How can you vote against a guy with 49 touchdown passes and a 121.1 passer rating? Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

With the 2004 regular season in the books, it's time for our year-end awards. The envelopes please. ...

• Most Valuable Player: Peyton Manning, Indianapolis -- Call me crazy, but I let my head get turned by those 49 touchdown passes and that 121.1 passer rating. Manning's chase of Dan Marino's record got a little overblown toward the end, but that wasn't his fault. In 2004, he was the best player at the game's most crucial position. If there was a runner-up vote, I'd have given it to the still-overlooked Tom Brady of New England. All he does is win.

• Offensive Player of the Year: Peyton Manning, Indianapolis -- Gaudy numbers were Manning's specialty this season. And no one rolled up more of them than the Colts' coolly-efficient quarterback. It's tough to imagine him ever topping his 2004 production.

• Defensive Player of the Year: James Farrior, Pittsburgh -- I wanted to vote for Baltimore strong safety Ed Reed, who seems to have the football perpetually glued to his hands. But every time I saw Farrior play this season, he was everywhere, making plays that helped the Steelers win. And win. And win some more. He was the best player on the league's best defense. Case closed.

* Coach of the Year: Bill Belichick, New England -- I said it at midseason, and I'll say it again: We usually over-think this award, and believe it has to go to the coach whose club showed the biggest improvement (such as San Diego's Marty Schottenheimer). But to ignore the job turned in this year by Belichick -- who week in and week out was head and shoulders better than his peers -- would be a crime. The Patriots dealt with The Streak, every opponent's A game, and an injury-decimated secondary, and still went 14-2. Until further notice, this award belongs to Belichick.

• Comeback Player of the Year: Drew Brees, San Diego -- Buffalo running back Willis McGahee and Carolina linebacker Mark Fields had the more traditional comebacks, surmounting injury or illness. But it was Brees who covered the most ground, making his career relevant again after everyone -- San Diego management included -- had written him off as mere window dressing before the dawn of the Philip Rivers era. Sometimes it's great to see ourselves proven wrong.

• Offensive Rookie of the Year: Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh -- All the time, money and energy that teams spend preparing for the NFL draft has but one purpose: To find players who can come in and help you win immediately. Has anyone anywhere ever done that better than Roethlisberger, who takes his splashy 13-0 record as a starter into the playoffs? This pick was a bigger slam dunk than Manning for MVP, and that's saying something.

* Defensive Rookie of the Year: Jonathan Vilma, N.Y. Jets -- There was real competition for this honor, but in the end, Vilma had the credentials to beat out the likes of Houston cornerback Dunta Robinson, Jets safety Erik Coleman, Denver linebacker D.J. Williams, and Cincinnati safety Madieu Williams. Vilma's interception return for a touchdown Sunday in St. Louis sealed the deal for him.

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• Offensive Assistant of the Year: Cam Cameron, San Diego -- I've got loads of respect for the job that unsung Colts offensive coordinator Tom Moore does, but if I would have told you at the beginning of the season that the Chargers were going to score 446 points -- third most in the NFL -- and win 12 games, you would have laughed me off the Internet. Moore has amazing weapons at his disposal. Cameron, the Bolts' offensive coordinator, started the year with LaDainian Tomlinson and a host of question marks.

• Defensive Assistant of the Year: Gregg Williams, Washington -- Kudos to the work that Wade Phillips, Dick LeBeau and Donnie Henderson did with San Diego, Pittsburgh and the Jets, respectively. But Williams, the Redskins' assistant head coach/defense, molded a tough, tenacious unit that held 12 of its 16 opponents to 18 points or less, which by all rights should have made the Redskins a playoff team. And Williams did it without having the services of either LaVar Arrington or Michael Barrow for much or all of the year. Williams will be a head coach again in this league. Book it.

• Story of the Year: The never-ending exploits of Terrell Owens -- The whole Ricky Williams saga bored me to tears, and while historic, Peyton Manning's pursuit of the single-season record for touchdown passes took on the air of a foregone conclusion by Thanksgiving. But nothing ever seems boring or anticlimactic when it comes to T.O. I'll give him this: The man knows how to make news. And it wasn't all fluff with Owens in 2004. He also played some of the best football of his nine-year NFL career.

