Greg Jones isn’t even “potentially the best defensive player in the Big Ten”?

Jones didn’t have the benefit of cleaning up behind a solid DL and still led the Big Ten in tackles in conference play, but he is undeserving because MSU lost to PSU, OSU, and Georgia? I really don’t see how any stretch of logic can use a team’s defense to judge an individual player, especially when Jones set career highs in tackles and TFLs against PSU and averaged 12.5 tackles in the OSU and Georgia games.

There are several players that deserve cosideration for the PDPOY. Navarro Bowman would have been just as deserving as Greg Jones. Chadnudj’s pick of Wootton is arguably justified as well.

The issue is your Michigan logic. Two of the “established” points are team related. Now I know if your a linebacker and your D-line sucks then you might struggle a bit more than a LB with a superior line. However it is even more impressive for the LB that can rise above his teams weaknesses and still showcase his talents.

Here is a break down of the two men in question against the some of the same opponents. These are arguably the biggest games for both teams year in and year out as well. Who steps up more in the big ones? You be the judge.
                
                      GJ NB
OSU 13 10
Mich. 10 11
Wisc. 13 8
Purdue 12 7
Iowa* 3 4 You call this flourishing?
PSU/M St. 15** 4 Maybe this is flourishing?
Total 127 106

• I believe MSU beat Iowa and Iowa beat PSU (again flourishing?)

• * It should be noted that in their head to head matchup Greg Jones set personal bests in tackles and tackles for a loss (3.5) This is flourishing!! In that same game Mr. Bowman had 4 tackles and well nothing else!!

It stands to reason that Greg Jones deserves the nod in this argument when comparing players not teams. Though I would have been OK had Bowman recieved the nod and Wootton for that matter. They are all great players and will have outstanding seasons.

What have we learned here? Well only one thing for sure, that Mr. Filler does not know the meaning of flourishing at least on an individual level.

Truth be told none of the mentioned players will probably recieve the DPOY which is all about proving yourself on the field this upcoming season and not what you might do this season based on what you did last season.

So if Bowman had zero tackles and PSU won all of its games with shutouts then he is the best linebacker? At what point do you think someone should actually stop relying on others to do there work for them? You can not penalize a player for the lack of talent around him period!!! See it is an individual honor therefore what you do as an individual counts more than what someone else on your team does to help the collective effort. This isn’t football by proxy. I know it’s all the rage these days to create new definitions to words but I am a traditionalist and individual means well “acting as a distinct entity”! And team means “a number of persons associated together in work or activity”. So really what you’re advocating is the best defensive unit in the league. In that case I will give you that PSU was the best all around defense in the league last year and with the return of Shawn Lee it should be one of the best if not the best this year.

I know you weren’t the one who came up with the logic or lack there of that determines 99.99% of the so called individual awards. I will concede that in the end you are probably right on the reasoning why a person may win whatever award. However start calling a spade a spade because in my world logic means following definitions not emotions. I’m mean some things in the world are just irrelevant to an issue. It’s like saying my dad is bigger than your dad if we get into a fist fight. It has no bearing on the outcome of the fight. And for the record my dad is bigger than your dad.

So let’s break down the logic of the player of the year award and see what we come up with. Player: “a person who plays a game”. Person: “INDIVIDUAL”!!!! So what the actual definitions are telling us is that a player is a person and a person is and individual and an individual acts as a distinct entity so we can only conclude, logically that any POY awards should be based on what a player accomplishes on his own. Any other way the name of the award needs to be changed.

And just to cover my secondary the definition of IS = to be.

“no stretch of logic points toward Greg Jones being 1) the best defensive player in the Big 10 or even 2) potentially the best defensive player in the Big 10”

No stretching here, last season’s statistics sure seem like a logical argument that Jones is one of the best returning defensive players in the Big 10.

“Did the media bow to political correctness and somehow think that a vote for Bowman was a vote for marijuana use?”

No. Marijuana is just a red herring- unless you were dazed and confused while writing this.

“Anyway [sic] you look at it, logic was defied in picking Jones as the PDPOY.”

In your world, apparently only two linebackers (Jones and Bowman) should be considered for PDPOY. Assuming this is irrefutable logic, choosing the guy who made more plays is illogical?

This post was doomed from the beginning. Blame the smog.