Titans top NFL midseason awards

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Please try to follow along . . .Team promises to build franchise around its quarterback.Team benches quarterback.Team still roars from the gate, continues to win, sits at 8-0 as the league's only undefeated team at the halfway point.Welcome to NFL version 2008.And it's the Tennessee Titans, with a ground-hugging offense, a quarterback-pounding defense, who are the only team with an empty loss column at this point. But they are far from the only surprise in the box.Arizona, yes Arizona, is in first place. Atlanta, yes Atlanta, is 5-3. The Chargers are two games under .500. Washington's Clinton Portis leads the league in rushing, and almost nobody outside of the Northeast corridor is talking about the defending champion Giants, who are 7-1.Such is life at the halfway mark.So, here they are, the Half and Halves, the midseason awards . . .-- FIRST-HALF OFFENSIVE MVPWith Tom Brady out for the year and Peyton Manning still playing his way back to form after two knee surgeries in the offseason, plenty of room for the possibility of a new face or two here.Kurt Warner certainly gets a nod at this point for those 5-3 Cardinals. Warner leads the league in passing after entering training camp as a 37-year-old quarterback hoping for a chance to compete, but Ken Whisenhunt made him the starter instead, sitting down first-round pick Matt Leinart to do it.Adrian Peterson has dominated, but the Vikings are 4-4.So right now it's Portis, who leads the league in rushing by a staggering 172 yards at the halfway point, leads in yards from scrimmage and leads in first downs.He has five 100-yard games in his nine starts and Washington is in the NFC wild-card hunt at 6-3.-- FIRST-HALF DEFENSIVE MVPTougher call here, but the quest for trophies should always start with the best teams. So it is Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who is expected to be a free agent at season's end, who has dominated for the league's leading scoring defense and gets the nod here.Haynesworth's work ethic was questioned, even by his own team, early in his career, but in a contract year, he has forced every offense the Titans have faced to have to deal with him, few with any success.And despite routine double teams, Haynesworth is sixth in the AFC in sacks with six.-- FIRST-HALF OFFENSIVE ROOKIEBroncos wide receiver Eddie Royal should get a look, as should Denver left tackle Ryan Clady.And if the team had continued on the path of its 3-0 start -- the Broncos are 2-4 since -- they would be at the front of the line right now. Steve Slaton has been quite the draft find for Houston, while Atlanta's Matt Ryan, Chicago's Matt Forte, Baltimore's Joe Flacco and the Eagles' DeSean Jackson are all in the mix.However, the standings speak loudest once again.Titans running back Chris Johnson has been the difference maker on offense. He leads the AFC in rushing at 715 yards, is a big-play threat and among backs with at least 100 carries this season, only Portis (5) and the Giants' Brandon Jacobs (5.2) have yards-per-carry averages better than Johnson's 4.9.-- FIRST-HALF DEFENSIVE ROOKIEStill plenty of room for somebody to take charge here. Pass rushers like Chris Long (St. Louis) and Phillip Merling (Miami) have had some impact. Safety Ken Phillips has 30 tackles in the Giants defense in a situational role.But Redskins strong safety Chris Horton, who has started six of nine games in a defense that is in the league's top seven in rushing yards allowed, passing yards allowed and yards allowed overall, likely leads the way at the moment.Horton, a seventh-round pick in April, also has three interceptions. He was the 10th player the Redskins selected in this year's draft.-- COACH OF THE HALFTitans coach Jeff Fisher, the longest-tenured coach in the league in his current job -- he was named head coach with six games remaining in the 1994 season -- has never won this award.He has the league's only undefeated team and a four-game lead as well as a win in hand against second-place Indianapolis (4-4) in the AFC South.-- ASSISTANT OF THE HALFVenerable Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau certainly deserves a long look.But Michael Strahan retired and Osi Umenyiora is on injured reserve, yet the Giants keep punishing quarterbacks -- they are second in the league in sacks with 30 -- and they have dominated the line of scrimmage enough to be second in the league in run defense.So, it's New York defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo here.(Contact Jeff Legwold of the Rocky Mountain News at legwoldj(at)RockyMountainNews.com.)