love when they need it the most, letting them know they are not alone, or helping bring a smile to their face for a brief moment but it last a lifetime. Isn’t that what life is about?
I was not born here in Texas but as they saying goes, I got here as fast as I could. Vince you are a Texas hero, a Texas legend. You make Texans proud.
Warren Moon Goes All Tony Soprano
Talk About Greats Betta Talk Bout Me
Like an episode right out of the Sopranos Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Moon would wait until the end of the day before sneaking into the back entrance twice each week to a psychologist office, where a Minneapolis psychologist scheduled Moon with the last appointment so it was not to be known the NFL quarterback was in therapy.
“I’d go Tuesday and Fridays, and I’d always go at the end of the day so no one would see me in the stairway,” Moon recalled during a recent interview. “Confidentiality was a big thing with me, but once I got past that, I was able to open up and talk about myself.”
As many find out once in therapy they have many suppressed issues and Moon was no different.
“When my dad passed away, I took a lot of responsibility and probably matured a lot faster because I was so caught up with being the ‘man of the house’ with my sisters and my mom,” said Moon. “Football was a way for me to make it in order to take care of my family. I never really paid any attention to me, except for the kind of football player I wanted to be.”
Moon’s autobiography, “Never Give Up on Your Dream: My Journey,” details his experiences during a lifetime of personal and professional challenges.
“One of the things I learned from this whole experience is that you need to deal with yourself first,” said Moon. “If you do that, you’ll be a better person to be around for others…”Address your feelings. Address your emotions. It will be a much more freeing experience in life, which will help you to be better to others around you.”
From being one of the top quarterbacks in the nation at the University of Washington to going undrafted by the NFL, Moon had to overcome stereotypes at every level. He is one of two people to be enshrined in both the to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame where he won five Grey Cups for the Edmonton Eskimos. He is also the first, and currently only, African-American quarterback elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Moon wound up playing for 17 NFL seasons for the Oilers, Seahawks, Vikings and Chiefs and passing a over 49,325 yards, 291 touchdown passes.
Moon’s message to others: Live the dream.
