Robert Griffin Win Offensive Rookie Award; Wilson Third

Jan 6, 2013; Landover, MD, USA; Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III (10) drops back to pass during the second half of the NFC Wild Card playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks at FedEx Field. The Seahawks won 24-14. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

The FansidedNFL awards are out, and the offensive rookie of the year is Washington’s Robert Griffin III. Andrew Luck finished a close 2nd, and Seattle’s Russell Wilson finished a distant 3rd.

I’m a bit disappointed that Wilson didn’t get more first place votes. As I said when I posted my ballot, I think his candidacy is legitimate and that he belongs in the conversation just as much at the other 2 prominent rookie passers.

It appears that Wilson suffered from 3 things: 1) His 3rd round pick status, where the other 2 were taken first and 2nd overall in round 1. 2) His slow start (hard to argue there) and finally 3) the perception that the Seahawks were a running team and that Marshawn Lynch carried the team offensively. While that was true early in the season, I don’t believe it was true down the stretch.

I posted my ballot and explanation a couple weeks ago. Here’s the text from that:

"There’s only 3 real candidates for offensive rookie of the year, and they’re the obvious ones. Luck, Wilson and Griffin are all deserving. With the year that each of them had, any of the 3 could have won this award in any other year in the past decade. They’ve been that good.The first thing I did was eliminate Luck. I know he had the most yards, but he also had 20 turnovers. That’s more than the other 2 players had combined. So Luck got my 3rd place vote.The other 2 players were much closer. Griffin was consistently good all year, in a way that was really impressive. Wilson started out the looking like playing him was a mistake, but got better and better each and every week. Over the last 8 weeks of the season,  was playing at a much higher level Griffin.This left me with a dilemma. Which is more important here, the consistently good play or the really high level play in the 2nd half of the year. Did Wilson’s great 2nd half make up for his poor first month?Ultimately, I decided to let touchdowns decide it. Wilson had 30 total TDs, which is the new rookie record. He also tied Peyton Manning’s rookie passing TD mark at 26. Griffin wasn’t far behind. He had 20 passing TDs and 7 rushing TDs, leaving him 3 total touchdowns behind Wilson. For that reason alone, I decided to give Wilson the edge.1st: Russell Wilson, 2nd: Robert Griffin, 3rd: Andrew Luck"