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I handed out my award for the Kansas City Chiefs offensive MVP through the first quarter of the season -- RB Jamaal Charles -- and saw some arguments that TE Tony Moeaki should be included.
Moving onto the defensive MVP award through a quarter of the season I suspect we'll get some more disagreement. To me, the two candidates for this are CB Brandon Flowers and LB Tamba Hali. Both are having excellent seasons at critical positions on the defense.
Before last week I was leaning toward Flowers but after seeing Hali's effort against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts I have to go with the Chiefs outside linebacker.
Tamba Hali has an excellent start to the 2010 season. He's on pace for a whopping 18 sacks in 2010. Remember when we pointed out a suggestion that Hali could surpass Elvis Dumervil in 2010? And when Denver Broncos fans said we were crazy? Yeah, I remember that, too. Dumervil, by the way, had 17 sacks in 2009. Hali's got a long way to go but so far that suggestion appears accurate.
Hali has been a force all season but two games in particular stand out to me. There's his career-high three-sack performance against the San Francisco 49ers and then his consistent pressure against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.
He leads the team with 4.5 sacks and a pair of fumbles which is part of the reason he's my first quarter defensive MVP for the Chiefs.