MOP Finalists Announced

CFL Talk
#1

The league has announced the final 2 finalists from East and West for the year end Awards. A few observations on this,how is it possible that the Easts best O-Lineman was not deemed good enough for the All-Star team ? How is it also possible that a team like Toronto who only placed 5 players on the All-Star team and also missed the playoffs have 3 players as finalists for the Awards ? Maybe the league should also award the coach of the year award to Milanovich as well :roll: Anyways here is the list and link, debate amongst yourselves :cowboy:

[url=http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/ray-elimimian-finalists-for-cfls-mop-award/]http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/ra ... mop-award/[/url]

Outstanding Player
Ricky Ray-Toronto
Solomon Elimimian-BC

O-Lineman
Jeff.Perrett-Montreal
Brent.Jones-Calgary

Rookie
Tristan Okpaulago-Toronto
Dexter McCoil-Edmonton

Defense
Bear Woods-Montreal
Solomon Elimimian-BC

Canadian
Ted Laurent-Hamilton
Jon Cornish-Calgary

Special Teams
Swayze Waters-Toronto
Lirum Hajrullahu-Winnipeg

#2

My prediction: the West will walk away with 5 of the 6 awards,the only Eastern winner will be Swayze Waters as Special teams

Most Outstanding- should be Elimimian in a landslide over Little Ricky(MOP= Most Overrated Player)
Rookie- McCoil,no contest,another landslide
O-Line- has to be Jones,realistically how can the league award it to a guy that was deemed not even good enough for the division All-Star team :roll: :?
Canadian-Cornish,another landslide,Laurent had a great year no doubt,but Cornish is heads and shoulders one of the best this league has ever seen.
Specials-The only Eastern winner here,Waters all the way
Defense-Elimimian all the way no doubt about it he gets both MOP and MOD over the Bear from Mtl.

#3

Maybe Okpaulago for Rookie, but other than that I agree with bobo. West gets minimum 4, maybe 5.

#4

So why didnt Cam Wake win MOP? Maybe because he was going to the NFL?
I clearly remember the league stating that a defensive player could jot be mop.
This article hints at it, but I remember it being laid out more concrete than this.

[url=http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/news/sports/lions/story.html?id=e0b1fbc6-2adf-4401-9eff-00176c75f149]http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/news ... 176c75f149[/url]
#5

I don't recall that the league ever came out officially with that stance or having it etched in stone,I do know that Elimimian is the first and only player on defense that will win this award since its inception in 1953. The MOP award it seems has been exclusively an award for Offensive players,the lone exception and it's an iffy one would be Hal Patterson in 1956 who mostly played receiver but also played DB. Its interesting to note the breakdown of winners by position in the 60 yrs it has been awarded.

Here is a link to the MOP Award winners going back to 1953.....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFL's_Most ... ayer_Award

MOP winners by position (1953-2013)

QB -35 times
RB -16 times
REC - 6 times
SB - 2 times
TE - 1 time

#6
:thup: I was going to say the same thing.

And I still don't agree with a D player being eligible for MOP, unless they axe the DPOY award or create the same for the O.

#7

People thought Calvillo's 5,600 yards passing and 43 TDs was more deserving than Wake's 23 sacks.

#8

Waters is a lock for The John Agro Special Teams Award

Punting = 47.7 yard average to 43.8 ... Waters
FG's = 90.4% made to 87% ... Waters
Kickoffs = 65.2 yard average to 63.5 ... Waters
Scoring = 193 to 160 ... Waters

Don't get me wrong ... Hajrullahu had a GREAT Year! An absolutely AMAZING Year considering he was an undrafted Rookie! And I think he's great ... He's my Fantaseh Football Kicker ya know! Also, met his family ... great people. I'd love nothing more for him to win it ... but ...

It's Waters

#9

I'm not impressed with either MOP candidate... although to be fair, the East didn't have much to offer.

But people go all gaga over tackles like it's a big deal. It's the most over hyped stat in the sport.

#10

Your statement probably warrants a supporting argument. On the surface, tackling your opponent sure sounds like a good thing. If a DB leads in tackles it probably means he gets thrown to a lot. For a LB or DL, however, it seems like an indication they are doing their job.

