[Cedwards38]

My heartfelt congratulations to the New England Patriots and to their amazing quarterback, Tom Brady. He's a Hall of Famer, and I salute him!

When I was a young high school football player, I was a big guy. 6 feet tall and around 225 pounds of mostly muscle. (OK, so I'm not that way today, but that is not the point.) I played in the offensive line, mostly tackle, and defensive middle linebacker. I was pretty good, but not good enough to play at the next level.

Now for my issue. Brady throws four touchdown passes. Great day! But how many of those would he have thrown if his offensive line had not been there protecting him? Brady gets sacked a couple of times with hard hits. His offensive line takes a hard hit every down. They get most of the bruises and Brady gets most of the glory. This is not just Brady and the Patriots, of course. It's that way on every football team in America, from youth leagues, to high school, to college, to the NFL.

What would a guard, or a tackle, or a center have to do to be named the Super Bowl MVP? I don't think it's possible. Only scorers are eligible for this award. Am I wrong? Has there ever been an MVP from the offensive line? There is no glory in the line. No accolades, no glory, no money, no girls, and no awards. We don't even have a way to measure the performance of an offensive lineman. There is no BYG (blocks for yardage gained) that shows up in the newspaper stats the next day. On defense they do count tackles and interceptions, but it's pretty rare when someone can gather up and MVP on those stats.

Please someone, make me feel better and prove me wrong! I suspect the answer is, "that's just the way it is." I know, I know, football is a team sport and Brady (and every other quarterback always credits and thanks their linemen) but still there is no way to really reward the job those linemen do. I'm reminded of the Orwell line from "Animal Farm." "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

OK, I've had my rant and I feel a little better already, but are there any of you out there who agree with me?

[DonH57]

I think it should have gone to the young man, Malcolm Butler, who saved their butt with that interception with 20 seconds left. When he was being interviewed I don't think it sank in to him what he had just accomplished but a previous play didn't go his way earlier. I still think Tom should give him the truck!

[l2ridehd]

And Wilson had an offensive line that protected him as well if not better. He certainly had a lot more time to throw the ball then Tom did. And yet he was only able to throw three touchdowns while Tom did four.

And lets take the time to think about an injured player. If the best offensive lineman on either team had to leave or the QB had to leave and your the coach. Which would you pick? The award usually goes to the QB or a wide receiver and personally I think that's the right thing to do.

The QB had 4 or 5 250 to 300 pound defensive linemen trying to take him out on every snap. The wide receiver knows that on almost all catches he is going to get slammed as soon as he catches the ball.

I am not trying to minimize the role of linemen, either offensive or defensive, but the ones who change the outcome are almost always the QB or a wide receiver. Sometimes a running back. If Seattle had won, you would have had a tough time choosing between Wilson, Matthews and Lynch.