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ESPN Honors Ezekiel Elliott, Snubs Jason Garrett in 2016 Awards Poll

Yesterday, ESPN released the picks from their “experts” for the NFL's various annual awards. As you would expect, and Ezekiel Elliott got plenty of love but there were also a few surprises. One of those has me especially peevish; Jason Garrett didn't get nearly enough respect in the #Cowbpoll.

The only awards where no Cowboys were mentioned were and the Comeback Player of the Year. I was a bit surprised that didn't get a single vote for DPOY but it was a stacked group this year. might have qualified for the Comeback award if he hadn't been injured again, but no other Cowboys would've made sense.

Here are the categories where at least one Cowboy received a vote:

Ezekiel Elliott, Giants
RB Ezekiel Elliott (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Offensive Player of the Year

Falcons received the logical first-place finish for this award, He was second to with 4,944 passing yards and second to Aaron Rodgers with 38 touchdowns. What really put Ryan over the top was his 117.1 passer rating, the fifth best in NFL .

Cowboys Ezekiel Elliott finished in second place. He received one first-place vote, five second-place, and one third-place from the 13 panelists. That means five of the voters didn't pick Elliott at all.

Ezekiel Elliott's rookie season was 178 yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson's record for first-year running backs. This is especially impressive given that Elliott sat out the Cowboys' last game to rest for the playoffs. In spite of this, he still led the NFL in rushing by over 300 yards.

Unlike the quarterback-dominated MVP race, running backs tend to do well with the OPOY award. won it in 2014 after his monster season with the Cowboys. Adrian Peterson and Chris Johnson have also won in recent years.

The OPOY Award tends to be more about statistical production than the MVP Award. That's why Ezekiel Elliott did so well and also why Dak Prescott didn't get a single vote. Dak was not in the Top 10 in yards or touchdowns this year.

Ezekiel Elliott
RB Ezekiel Elliott

Offensive Rookie of the Year

The young Cowboys dominated here, as you might have predicted. Ezekiel Elliott ate up 12 of the 13 possible first-place votes. The one he didn't get went to Dak Prescott. They also split all of the second-place votes; 12 going to Dak and one to Zeke.

The next-closest offensive rookie was Jack Conklin, a from the . Saints WR was close behind him. However, there really was no competition to the Dallas duo.

After starting the year well but falling off later, the Eagles' received just a single third-place vote. You'll always have September, Philly fans.

 

Maliek Collins
DT (James D. Smith via AP)

Defensive Rookie of the Year

Nobody was taking this one from the Charges' , who had 10.5 sacks in just 12 games and won in a landslide. In second place was Jaguars Jalen Ramsey, who many wanted over Ezekiel Elliott during the .

I assume there was at least one Dallas-area writer on ESPN's panel, because Maliek Collins managed to get one third-place vote. You could argue that it should have been more.

Collins' five sacks this year was equal to star players like and Timmy Jernigan. The most by a was nine sacks from . Only a few other franchise tackles like Kawann Short and Aaron Donald had more sacks than Maliek.

Jason Garrett
Jason Garrett

Coach of the Year

Aye, here's the rub! Jason Garrett came in second place to .  Garrett received three first-place votes, five second-place, and two third-place votes. Belichick dominated with nine first-place votes.

A few things irk me here:

  1. Garrett received 10 total votes, meaning three panelists didn't vote for him at all. That's a slap in the face for the coach with the best record in the , especially since he'd have likely tied Belichick's 14-2 record if he'd played starters in .
  2. Garrett's success came with a rookie quarterback. That's not impressive enough for you? How about a rookie QB who had no expectation of starting until the last week of the ?  Still not enough?  Really?
  3. Belichick is getting his ass kissed for going 3-1 without . Jimmy Garoppolo is a former second-round pick who's in his third year in the Patriots system.  It would be embarrassing if they didn't win with him.
  4. That one September loss for New England was a 16-0 shutout at home to the Buffalo Bills, who went 7-9 this year. Every team can have a bad day, but that's a pretty glaring blemish for a guy with supposed genius. I don't care who the quarterback was.
  5. Have I mentioned that whole controversy that Jason Garrett had to deal with?

I'm sorry, but you can't tell me that Bill Belichick was more impressive this season. Garrett faced greater challenges and was equally successful. His team had more internal issues to confront and a far tougher division to get out of. Whatever criteria these panelists went by to pick Belichick, Garrett matched or bettered him in every way.

Thankfully, ESPN's occasional bozos don't decide the award. I hope the Associated Press will have more sense.

Jess Haynie
Jess Haynie
Cowboys fan since 1992, blogger since 2011. Bringing you the objectivity of an outside perspective with the passion of a die-hard fan. I love to talk to my readers, so please comment on any article and I'll be sure to respond!

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