• Front Office Executive of the Year: Scott Pioli, New England -- At the risk of ticking off all those folks out there who are tired of the Patriots worship -- and you know who you are -- New England's vice president of player personnel gets the nod for the job he does of keeping the roster a well-oiled machine of interchangeable parts. For part of the season's second half, the Patriots were playing with the likes of Earthwind Moreland, Randall Gay, and Don Davis in the secondary -- and winning. Deserved nods also go out to San Diego GM A.J. Smith and Atlanta GM Rich McKay.

• Best Offseason Acquisition: Terrell Owens -- As soon as he suited up in green, we found out just why Owens fought so long and hard to stay out of Baltimore and hook up with Donovan McNabb and the Eagles. The injured Owens may not be around to help Philly win a Super Bowl, but they wouldn't be in as strong a position to get to Jacksonville if it weren't for his stellar 14 games of regular season play. Bonus: He didn't win his bet with Andy Reid, thus averting the roly-poly head coach's donning of spandex shorts.

• Worst Offseason Acquisition: Mark Brunell -- For most of the year, it was tough to figure out who in Washington looked more past his prime: Brunell, the team's worthless would-be franchise quarterback, or Joe Gibbs, the head coach who went out and drastically overpaid to land him. We know now. It was Brunell by a healthy margin. One footnote: You had to be really bad to beat Warren Sapp out for this honor.

• Surprise of the Year: The San Diego Chargers -- Some thought the Chargers wouldn't even win as many games as they did in 2003, when their 4-12 record earned them the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. But they flipped those digits, earned their first division title in 10 years, and their first playoff trip in nine. A franchise that looked lost now seems poised for better days. On behalf of NFL writers who travel, we thank you, Chargers.

• Flop of the Year: Dallas Cowboys -- Yeah, we know the chalk pick is the Chiefs, who were supposed to be a Super Bowl contender again after that 13-3 record in 2003. But that record was something of a fluke to begin with, because a team with that many holes on defense will never win a ring. The Cowboys, however, were supposed to be young and on their way up behind a strong defense and the genius of head coach Bill Parcells. But last year's surprise 10-6 gave way to 6-10, and the Cowboys appeared disinterested and undisciplined for much of the season.

• Game of the Year -- It was also the first game of the season, and I happen to think it was never improved upon: New England 27, Indianapolis 24, on opening night at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. In a rematch of last season's AFC title game, the game turns late in the fourth quarter, on an Edgerrin James fumble at the one and a costly 12-yard Manning sack. Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt misses a 48-yard field goal attempt with 19 seconds remaining, snapping his NFL record streak and dooming Indy to another frustrating loss to New England.

2004 Banks Shots All-Pro Team

OFFENSE

Wide receiver -- Muhsin Muhammad, Carolina, and Terrell Owens, Philadelphia.
Tight end -- Antonio Gates, San Diego.
Tackle -- Willie Roaf, Kansas City LT, Willie Anderson, Cincinnati, RT.
Guard -- Alan Faneca, Pittsburgh LG, Will Shields, Kansas City, RG.
Center -- Jeff Hartings, Pittsburgh.
Quarterback -- Peyton Manning, Indianapolis.
Running back-- Tiki Barber, N.Y. Giants, Curtis Martin, N.Y. Jets
Fullback -- William Henderson, Green Bay.

DEFENSE

Defensive end -- Dwight Freeney, Indianapolis, and Julius Peppers, Carolina.
Defensive tackle -- Richard Seymour, New England, and Kevin Williams, Minnesota.
Outside linebacker -- Marcus Washington, Washington, Terrell Suggs, Baltimore.
Insider linebacker -- James Farrior, Pittsburgh, Donnie Edwards, San Diego.
Cornerback -- Shawn Springs, Washington, Ronde Barber, Tampa Bay.
Safety -- Ed Reed, Baltimore, SS, Brian Dawkins, Philadelphia, FS.

SPECIALISTS

Place Kicker -- Adam Vinatieri, New England.
Punter -- Mike Scifres, San Diego.
Returns -- Eddie Drummond, Detroit.

Don Banks covers pro football for SI.com.