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What good are awards?


Tri from Jacksonville:
Are there any significant awards out there for Troy Brown? Everyone talks about Tom Brady being the MVP of the Patriots but he can't do what Troy Brown does. When is he going to get his due?

Vic: Why does every accomplishment now warrant an award? Everybody knows what Troy Brown has done. It's one of the great stories of the season, for which he was rewarded each week in the form of a paycheck. It's professional football. They play for pay and that's the way I like it. It's a man's game. It's about doing your job. Paul Brown wasn't big on patting guys on the back. "I'll tell you when you do it wrong because I pay you to do it right," he said. Screw the awards. Peyton Manning gets awards. What good are they?

Clay from Ponte Vedra Beach, FL:
I am 17 years old and I have made up my mind to purchase season tickets for next season. When do ticket sales start?

Vic: You can buy them right now. Call the ticket office at 904-633-2000.

Steve from Williston, FL:
How many former Jaguars players are still in the hunt for the Super Bowl this year? Anyone you are particularly rooting for?

Vic: Hugh Douglas with the Eagles and Aaron Beasley with the Falcons are the only former Jaguars players of any significance on the active rosters of this weekend's four conference title-game teams. Beasley is a guy I always liked and I'll root for him. I had no problem with Douglas. He was always accommodating in interview situations. I think he's a good guy who just got here too late in his career. That's not his fault.

Jeremy from Jacksonville:
The fact that both championship games will be held in Pennsylvania got me thinking, has one state ever hosted both before?

Vic: No.

Alex from Weston, CT:
You've said several times the Jaguars need a pounder to ease their short-yardage woes. That would certainly help but how many teams actually have a pounder? I would say Bettis is the only one on the four remaining teams. I think the Jaguars just need to convert short-yardage plays, whether that's using short pass plays or if it's having a pounder. They just need to get the job done.

Vic: You don't think T.J. Duckett and Corey Dillon are pounders? Call it whatever you'd like, but there are guys who are skilled at short-yardage running and every team needs that kind of guy. I wouldn't call Priest Holmes a pounder, but he was six-for-six in third-and-one rushing in 2004. Larry Johnson was five-for-five, Curtis Martin was 11-for-12, Dillon was 10-for-11, LaDainian Tomlinson was eight-for-11, Bettis was nine-for-13, etc. In the NFC, Stephen Jackson was six-for-six, Ahman Green was seven-for-eight, Duckett was four-for-five, Nick Goings was seven-for-nine, etc. The Jaguars may have found their short-yardage runner in Greg Jones, who was seven-for-nine in third-and-one rushing. After a sluggish start, Jones picked up the pace as a short-yardage runner in the second half of the season. When he was drafted, I predicted Jones' role with the Jaguars would be as the team's short-yardage back. He is not, in my opinion, a feature runner. He should be and started to become in the second half of the season the pounder this team needs.

Kelly from Santa Rosa, CA:
Scott Linehan is out of the running. Do you think Linehan spurned Jacksonville?

Vic: I think Miami made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

Doug from Jacksonville:
What is the best way to go about getting tickets to an away game next year?

Vic: Call the ticket office of the team hosting the game, but don't waste your time calling places where people have been on waiting lists for season tickets for 20 years. Don't bother calling Pittsburgh or the Jets, for example.

Bill from Jacksonville:
You mentioned that no team has gone to the Super Bowl with a rookie quarterback. Did you forget about Dan Marino in 1983 with the Dolphins?

Vic: I did not forget about Dan Marino. He lost his first-ever postseason game in his rookie season, 1983. He took the Dolphins to the Super Bowl the following year, 1984, his second season as a pro.

Joe from Statesboro, GA:
What do you think of Bill Polian's statement: "Brady was sacked three times. He had one touchdown, a five-yard pass that was a blown assignment, and no interceptions. He had a passer rating of 92.2. Peyton was 69.3. The difference between the two is really the one interception at the end of the game. That's what drives the rating down. Essentially, both guys played the same way. Neither one was a factor in the game when you boil it all down. It was the running and the failure to stop the run." I think he's underestimating Brady. Your thoughts?

Vic: I think Bill Polian is making excuses for Peyton Manning. I think Colts players are going to read those remarks and think, "Maybe Vanderjagt was right about Manning." I think Polian's remarks are going to alienate Manning from his teammates. I think it's impossible to create any kind of team chemistry or loyalty to Manning in the air of favoritism and finger-pointing Polian's remarks promote.


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