What once was a wide-open competition has boiled down to two candidates. Most Valuable Player? Best rookie?
No, Knucklehead of the Year. Presenting the finalists: Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson.
Suh already was recognised as the league's dirtiest player by his peers before he turned into a kick-boxer during Detroit's game against Green Bay, and was ejected after stomping a prone Packer, resulting in a two-game suspension by the league. Suh had amassed US$42,500 (Dh156,000) in fines for three similar acts. His own team also tapped him for $25,000.
The second-year standout will miss games critical to the Lions, who are among a crowd of contenders for NFC wild-card berths.
Suh's chief competition for moronic behavior is Johnson. Last Sunday, against the Jets, he celebrated a touchdown by pretending to shoot himself in the thigh, an unmistakable mockery of a real-life episode that sent New York receiver Plaxico Burress to prison.
Johnson completed the performance by imitating a jet as it crashed. A 15-yard penalty for his antics set up a Jets touchdown in their win. The NFL fined Johnson $10,000, raising his two-year tab for $25,000. Johnson's bonehead nature was established when he flubbed a likely game-winning pass last year against Pittsburgh, then went on Twitter to blame the drop on God.
If nothing else, he is perfecting the art of the apology, having issued one after each discretion.
Suh or Johnson? It's a close call.
