With the 2014-15 season finally coming to an end this past Sunday, it’s time to hand out some awards.

*Disclaimer* – Yes, I am a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan. However, I will not display any bias, and will thoroughly explain any decision I make and I dare you to challenge me on any awards given to a Cowboy!

With that now out of the way, let’s get into this!

Coach of the Year

Bruce Arians – Arizona Cardinals

This one was pretty simple. In my opinion there are only two men who can win this award, Bruce Arians and Jason Garrett. Jason Garrett took a Dallas Cowboys team who was predicted to be in contention for the 1st pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, and turned them into a 12-4 team. Sean Lee, the Cowboys best defensive player went down before the season even started and many thought the already historically bad Cowboys defense would be even worse this year. What Garrett did with this team was something truly special, but Arians takes the prize.

Bruce Arians did something that almost any other coach cannot do, win without a quarterback. There is a motto in the NFL that goes “Next Man Up.” This holds true to almost every position but the quarterback, unless you are Bruce Arians and the Arizona Cardinals. With Carson Palmer banged up early into the season, and then eventually suffering a season-ending injury, Drew Stanton came in and didn’t miss a beat. To the Cardinals luck, Stanton also went down late in the season and Ryan Lindley has proved serviceable.

With all of the injuries to this Cardinals team, you have to admire how hard these men fight for Bruce Arians. He is one of the gems of the NFL and deserves this award.

Offensive Player of the year

Aaron Rodgers – QB, Green Bay Packers

I wanted to give this award to Andrew Luck, but he turns the ball over too much to be the NFL’s best offensive player.

What Aaron Rodgers does is just incredible. This man has an uncanny ability to get the ball out of his hand in an instant with the flick of a wrist and have the ball 50 yards downfield like it is nothing. If you question his arm (you’re insane if you do) you can admire his ability to extend a play with his legs to give his guys time to work downfield. This man is the full package. He combines an elite arm with solid athleticism and a football IQ that goes unmatched. Rodgers will dissect your defense before the ball is even snapped.

Rodgers finished 2014 with 38 touchdowns and 5 interceptions and a quarterback rating of 112.2

Defensive Player of the Year

J.J. Watt – OLB, Houston Texans

Can you say landslide?

J.J. Watt absolutely ran away with this award. There is literally nothing that this man cannot do. He is the definition of a playmaker. When you think of J.J. Watt, you think disruptive. He is on in every single play. Whether he is taking on two linemen, getting in the quarterback’s face, sacking the quarterback, tipping passes at the line, stuffing the run, punching the ball out, recovering fumbles, picking off the ball at the line of scrimmage, returning the ball for touchdowns or even lining up as a tight end and catching touchdowns…J.J. Watt does it all and yes, he did all of those things that I mentioned.

I feel bad not mentioning Justin Houston for his incredible season, but he picked the wrong year to have his best season. Watt had one of the best defensive seasons of all time and there is no question as to who will win this award.

Offensive Rookie of the Year

Odell Beckham Jr. – WR, New York Giants

It kills me not giving this award to Zack Martin of the Dallas Cowboys who has been phenomenal since week 1, but the fact of the matter is that this award never goes to a lineman and it won’t now.

Beckham had an absolute monster of a season. Many will remember his one handed catch against the Dallas Cowboys as one of the greatest catches of all time. Beckham missed the first four games of the season due to a hamstring injury, but once he started playing…boy did he never stop. This guy instantly became Eli Manning’s favorite target. In just 12 games, Beckham caught 91 passes for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns.

The most interesting graphic can be seen below, comparing Beckham to the game’s biggest name wide receiver. Which one do you think made the Pro Bowl? Not the one with better stats.

Defensive Rookie of the Year

Aaron Donald – DT, St. Louis Rams

Please, go back and look at my draft coverage from last year. I was on this guy so early into the process. This is a player who went from a 3rd round projection to being a top 15 pick in the NFL draft. His size was questioned. Donald performed larger than life for the Rams and has become a huge piece of an already incredible defensive line unit.

