The Associated Press had named Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay’s quarterback, as the NFL’s Most Valuable Player for 2011. Rodgers overwhelmingly won the award, collecting all but two of the fifty votes from media members across the United States. It’s been 11 years since a player for Green Bay has won the award. The last was Brett Farve who won it three years in a row starting in 1997.
Rodgers had an incredible quarterback rating of 122.5. That rating came from 45 passes for touchdowns and a 68.3 percentage for completions. The Green Bay Packers would end their regular season at 15-1, losing only to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Packers won the NFC North and would lose in the first round of the playoffs.
There were several other awards handed out by the Associated Press. Jim Harbaugh, who is the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers, was named Coach of the Year. It was his first season as a head coach and the 49ers would go 13-3. They would lose to the New York Giants in the conference title playoff game. Harbaugh took 45 of the 50 votes. Mike McCarthy from Green Bay was second in the voting with three votes.
Drew Brees was named as Offensive Player of the Year. The quarterback for the New Orleans Saints broke several records this year, including passing for 5,476 yards. That broke a 27 year old record set by Miami Dolphins quarterback, Dan Marino. He had 468 completions, which also broke a record set by Peyton Manning last season. Brees also had seven consecutive games where he threw for over 300 yards passing. Brees received 43 of the 50 votes, with Aaron Rodgers getting the other seven.
Cam Newton, was named as the Offensive Rookie of the Year. Newton was the Carolina Panthers’ quarterback. The Defensive Rookie of the Year went to Von Miller, who is a linebacker for the Denver Broncos.
