As I continue my quest to become more sports-savvy, I noticed that during Thanksgiving, the professional football industry does something to appreciate all of the best players of the day which started with John Madden. Apparently Madden rewarded these players by giving them some delicious turkey or even turducken. Madden would watch most of the football games while analyzing every player, not just the popular quarterbacks and runningbacks. Even the lineman and defense get credited for their efforts on the football field. Instead of getting credited with a medal or a plaque, the players got credited with food, not just regular food but with Thanksgiving food.

Madden has really impacted my opinion on America’s favorite sport, he showed me that football is more than a quarterback with some cheerleaders. This influenced me to create my own list of the best players this season along with my own form of a reward. No offense to six or eight-legged turkeys, but leftovers get kind of gross after a few days of eating them, so I chose to reward my picks with a slice of pie. The pie would represent how the player worked with team even though he may have differences just like the pie has different flavors. The crust represents how the particular player keeps the team together. If the player had a lot of style and smoothness every time he did a play I would reward him with some whipped cream.

My list will consist of some lineman because they hardly get any credit for how important they are.

Trent Williams (Washington Redskins) has become great on the field. He knows when to be serious, along with being a great leader for his team. Even after recovering from a sprained MCL, he has proved to be a very effective tackle.

Five time pro bowl offensive tackle Jason Peters (Philadelphia Eagles) still plays like a champion after recovering from an injured Achilles tendon. Hopefully one day Peters will give himself a spot in the hall of fame. I would now like to turn my attention toward defensive ends.

J.J. Watt (Houston Texans) is leading all defensive ends with combined quarterback sacks, hits, and hurries. He is currently 31, but to him age is just a number. Richard Sherman (Seattle Seahawks) is a talented corner who does a great job for Seattle. As a corner he can control his side of the field and he has the perfect build for the job. Now it’s time to get to the offensive side.

Adrian Peterson (Minnesota Vikings) is a runningback who is nearly unstoppable. Peterson has gotten in a bit of trouble with the media, but that doesn’t diminish his talent level.

LeSean McKoy (Philadelphia Eagles) has helped lead the Eagles this season. He is an excellent tailback and few are his equal.

From my journey researching outstanding NFL players I have learned that the sport takes more than just one person to make a team successful. Even your team has the best athlete on the field, the team will not be successful unless its players play for each other. I took a life lesson from this. If we tried to work as a team in our everyday lives we would be able to achieve much more in our lives.