NFL News: A Super Bowl Safety; also, Rodgers wins NFL MVP

Sometimes, odd things just happen.

Take tonight’s Super Bowl, for example.  New England Patriots QB Tom Brady, on the first play of the game from scrimmage, threw a deep pass to the middle of the field as he was on his own five yard line (very bad field position, that).  But there were no receivers there, so the refs called intentional grounding — which meant that the New York Giants ended up with a 2-0 lead, gaining a safety.

This had never before happened in the Super Bowl — much less on the very first play of the game from scrimmage.  (It makes me wonder what else is going to happen in this game.)

The other NFL news today is so disconcertingly normal . . . Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, as expected, won the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award (MVP).  Rodgers was one of two outstanding QBs this season — New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees being the other — and either one of them winning the MVP (or sharing the MVP) would’ve made sense.

It does seem strange not to see Brees or Rodgers playing in the Super Bowl.  But it’s not the first time the NFL MVP has sat at home during the Super Bowl, and assuredly it won’t be the last, either . . . that’s why the saying, “There’s always next year” is so powerful.