Matthews finishes third in defensive ROY vote

Get ready for a long line of postseason awards where Packers players don’t get the credit they should. The first such snub came tonight.

Clay Matthews, the Packers’ revelatory rookie linebacker who’s posted 10 sacks, recovered three fumbles, forced another and made 50 tackles this season, finished third in the voting for the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year. Houston linebacker Brian Cushing, Matthews’ college teammate at USC, won in a landslide, and Buffalo’s Jairus Byrd was second.

The Cushing pick is legitimate–he posted 134 tackles, registered five sacks and picked off four passes, all-around numbers Matthews doesn’t have. The thing that bugs me  a little about the result, though, is how few votes Matthews got. It’s a strong defensive rookie of the year field, but with 10 sacks and the transformational effect he’s had on the Packers’ defense, don’t you think he deserves more than three votes?

This won’t be the last time you see a Packers player come up short of an award in the next two weeks, I don’t think. I’ve got a hunch Charles Woodson won’t win defensive player of the year (possibly losing to New Orleans’ Darren Sharper, the Jets’ Darrelle Revis or — in the ultimate injustice — the Vikings’ Jared Allen). And Aaron Rodgers isn’t likely to factor much into the MVP vote. Not with media darlings like Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Judas in the running.

That isn’t to say those three quarterbacks aren’t deserving (though we at OBOD have serious reservations about the MVP candidacy of a quarterback who signed with a team and helped them improve by two games). Nor is it to say Revis wouldn’t be a good choice for defensive POY. But in a year where the Packers had a handful of standout individual performances, yet only got three Pro Bowlers, it seems like they’re flying too far under the radar. If Woodson doesn’t win, that would be the biggest injustice tossed the Packers’ way.

–Gene Bosling