Dec 30, 2011 5 min read

Antonio Brown was the surprise choice for the Steelers’ Most Valuable Player award, but it was a pleasant surprise.

I would’ve voted for Ike Taylor. To paraphrase Ryan Clark when I asked him the previous day about Taylor’s Pro Bowl snub, the Steelers are the No. 1 defense, with the No. 1 pass defense, and Taylor is the No. 1 cornerback who checks the opposition’s No. 1 receiver in press-man coverage the entire game.

But I that assumed Taylor would NOT be voted MVP by his teammates, that those teammates would reflexively vote for Ben Roethlisberger.

However, in my view, the quarterback of a winning team could always garner an MVP award. I like to look beyond the obvious and perhaps put more thought into it than I should. But that’s just me. And beyond that, I don’t feel the Steelers’ offense has taken the jump to the elite level that I expected this season, and part of the reason is Roethlisberger.

Yes, he’s the toughest QB in the league. Yes, if he misses the game the team is hurt by his loss more so than any other player. But I expected more from him this season and so my vote would’ve gone to Taylor.

The fact that Brown won the award was a surprise, but not a mistake.

You may remember training camp when I repeatedly called him the best player on the field. He was. And he was the best player in preseason games.

The reason? He worked harder than everyone else. In an offseason of league-contrived labor strife, Brown found a way to come to camp better prepared than anyone else.

That work ethic carried over into the season when veterans marveled at the fact that coaches had to tell Brown to stop working so hard, to save himself.

Brown didn’t crack the starting lineup until Nov. 13, but that was only because he had been playing behind an icon. And yet, Brown eventually dislodged Hines Ward from the lineup and finished strong enough to not only gain 1,000 yards receiving, but set a team record for all-purpose yardage.

The record he broke belonged to Barry Foster, team MVP in that 1992 season.

Ernie Mills, now No. 3 on the list for all-purpose yardage in a season, was not the MVP of that 1995 season (QB Neil O’Donnell was), but No. 4 on the list, Louis Lipps, was the MVP of his historic 1985 season.

All-purpose yardage and MVPs seem to go hand-in-hand – at least three-fourths of the time.

Throw in the fact that Brown is acknowledged as having worked harder than anyone else, both on and off the field, and add the fact that Brown is so likeable, and I understand the vote.

I’m more disappointed in the media voting for The Chief Award.

Anyone who’s read my work here knows of my great respect for James Farrior. He’s a real gem with whom to work. But so is Ward. So is Brett Keisel. Those two have already won the award, and we like to spread it around.

Farrior won it in 2009, and giving him a second Chief Award makes no sense, particularly in a season in which he hasn’t been nearly as helpful as many of the others who are in the locker room for every open session with the media.

Farrior rarely made noontime appearances. Not that I care, because after practice he’s always helpful and insightful. But this is an award that should be passed around. That’s why I thought it was the perfect way for Chris Hoke to end his career.

Oh, Hokie, I know, you haven’t retired yet. If you make it back, that will be great.

Or, I should say, great!

But this was the perfect time for the media to return Hoke’s kindness with something he would have certainly cherished. And if not Hoke, than Taylor, Mike Wallace, Bryant McFadden, Heath Miller, Aaron Smith, or any number of helpful players in that locker room would’ve been worthy winners.

Farrior? He’ll just throw the plaque in the closet and forget about it.

As for the Rookie of the Year award, who else but Marcus Gilbert? It does cause me to chuckle a bit that the Joe Greene Achievement Award winner had to give an acceptance speech a few days after a disciplinary benching, but no other rookie came close to Gilbert this season.

Makes me think it wouldn’t have been all that ridiculous to have traded the 1-3 picks to move up for Mike Pouncey in the draft. I just can’t get past the fact that Pouncey would be starting at left guard – and playing extremely well – at a time when there’s still drama at left guard between Chris Kemoeatu and Trai Essex as we enter the last practice of the regular season.

And that’s twice as shocking as passing on a quarterback for team MVP.