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Though I try to be fair when doling out the nominations for the weekly awards, we are truly going to be fair during this week's MVP post. We've decided to take one player from each of the three units as nominees and we feel that they are deserving. Unfortunately for the Bengals, these players' contributions just weren't enough to carry Cincinnati to a much-needed victory.
On defense, safety Reggie Nelson seemed to be the only Bengals player that could catch a football on Sunday. Not only did he make an exceptional (and clean) hit on Dez Bryant on a long third down, but he atoned for the poor call by the referees by making a leaping interception on a deep ball by Tony Romo. Though Jason Witten and others had some clutch catches in the middle of the field, Nelson had a good day and added a sack and five tackles to his interception.
Special teams, though an often forgotten aspect of the game of football, can win or lose games for you in the NFL. Sunday's matchup proved that and newly-signed kicker Josh Brown proved that. Coming in off the street in the middle of the week, all Brown did was go four for four on field goal attempts and rack up 13 of the Bengals' 19 points. The best part of his day was nailing a key 52-yard kick to give the Bengals a seemingly comfortable nine-point lead. Well done by Brown, who was in the game because of an injury to Mike Nugent.
On offense, the contributions were few and far between, but have to give a nod to wide receiver, Andrew Hawkins. Though he had two costly drops, he had the only offensive touchdown of the day for the Bengals and displayed his shiftiness all afternoon. He made some big first downs and Jay Gruden continues to find creative ways to use the slot receiver. He finished with six catches for 44 yards and the lone touchdown.
Who gets your vote for this week's Most Valuable Player Award?