As much as I wanted to see J.J. Watt win the MVP, I knew from the beginning it wasn’t going to happen. He deserved to win it as well. He had 20.5 sacks and five fumble recoveries. Let’s not forget that the guy scored touchdowns on offense and defense. He was clearly the best defensive player in the league and he got that award.

But he wasn’t going to win MVP. And why not? Because he didn’t lead his team to the playoffs. the MVP award is designed in a sense for offensive players. They seem to put up the most amazing plays, the discernible stats and especially for a quarterback, the most attention. Aaron Rodgers was the best quarterback for a team that made the playoffs. That merit gave him the easy edge over Watt.

What if Watt led his team to the playoffs? Then I would have expected a closer vote total for Watt. But since that wasn’t the case this year, Watt coming up short was no surprise. That’s just the way it is.