HOUSTON – Matt Ryan and the Dallas Cowboys were big winners Saturday night.
The Atlanta Falcons quarterback was voted the Associated Press 2016 NFL’s Most Valuable Player and top offensive player. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott took Offensive Rookie of the Year and Jason Garrett was selected Coach of the Year by a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league.
On the eve of Super Bowl LI in which he will face off with two-time league MVP Tom Brady, who finished second in this year’s balloting, Ryan easily outdistanced Brady, 25-10, for MVP. He beat Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, 151/2-11, for Offensive Player of the Year.
Ryan, of course, was not on hand at the NFL Honors TV show.
Garrett drew 25 votes for best coach, beating out New England’s Bill Belichick (14).
“This is an extension of our football team and I really accept it on their behalf,” said Garrett, who took over as Dallas coach in 2010. “I coach with some really great guys and I’m really fortunate to coach with so many great players that go about it the right way, and it’s really just an extension of that. It’s a team award.”
Prescott was in a two-man race with his running back, Ezekiel Elliott. The QB brought the RB onstage to share in his special moment.
“He deserves it just as much as I do from his yards, his catches,” Prescott said. “The way we handled things in the backfield is always together.”
Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, apparently headed to San Francisco after the Super Bowl to be head coach of the 49ers, took the assistant coaching award.
Packers receiver Jordy Nelson, returning from a devastating knee injury, was selected Comeback Player of the Year.
Oakland edge rusher Khalil Mack slipped past 2016 Super Bowl MVP linebacker Von Miller for Defensive Player of the Year, 18-17.
San Diego lineman Joey Bosa won top defensive rookie honors in a landslide.
“I don’t really set goals like this for myself very often, awards,” said Bosa, who missed the first four games after a holdout. “But I definitely wanted this one. I’m really happy I got it done.”
Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Giants quarterback Eli Manning shared the Walter Payton Man of the Year award.
Voters for the Pro Football Hall of Fame again turned away the second most-productive receiver in NFL history, Terrell Owens, but elected a seven-member class Saturday that includes running back LaDainian Tomlinson and quarterback Kurt Warner.
Running back Terrell Davis, defensive end Jason Taylor and kicker Morten Andersen also were chosen from among the modern era finalists for enshrinement in Canton, Ohio. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was elected as a contributor and former Seattle Seahawks safety Kenny Easley was chosen as the nominee of the seniors committee.
The class might be more notable for who wasn’t elected than for who was. Owens ranks second in league history in career receiving yards. He trails only Jerry Rice in that category. Yet Owens was passed over by the voters for a second straight year, apparently because of his history of clashing with his teams and, on occasion, teammates.
Owens wrote on Twitter that the Hall of Fame “is a total joke. Honestly, doesn’t mean anything to me to get in beyond this point.”
Tomlinson and Taylor were elected in their first year of eligibility. Tomlinson, who spent most of his career with the San Diego Chargers, ranks fifth on the NFL’s career rushing list and was regarded as the closest thing to a lock in this year’s class.
Warner was a two-time league MVP for the St. Louis Rams and started Super Bowls for two different teams, the Rams and Arizona Cardinals.
Davis was elected as a runner who was extremely dominant but over an extremely brief span. He had four straight 1,000-yard seasons at the outset of his career with the Denver Broncos. He topped 1,500 yards in each of the final three of those seasons, including a 2,008-yard season in 1998. But he never again reached even 800 rushing yards in a season.
Jones owned the Cowboys for three Super Bowl titles in the 1990s and has been one of the key figures in the game’s financial growth.