Jared Allen has calf-roped another accolade, this one the Defensive Player of the Year, awarded by The Sporting News:

Despite all the losing in Minnesota, Allen stayed focused on producing his best season ever at age 29, giving offensive linemen and quarterbacks fits in the process. With 22 sacks, the Vikings' end was just one shy of breaking Michael Strahan’s NFL record of 22½, and a panel of 632 NFL players, coaches and executives chose him as Sporting News’ defensive player of the year by two votes (113-111) over second-place DeMarcus Ware of the Dallas Cowboys.

I don't know about you guys, but after awhile, Allen was the only player I really focused on when the defense was on the field. And it didn't matter if the Vikes were up by 10 or down by 20, he was just as relentless.

It's nice to see that Allen got some well deserved recognition, and the fact that he beat out DeMarcus Ware by just a couple votes is a testament to how good Allen is and how bad the Vikings were.

Congratulations, JA!