The CCNFLTOTYA
uses the same requirements as the inaugural awards, the CCNTOTYA (or The Cornercube
NBA Team of The Year Award) to be initially considered for being bequeathed
this decoration:
- Team must have made the playoffs;
- A team must have won more games in the current year’s regular season than the previous year’s regular season and;
- If the team’s regular season record is unchanged between the current and previous year, then it must have a better postseason standing than in the previous year.
2020 CCNFLTOTYA Finalists
(Based Upon the Initial Requirements)
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AFC
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NFC
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Baltimore Ravens
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San Francisco 49ers
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Green Bay Packers
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New England Patriots
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Philadelphia Eagles
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Buffalo Bills
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Seattle Seahawks
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Tennessee Titans
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Minnesota Vikings
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So, the initial criteria only chipped away three teams, which
means the decision comes down to the intuitive knowledge that rests in the
minds of your correspondents at The
Conercube home office (we didn’t pay the internet bill this month. So,
let’s hope we can pump this blog out before Spectrum catches up to us).
The next step is to eliminate those teams that, yes, by the
letter of the law they have improved, but they don’t deserve to hoist the 2020 CCNFLTOTYA. We can call this group
the “well duh” group. It’s not that they aren’t great, because these teams are
but it’s just that no one should be falling over in his chair at the feats that
these teams accomplished. For instance, New England did improve their regular
season record compared to the previous year, and with a less prolific team.
However, they still had Tom Brady and Bill Belichick running the show and
please don’t forget they are the defending Super Bowl Champions. Saying that
they deserve the award after winning the previous year’s Super Bowl is all too
simple and furthermore, America expected them to do well this year.
The Baltimore Ravens are another team in a similar position
as the Patriots. The emergence of Ravens’ quarterback, Lamar Jackson, has been
spectacular (for anyone outside the AFC North, which, because The Cornercube has a bias towards
Cleveland, we dislike Baltimore and in turn, due to proxy, dislike Lamar
Jackson. Sorry, it’s just politics.) and he broke Michael Vick’s rushing
record, it wasn’t like we weren’t expecting this team to be great. In 2018
Jackson took over at quarterback, once starting quarterback and Super Bowl
winning quarterback, Joe Flacco, went down due to injury. Jackson was able to
finish the season on a 6-1 run and an overall record of 10-6 to not only make
the playoffs, but also win the AFC North Division. So again, the turnaround was
already expected from the Ravens, especially once they traded Flacco in the
offseason which all but assured us that Lamar was their “ride or die.” Are the
Ravens a great team? Yes. Is Lamar Jackson a great quarterback? Yes. Should a
team who was led by a Heisman winning first round quarterback, and whose
division consisted of a 2-win team, a hapless, lackluster ball of poo team (that’d
be our Browns!!) and a team that finished the season with a quarterback named
“Duck”, really be awarded CCNFLTOTYA? Hell, to the no!
The last team to fall within the “well duh” group is the
Green Bay Packers - the team that seems to always win their division. Wait but the Packers missed the playoffs
twice in row before this season, that must be an accomplishment. Right? Wrong.
In 2017 the Packers missed out on the playoffs because Aaron Rodgers was hurt
and in 2018 they missed out because the defense was mediocre, and their offense
was literally just Aaron Rodgers (it ranked 22nd in the run and 9th
in the pass). This year the Packers on offense and defense have done worse.
Their offense ranks 18th in the league (17th in the past
and 15th in the run) and their defense still holds true at 18,
despite falling in both pass defense (14th) and run defense (23rd).
Not to mention the Packers schedule was not too difficult. They got to play the
three-win Lions twice and the hapless Bears twice. Then they got the worst
division in football to play (NFC East), and their only marquee win comes
against the Kansas City Chiefs who were without their starting quarterback and
2018 NFL MVP, Patrick Mahomes. They lost to the NFC East champions,
Philadelphia Eagles and NFC West champions, San Francisco 49ers (badly to the
49ers we might add. 37-8) and then lost a home game at the San Diego Chargers
(we refuse to believe they are a Los Angeles team). This team appears to be a
paper tiger whose hope is still Aaron Rodgers.