The Rams defense surged late in the season holding back to back teams scoreless. Donald was a large part of this. Playing inside, Donald has a natural ability to get off the ball quickly and end up in the quarterback’s face quite often. His size actually helps him gain leverage and a strong base as well as dip inside offensive linemen to make tackles.

Khalil Mack and C.J. Mosely deserve praise for their seasons as well, but Donald takes the prize.

Comeback Player of the Year

Rob Gronkowski – TE, New England Patriots

This was actually one of the tougher decisions to make. Arian Foster, Jeremy Maclin and Rolando McClain all made great cases to win this award. Foster and McClain did continue to be banged up a lot this season and Maclin tapered off toward the end of the season which slanted this in Gronkowski’s favor.

Don’t get this twisted. Rob Gronkowski was the runaway candidate for tight end of the year. This was an absolutely dreadful year for tight ends, but Gronkowski put wide receiver type of numbers up. Tom Brady relied on Gronkowski early and often and it paid off. Gronkowski combines a size, strength and speed that is extremely unique for the position. He has two first base gloves for hands and rarely fails to succeed in the red zone.

The only achilles heel to Gronkowski is his injury concerns. He managed to have a healthy 2014-15 campaign and the gaudy numbers were there as expected.

Assistant Coach of the Year

Rod Marinelli – Defensive Coordinator, Dallas Cowboys

Todd Bowles, I am so sorry to not give you this award. This race was extremely tight between Bowles and Marinelli. I felt like the best way to do this was to give Bruce Arians the head coach of the year award, where Bowles gets some credit there and give Marinelli this award for what he did with the makeshift Dallas Cowboys defense.

The difference between Bowles and Marinelli is that Bowles has elite level talent on his defense whereas Marinelli struggles to find one above average player on his. If you look at the Cowboys defense, you will see names like Tyrone Crawford, Rolando McClain and Orlando Scandrick as the top performers. Coming into this season, these were names that were largely unknown and due to Marinelli’s coaching, he tapped into the talents of these players and developed them into something special.

Marinelli had to do a lot of coaching in order to make this Cowboys defense work. He didn’t have the luxury of putting great players in position to be great. Marinelli had to scheme average players and form a defensive unit in order to have a semblance of defense. Marinelli proved just how talented a defensive mind that he is.

Most Valuable Player

Tony Romo – QB, Dallas Cowboys

You can make the argument that the Dallas Cowboys didn’t lose a game all season when Tony Romo was healthy. Look at their losses:

Week 1 vs. 49ers, Romo clearly was not ready for football after his back surgery. He was off in every aspect of the position. His footwork was shoddy, his timing was off, his arm strength disappeared…he left Cowboy fans wondering if their quarterback had truly become a victim to the back surgery that had ended so many careers.

Week 8 vs. Redskins, Tony Romo gets hit in his lower back and struggles to get back up. Romo misses a considerable amount of time in this game before returning in the last minutes resulting in a loss. We later find out that Romo had suffered two broken transverse processes in his back.

Week 9 vs. Cardinals, Tony Romo misses this game due to the broken transverse processes and Brandon Weeden struggles in a very winnable game.

Week 13 vs. Eagles, on 3 days rest Tony Romo is unable to take the pain killing injection that he takes prior to every game. Romo traditionally doesn’t begin practicing in a normal week until Thursday, and in this week he plays a game on Thursday. He once again looks like the man who is clearly unable to perform due to the problems with his back.

Each of those losses had to do with Romo’s back problems. Every other game came without any back problems and resulted in wins. Tony Romo has equal or better numbers than Aaron Rodgers and due to the previous reasons stated, I believe Romo takes Most Valuable Player and Rodgers takes Offensive Player of the Year.

For Tony Romo to battle back from an injury that usually ruins the careers of players, sustain two more broken bones in his back and still manage to have his best season ever…that is truly special. Without Tony Romo this Dallas Cowboys team struggles to find 5 wins.

Romo has the NFL’s best QB rating at 113.2. It is often said that this award is won in December.

Tony Romo’s December stats – 12 TDs 1 INT 4-0 record.

Aaron Rodgers December stats – 6 TDs 2 INTs 3-1 record.

Plus, Romo has this as his defining moment.

Yes, that is the defensive player of the year on the floor.