49ers LB NaVorro Bowman was named NFC Defensive Player of the Month for December. Could it launch him toward Defensive Player of the Year? We're officially into January, which means awards are out for the month of December. San Francisco 49ers linebacker NaVorro Bowman has been awarded NFC Defensive Player of the Month for December. This is his first DPOM award. And based on some of his stats from December it was well-deserved: 49ers Bowman is only @NFL player in past 20 years w/ 45+ tackles, 3+ sacks, 2+ INTs, INT-TD, 2+ FFs & FR in a calendar month — Randall Liu (@RLiuNFL) January 2, 2014 .@49ers NaVorro Bowman had 3 sacks, 2 INT, INT-TD, 2 FF & FR in December. No other @NFL player did that over course of entire SEASON — Randall Liu (@RLiuNFL) December 31, 2013 Bowman has worked himself into the running for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, with the best season of his career. He completed the season with 145 combined tackles, 5.0 sacks, four forced fumbles, two fumbles recovered, two interceptions and a touchdown. He was three tackles short of his career high, but otherwise all his numbers were career highs. If PFF grades are your pleasure, Bowman was graded out as tops among all inside linebackers at 20.0. No. 2 was Patrick Willis at 15.5, so the 49ers inside linebackers were not too shabby. Bowman is in a tough competition for defensive player of the year. Guys like Richard Sherman, Luke Kuechly, Lavonte David, and even rookie Kiko Alonso all can make interesting cases for defensive player of the year. And while Bowman seemingly had the clearly better season than Patrick Willis this year, I wonder if that hurts Bowman's case. We could either see Willis get some votes, or voters might decide Bowman benefited from being next to Willis. One thing in Bowman's favor for DPOY is that he had the huge highlight play to close the year. In Week 16, he had the huge pick-six on national television to secure the 49ers win over the Falcons. Much like voters look for a "Heisman moment", that's the kind of moment that could push Bowman over the top. Could a strong December and that highlight play in Week 16 propel Bowman to DPOY? More from Niners Nation Follow @NinersNation Follow @SBNationNFL Today's links Niners Nation Podcast: PFF weighs-in on Cardinals, Packers games 49ers vs. Packers: 5 questions with Acme Packing Company about GB offense Jim Harbaugh talks Lambeau cold, 49ers wide receivers, road games and more 49ers-Packers injury report: Carlos Rogers DNP, Clay Matthews out Source: Continue reading...
One guy that Singletary got really, really right. He was kind of pooh-poohed for taking a supposedly too slow, too small, coverage 43 OLB and putting him inside in a 34, but he saw something others didn't, and damned if he wasn't right.
