The airing of grievances

I got a lot of problems with you people!

Well, not really. But given the, ahem, response to the posting of my All-SEC ballot (why did I do that again?) I thought it might be useful to offer up a few explanations.

- A.J. Green: Look, he missed one-third of the season. As I said before, I believe Green and Julio Jones are probably the two best receivers in the league. But this vote was not to assemble a team to send to China and best represent SEC football. It’s to recognize the players that had the best season.

Green still ended up having a fantastic eight games (49 catches for 771 yards and nine touchdowns.)

But Alshon Jeffery led the SEC with 1,387 receiving yards, and caught nine touchdown passes.

Randall Cobb tied with Jeffery for the SEC lead with 79 catches, had 955 receiving yards and 401 rushing, and combined for 12 touchdowns. He also had three passing touchdowns.

I think the world of Green’s ability as a receiver, and having covered him since he was a sophomore in high school, I like him as a person too. But when it comes to this ballot, I’m sorry, he missed four games, three of them SEC games. It’s as simple as that.

- Mike Pouncey: Honestly, there weren’t many extraordinary choices at center this year. (The ballot required one center and four linemen without regard to position.) Yes, there were some instances where Pouncey’s snaps did not go in the general direction of the quarterback. His blocking received better reviews, however.

Still, a debatable pick? I guess so!

- Cam Newton and Nick Fairley. A few of you said I must not have taken character into account, since these two guys are such slimeballs (at least in the minds of some.)

For the purposes of this this vote, I did not take character into account. It’ll be a different deal when it comes to the Heisman, however, where I believe some discretion is allowed.

As a beat writer, I’m limited a bit on how much opinion I can offer up, especially on issues that I’m covering, such as the Fairley late-hit story in the Georgia game. But if you were to buy me a beer sometime, maybe I’d open up a bit.

- Place-kicker: A few have complained about not voting for Blair Walsh. Here’s why I went with Josh Jasper: He was 26-for-31 on field goals, with two from longer than 50 yards, and there were several games where he may have been the difference for LSU. Walsh had a good season too (18-for-21, with two from beyond 50), but he wasn’t as much of a factor for his team, through no fault of his own.

Finally, I’ll just say this about my role in the voting: I’ve voted in preseason and postseason awards before, and I’ve never acted as the voice from the team I’m covering. Instead I try to vote from a perspective of the league as a whole. That’s why more than a few South Carolina fans got peeved at me for not voting for their guy in postseason basketball awards.

I’m sure a lot of this won’t stop the flow of invective. So I’ll just close by saying: Hey, it’s the holiday season. Everyone just grab a pole, perform a feat of strength, and maybe a Festivus miracle will occur! (Such as Green and Justin Houston coming back to school.)

Happy holidays.