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Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes wins 2nd MVP award ahead of Super Bowl

By ROB MAADDI and JOHN MARSHALL The Associated Press

PHOENIX — Patrick Mahomes dominated the voting for the AP NFL Most Valuable Player award. Now, he’ll try to break the MVP curse.

Mahomes, who also won in 2018, easily outdistanced Jalen Hurts, receiving 48 of 50 first-place votes from a nationwide panel of media members who regularly cover the league. He earned 490 points to 193 for Hurts, who got one first-place vote, 26 seconds, 11 thirds and 10 fourths.

Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs (16-3) face Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles (16-3) in the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Mahomes thanked the Chiefs organization and his teammates in a video at NFL Honors on Thursday night.

“I would never be standing here without y’all,” Mahomes said. “Every day we’ve given everything we have together to win the ultimate goal, the Super Bowl. Let’s continue to go for that dream this weekend.”

The last nine MVPs to play in the Super Bowl that season are 0-9. Kurt Warner was the last to win both the MVP award and Super Bowl following the 1999 season.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen received the other first-place vote, finishing third with 151 points. Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow placed fourth and Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson came in fifth.

The 27-year-old Mahomes is the third player to win his second MVP before turning 28, joining Brett Favre (27) and Jim Brown (22).

Mahomes was the 2018 NFL MVP in his first full season as a starter.

The Chiefs lost the AFC championship game that season but Mahomes led them to a Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers the following season.

In the second-closest race Thursday, Brian Daboll won AP Coach of the Year after leading the New York Giants to their first playoff appearance in six years.

Daboll received 16 first-place votes and 123 total points to outpace 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, who got 12 votes for first and 100 points.

Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson finished third with 75 points, including five first-place votes.

“It’s a tremendous honor,” Daboll said. “You don’t think about that when you take a job. You think about leading a team and building the culture.

Other awards announced Thursday:

DeMeco Ryans, who spent the past two seasons as the defensive coordinator of the 49ers, was named AP Assistant Coach of the Year. He is now the head coach of the Houston Texans.

Nick Bosa made it a landslide for the AP Defensive Player of the Year award. San Francisco’s All-Pro defensive end received 46 first-place votes after leading the NFL with 18½ sacks in the regular season.

Bosa and the 49ers lost to the Eagles, 31-7, in the NFC title game. He joked that he’s ready to start the season now.

“One weekend in Las Vegas is enough for me,” Bosa said.

New York Jets cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner won the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award. Gardner, the No. 4 overall pick in the draft, started every game for the Jets. He had two interceptions and allowed just 33 catches on 73 targets.

Jets receiver Garrett Wilson edged Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker for the AP Offensive Rookie of the year award.

“This means everything.,” Wilson said. “You put in a lot of work to end up in this point and to see it come to fruition, it’s awesome.”

Wilson and Gardner are the third teammates to win the offensive and defensive rookie awards in the same season. Alvin Kamara and Marshon Lattimore did it with the New Orleans Saints in 2017 and Detroit’s Mel Farr and Lem Barney did it in 1967.

“I was more happy for Garrett,” Gardner said.

Justin Jefferson ran away with the AP Offensive Player of the Year award. Minnesota’s All-Pro wide receiver got 35 first-place votes and earned 192 points, outdistancing runner-up Mahomes by a significant margin.

“It means a lot, especially where I come from, this doesn’t happen,” Jefferson said. “I was always doubted, wasn’t highly recruited. Having this award is amazing.”

Geno Smith, who earned his first Pro Bowl berth after becoming a full-time starter for the first time since 2014, is the AP Comeback Player of the Year. The Seahawks quarterback threw for 4,282 yards, 30 touchdowns and led Seattle to an NFC wild-card berth.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was the Walter Payton Man of the Year. The prestigious award recognizes an NFL player for outstanding community service activities off the field, as well as excellence on the field.

HAMLIN JOINS MEDICAL STAFF ON STAGE

The first responders who saved Damar Hamlin’s life were recognized with a tribute video at “NFL Honors” before being invited onto the stage.

The man they saved was right behind them.

Hamlin made his second appearance in Phoenix during Super Bowl week on Thursday night, paying tribute to those who had a hand in giving him a second chance at life.

“My entire life, I felt like God was using me to give others hope and now with a new set of circumstances, I can say he’s doing what he’s always done,” Hamlin said from the stage at the Phoenix Convention Center. “I have a long journey ahead, a journey full of unknowns and a journey full of milestones, but it’s a lot easier to face your fears when you know your purpose.”

The Bills safety received the NFLPA’s Alan Page Community Award on Wednesday, a little more than a month after Hamlin went into cardiac arrest and needed to be resuscitated on the field in Cincinnati.

He appeared again at “NFL Honors” on Thursday night after the Bills and Bengals training and medical staffs, along with the staff at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center – collectively called “Team Damar” – were recognized.

Bills assistant athletic trainer Denny Kellington, who performed CPR on Hamlin on the field, also earned a bit of appreciation during “NFL Honors,” receiving a fifth-place vote for the NFL’s MVP award.

Once onstage, Hamlin personally thanked an ICU doctor named Yusef, who, three nights into his hospital stay, told him he had been through something similar.

“He showed me he was OK and that meant so much to me,” said Hamlin, who also thanked everyone on stage. “There was so much uncertainty at the time and just him coming to me, showing I could live a normal life again, it meant so much to me and my mom. I want to give a big thank you to him.”

Hamlin collapsed on the field after a collision with Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins on Jan. 2. The sight of an elite-level athlete nearly dying on the field sent a shock across the NFL and the world.

In the days and weeks after Hamlin’s collapse, his toy drive fundraiser received unexpected GoFundMe donations. “Chasing M’s” has since raised more than $9 million.

“Sudden cardiac arrest is something I never would have chosen to be a part of my story, but that’s because our own visions are too small even when we think we see the whole picture,” Hamlin said. “My vision was about playing in the NFL and being the best player I could be, but God’s plan was to have a purpose greater than any game in this world.”

Hamlin spent nearly a week in a Cincinnati hospital before being flown to Buffalo, where he spent a couple of days in the hospital before being released on Jan. 11. He has made steady progress in what will be a long recovery, appearing at the Bills facility before attending their divisional game against Cincinnati.

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Hamlin received the Alan Page Award on Wednesday and a standing ovation from his peers at “NFL Honors.”

“Every day I’m amazed that my experiences could encourage so many others across the country and even across the world – encourage to pray, encourage to spread love and encourage to keep fighting no matter the circumstances,” Hamlin said.

Hamlin has said he plans to support young people through education and sports with the GoFundMe donations. He also will use proceeds from the sale of new T-shirts, emblazoned with “Did We Win?” along with his hands in the shape of a heart, to raise money for the trauma center in Cincinnati that treated him.

“I told my teammates you might as well give the man of the year to Damar Hamlin, just for the way he’s galvanized our country, brought us together,” said Cowboys QB Dak Prescott, who was selected as the Walter Payton Man of the Year. “(He) made so many people understand the power of prayer, the power of community, the power of coming together and resiliency, not giving up and having faith.”

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