I happen to think the most overhyped stat is kickoff returns. They practically spot you 20 yards, the kicking team has a choice of who to kick to, and the more returns you get, the worse your team played. 1,500+ yards of KO returns helped win Chad "6 TDs in 200 touches" Owens the MOP in 2012, when he never scored a single special teams TD.

#11

On the subject of tackles, I'd like to see them start keeping track of tackles for a loss and tackles for no gain. Then you'll really be able to see how valuable a guy is.

#12

it has been tracked for I believe 6 years now. No idea why they do not put it in the official stats though. Huge stat...worthy of near sack merit.

The stat they tracked in the odd game that I liked this year was double teamings faced. Huge stat to actually track, but very interesting.

#13

Actually it was Henry Burris who got the nod in the West for barely 5000 yards.

#14

Yeah, no. McCoil is a shoe-in for top rookie. It's not even a debate.

If we're throwing bones to guys who have a SLIGHT shot, I'll say Ted Laurant could win top Canadian. Maybe voters hold Cornish's missed games against him. I don't see it happening, but it's a slight (VERY slight) possibility.

I second kickoff returns/yards being ludicrously overhyped. Aside from the start of the game and half (so, at most, 18 kickoffs per season), all that accumulating a lot of kickoff yards signifies is that your gets scored on a lot. Not exactly something we should be trumpeting as a great achievement.

But the most overhyped stat is QB wins. Completely pointless and shows absolutely nothing. A QB doesn't win a game by himself. He is 1/12th of 1/3rd of the units on a team. We need to stop talking about a QB's win-loss record like it actually means something.

#15

Well I guess you can throw out GAA in hockey as well… Well I guess save percentage is more accurate… Well what if a team allows alot of shots from the perimeter, but nothing from inside?

#16

If Cam Wake wasn't an MOP with his 26 sacks, Elimimian shouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. I disagree with him even being a finalist, should have been Bowman.

#17

Outstanding Player
Ricky Ray-Toronto - Yeah, there's no one who does more for their team in the east. Still upset by this trade. Just wish they'd stop treating the Argos missing the playoffs as a fluke.
Solomon Elimimian-BC - I can understand this pick, but I would have picked Odell Willis

O-Lineman
Jeff.Perrett-Montreal
Brent.Jones-Calgary

I can't really object to either of these, Joel Figueroa is what my Ti-Cat shades would have liked to see, but honestly injuries and the performance of the unit as a whole probably stop that.

Rookie
Tristan Okpaulago-Toronto - Completely reasonable, he was the only guy on the Argos sacking guys
Dexter McCoil-Edmonton - Sure, I can't think of anyone else from the west

Defense
Bear Woods-Montreal - Eric Norwood anyone? East division sack leader? I think D.Linemen deserve their own award.
Solomon Elimimian-BC - Once again, my choice was Odell Willis, but Elimimian is reasonable

Canadian
Ted Laurent-Hamilton - I like Laurent, but no way he takes it over Cornish.
Jon Cornish-Calgary - Yeah, Cornish is the easy mode pick.

Special Teams
Swayze Waters-Toronto - No question he's the best kicker in the league, as much as it pains me to say
Lirum Hajrullahu-Winnipeg - The East has superior kicking in Waters, Medlock and Whyte, still the right West pick.

#18

Wake didn't have 26 sacks. He had 23.

Most Quarterback Sacks, one season

James Parker (1984) 26.5
Joe Montford (1999) 26.0
Grover Covington (1988) 25.0
Tim Cofield (1995) 24.0
Gregg Stumon (1987) 23.0
Cameron Wake (2008) 23.0

Most Defensive Tackles, one season

Solomon Elimimian (2014) 143
J. C. Sherritt (2012) 130
Calvin Tiggle (1994) 129
Bruce Holmes (1990) 127
Doug Landry (1989) 122
David Albright (1987) 118

#19

My bad, my point still stands though.

#20

Unfortunately, the awards must be given on the basis of performance in 2014. Selectors cannot very well declare that no one was good enough this year, so the award goes to Wake for what he did in 2008.

This is the only year in the past decade (at least) in which 4,600 yards was sufficient to lead the league in passing. It's also the only year I can remember where just one QB topped 4,000 yards, one RB broke 1,000, and only three receivers got 1,000. It was a very unremarkable year all-round for offensive players.

There was one defensive player who set an all-time record, and lo and behold, he became the first defensive MOP finalist.