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Normally, the event on the eve of the Super Bowl – a special two-hour prime-time award in which the league and the Associated Press nominate their annual winners and the Pro Football Hall of Fame class is announced – is a red. carpet affair filled with several of the league’s biggest stars dressed in new with and fans clapping outside the venue as they arrive.
Instead, this year’s NFL Honors was produced ahead of time, airing on CBS Saturday. Here are some important points:
Notable winners included Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who won the Associated Press NFL MVP award for the third time in his career.
Rodgers winning this award was not surprising. The shock, however, came when he quietly announced in his acceptance speech that he had become engaged.
But to whom? He did not reveal.
“It’s an honor to win this award for the third time,” Rodgers told CBS. “2020 has definitely been a crazy year filled with a lot of change, growth, amazing and memorable moments. One hundred and eighty consecutive days of scratching my nose hairs. And I play for, you know, very few fans or no support. all season. I got engaged and played some of the best football of my career. “
In his thanks, Rodgers included his teammates, the Packers coaching staff, his anonymous fiancée – and he even slipped Jodie Foster’s name.
Alex Smith wins return for player of the year
In addition, Alex Smith, the quarterback for the Washington football team, who needed 17 surgeries after suffering a life-threatening leg injury, won the Returning Player title. ‘year.
Smith suffered the devastating injury after being sacked against the Houston Texans in November 2018 and suffered a spiral and compound fracture to his right tibia and fibula. He fought for his life after contracting sepsis – the body’s potentially fatal response to infection – and nearly had his leg amputated.
“Obviously a lot of anxiety and potential doubt as to how my leg is obviously going to hold up, to an incredible surge of thrill, excitement, this feeling of going out and playing, I never would have thought. get that back, “Smith said.
Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson and Calvin Johnson in Hall of Fame first round
Peyton Manning is the only starting quarterback to win Super Bowls with two different franchises – although he could win company as early as Sunday if Tom Brady and the Buccaneers win Super Bowl LV.
Manning has now done something else Brady will likely do someday: He was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
Cornerback / safety Charles Woodson and wide receiver Calvin Johnson are also entering their first year on the ballot. The rest of the 2021 class is made up of safety John Lynch, offensive lineman Alan Faneca, wide receiver Drew Pearson, coach Tom Flores and contributor Bill Nunn.
At the time of his retirement, Manning held NFL records for career passing yards (71,940), career passing touchdowns (539) and consecutive seasons with at least 25 passing touchdowns (13). He has won Pro Bowl honors 14 times and has been named the league’s most valuable player five times.
Earlier this week, Brady said Manning “was someone I have always admired as a quarterback, as a team manager.”
“I always looked up to Peyton because he was a bit older than me, and he always did things the right way,” Brady said Wednesday. “His team has always been in there. I know our teams had a rivalry against each other. When you faced a team led by Peyton Manning, you were up against (one of the best teams) in the league. It’s not much of a surprise. He would be a Hall of Fame member in the first round. An incredible player. “
‘You give me a chance at immortality’
Typically, in the host city of the Super Bowl, the Hall of Fame Selection Committee would meet and vote the day before the game. In previous years, several of the finalists had been confined in hotel rooms, waiting to see if they would receive “the blow” from Pro Football Hall of Fame president David Baker.
But because of the pandemic, the vote took place virtually last month. And Baker went to the Chosen Ones, knocked on several doors and, in Woodson’s case, surprised him outside while he was with an interviewed film crew. Manning was surprised by Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado.
“I promise I’ll live up to what the Hall of Fame is and now you’re giving me a shot at immortality,” an emotional Pearson told Baker.
The 2021 Pro Football Hall of Fame class will be dedicated on August 8 in Canton, Ohio. The 2020 promotion ceremony, postponed last year due to the pandemic, will take place on August 7.
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