2020
CCNFLTOTYA Finalists
(Based
Upon the Initial Requirements and the “Well Duh” Group)
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AFC
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NFC
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San Francisco 49ers
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Philadelphia Eagles
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Buffalo Bills
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Seattle Seahawks
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Tennessee Titans
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Minnesota Vikings
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The Philadelphia Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers are
disqualified but for two opposite reasons. The Eagles had to be in the playoffs
because they happened to win their division, that is the trash heap called the,
NFC East. Yes, they were plagued by injuries, but most other teams were as
well. Furthermore, they were plagued by injuries in the worst division in
football. They played valiantly in their playoff game against the Seahawks but
came up short. There was also that time when their head coach, Doug Pederson,
guaranteed that they would go down to Dallas and “win
that football game.” It was a laughable moment because it appeared Pederson
didn’t realize that no one really cared who won the NFC East because it
was a division that was more of a race
to the bottom than a competition to the playoffs. On the opposite end of the
spectrum sits the San Francisco 49ers. A team that had to fight and claw to win
its division and a win that came down
to literally a blade of grass and the end zone. Yet, to see the 49ers do so
well isn’t a shock, but rather an expectation. The 49ers were picked to finish
second in the NFC West and finished first. With their quarterback fully
healthy, their running back fully healthy and a loaded defense (with the
addition of Rookie of the Year candidate, Nick Bosa) it was expected they’d
make the playoffs barring a dire injury.
However, the Seattle Seahawks were that team who broke
expectations and nearly won their division. This would be shocking if The Cornercube forgot that this is a
team with a stacked defense and an MVP caliber quarterback, in Russell Wilson. It
just wasn’t surprising that two teams (San Francisco and Seattle) came out of
this division. The NFC West provided America with the most entertaining football
to watch. However, Seattle finished as the fifth seed this year, and did the
same last year. It is noted that they did improve their record to 11-5 from the
previous year of 10-6. This team, unfortunately, is a Super Bowl caliber team and
because of that is at the disadvantage of winning the CCNFLTOTYA.
2020
CCNFLTOTYA Finalists
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AFC
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NFC
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Buffalo Bills
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Tennessee Titans
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Minnesota Vikings
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The Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills are both disappointments.
Both teams looked promising. The Vikings looked promising this year, just as
they looked promising in 2018. The Bills, although not picked to do anything
substantial this year, became promising as they started to accumulate wins. The
issue with the Bills is that although they made the playoffs and nearly beat
the Houston Texans in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, they failed to have
any notable wins. The two that Booger McFarland and Joe Tessitore cited during
the wild card game broadcast were against Dallas and the Steelers. However, the
Steelers were led by a quarterback with the name of “Duck” and Dallas, unknown
to us at the time the Bills played but known to us now, were nothing more than
a flash of greatness. The Buffalo Bills needed to be a team that the greats
fear and they couldn’t put fear into anyone. In some instances, like against
the Browns, the Bills looked like a team trying to lose (which they did) than a
team trying to win. In the second half of the wild card game the Bills looked
atrocious. Josh Allen was a world beater in the first half only to leave his
brain behind when coming out of the locker room to start the second half. For
instance, when Josh
Allen ridiculously and inexcusably, lateraled a ball to the sideline only for
it to thankfully be batted out of bounds
by his teammate, whose brain was still intact (this will be blogged about more
in depth because, it’s just too good not to).
The Vikings are a team that every year is picked to win its
division and claims to have the pieces to win a Super Bowl. It was predicted
that Minnesota was a Super Bowl caliber team when Kirk Cousins signed his fully
guaranteed contract back in 2018. Kirk Cousins they said, was the missing
piece. However, Kirk finally won his first post-season game last week and Mike
Zimmer appears to have kept his job in Minnesota. The CCNFLTOTYA is not
presented to a team who is celebrating because their quarterback won his first
playoff game after failing to win any primetime games, let alone his division.
This team was picked
to go 11-5 and win its division. They failed to accomplish both of these goals’
expectations. No award for you Minnesota.
The Tennessee Titans are the 2020 CCNFLTOTYA Winners! Congrats! They were picked to land third in
the AFC South and fail to make the playoffs. It even appeared that way until
during Week 6 the Titans’ second year head coach, Mike Vrabel, replaced
starting quarterback, Marcus Mariota, with cast away, and former Dolphins’
quarterback, Ryan Tannehill, for help. No matter that Tennessee lost the Week 6
game, since Week 7, and Tannehill under center, the Titans have averaged 2.43
points per drive (6th) and 28.2 points per game (2nd).
With running back Derrick Henry controlling the line of scrimmage and
dominating games and becoming the back that was expected when he came out of
Alabama, the Titans are a force to be reckoned with. They knocked off the
defending Super Bowl champions by relying on their tight defense and managing
the clock by relying on Henry in the run game. A team with a young coach, players
who were either forgotten or assumed to be busts has surprised America, and by
doing so has received the 2020 CCNFLTOTYA!
