haha, this is getting beyond the level me and crush were at a few days back. We had absolutely polar opinions and we still managed to find more common ground that you guys. But since i was chastised for not contributing before..
I've played against the vikings, for what.. 2 seasons? maybe three, i dunno.. and i have
absolutely no clue who exoskeleton powers is. Never game planned around him, never seen his name in a significant replay. The entire new jersey team is faceless to me. When i look at the "top player" list, i saw no one on new jersey at all. Now he did rack up 13 tackles that game.. but... he was overshadowed by Stamina Overload, and by a pretty fair margin. And you could argue he was overshadowed by Haruhi Suzumiya AND Aron Kampman in that game as well. When i played the Heat, not only did cutting make it to the top player list, he had literally, a larger impact on the games outcome than anyone on defense on his team that game. Win/loss aside. This is my argument against the games where I saw both players:
Exoskeleton Powers: 3rd or 4th most influential defensive player that day
Bill Cutting: 1st (you'd have to argue pretty hard to rank him 2nd) most influential player that day.
Now before you throw a hissy and say "well you have to consider the entire season", i'm not considering the entire season.. but unlike the other teams they played against, I saw both of them in regulation games. And they faced the same personnel, lined up in the same or similar spots. Cutting had more help, but he also made a bigger impact. Powers had less help, but his impact was marginal, if not largely irrelevant.
So.. i guess the solution would be for you to define player of the year. Is it "most influential defensive player to his team" or "biggest stat monster", because you get the stat monster award hands down, but i would argue that General Justice (MLB for the now defunct Mob) did more for HIS defense then powers did for the Vikings. General Justice was a one man army for the Mob, hell he was the only reason their defense was even remotely effective AND he played special teams damn well to boot. The fact that i even remember his name is a testament to the guy (because i do NOT remember most of the defensive players i see most of the season). For all his stat gathering, i never, ever, ever had to account for exoskeleton powers in my offensive plan. I DID have to account for General Justice. You can accumulate a ton of garbage tackles like tackles made behind other people that missed tackles, whereas its much harder to claim your own unique solo tackles. Being the first to the ball carrier for a tackle is hard, being the 2nd or 3rd man there after the ball carrier is slowed down or delayed is not.
Mater of fact, i'm gonna prove that powers gets all his tackles from simply being there when the rest of the team botches a tackle.
I haven't looked at these yet, but i'm pulling all 13 of powers tackles vs michigan, and i'm going to note how often he was the first man on the scene, or just the guy cleaning up someones mess.
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=149909&pbp_id=7671065 Ss can't tackle
Powers on his own: 0 Powers playing sloppy seconds: 1
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=149909&pbp_id=7671723 TE pass*
Powers on his own: 1 Powers playing sloppy seconds: 1
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=149909&pbp_id=7671762 TE pass*
Powers on his own: 2 Powers playing sloppy seconds: 1
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=149909&pbp_id=7674114 Legit solo tackle
Powers on his own: 3 Powers playing sloppy seconds: 1
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=149909&pbp_id=7674432 low of averages says half the secondary had a shot at this tackle
Powers on his own: 3 Powers playing sloppy seconds: 2
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=149909&pbp_id=7675013Powers on his own: 3 Powers playing sloppy seconds: 3
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=149909&pbp_id=7676553 Good job Powers
Powers on his own: 4 Powers playing sloppy seconds: 3
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=149909&pbp_id=7676810 TE Pass
Powers on his own: 5 Powers playing sloppy seconds: 3
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=149909&pbp_id=7676852 HB pass
Powers on his own: 6 Powers playing sloppy seconds: 3
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=149909&pbp_id=7677186 running play
Powers on his own: 7 Powers playing sloppy seconds: 3
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=149909&pbp_id=7677271 HB pass
Powers on his own: 8 Powers playing sloppy seconds: 3
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=149909&pbp_id=7677305 TE pass*
Powers on his own: 9 Powers playing sloppy seconds: 3
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=149909&pbp_id=7677700Powers on his own: 10 Powers playing sloppy seconds: 3
Now... at first glance.. you think.. hmm, nice job powers, right? But look at EVERY play that was a TE pass. And look who always gave up
SIGNIFICANT yards on the play, before making the tackle, and then let's redo the tally.
Powers giving up big chunks of yards on the guy he's covering: 5
HB passes where powers just happened to be the closest person because the HB was never covered: 2
Powers playing sloppy seconds: 3
Powers tackles makes on his own: 3
So... when you stop looking at STATS.. and look at the PLAYS ON THE FIELD, and not just throwing around opinion.. powers actually COST his team more yards accumulating his tackles than he saved them by making tackles plays to stop the offense. His numbers that game, were built on giving up yards, or being near the player left uncovered (granted that's not his fault, but its not like ANY LB can't just be in the area of a play). He had
ZERO deflections.. so basically if he ever had to cover my TE's one on one.. they got open because he couldn't cover them, and got their yards, everytime. And the only thing that could stop them, was a drop or an errant pass, none of which powers can take credit for. In summation, Powers only made a significant play on his own one on one with an offensive player
three times. And they were extremely mundane plays. So... if that's your DPOTY.. then hand me the crack pipe. You want to prove otherwise.. you do what i did, go through cuttings game with Michigan, and break down all his plays and see how much he did on his own merit, and how often he was just picking up some guys leftovers. If you can't do that.. then
your argument is the one that's bull, because you're not willing to research the numbers that you are posting as the most significant reason for your argument to be considered true. This is the ONLY mutual head to head those two players have.. and its highly unlikely you'll find chances for an east and west team to compare numbers against an identical opponent, so its an ideal comparison.
Now, go prove me wrong.. and prove that Powers numbers don't just come from giving up yards or getting the credit for a tackle, on what is really an assist.
