Pro Football Writers announce awards

The Professional Football Writers of America announced the winners of their annual awards, headed by New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who was named winner of the Halas Award in voting by PFWA members.

The PFWA is an organization working to ensure that the independent media has equal access to NFL players and coaches. Its membership, primarily made up of daily newspaper reporters and columnists -- which does not include pseudo media employed and paid by NFL teams and the league -- strives to present unbiased information to football fans and general readers alike.

Other winners were San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson, the Good Guy Award; AFC Information Manager Steve Alic, the Horrigan Award; the Houston Texas public relations department, the Rozelle Award and ESPN.com's John Clayton, the McCann Award.

-- Brees, who suffered a shoulder injury in the final game of the 2005 season while playing for the Chargers, signed with the Saints in the off-season and helped the team to a 10-6 record while passing for 4,418 yards and 26 touchdowns. The Halas Award recognizes an individual in the NFL who overcame the most adversity to succeed.

Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer was one of five finalists and received votes.

-- Tomlinson's Good Guy Award goes to the player who best helped the media do its job.

-- The Horrigan Award, won by Alic, goes to the person -- not a player or team public relations staffer -- who helped the media best do its job.

-- For the Texans, it was their second Rozelle Award (to the P.R. staff that best helped the media do its job). They also won the award in 2004.

The Bengals' PR staff -- director Jack Brennan, assistant director P.J. Combs and Inky Moore -- won the award in 2005 and was not eligible in 2006.

-- The McCann Award, won by Clayton, honors one of its members for distinguished service. Clayton has been with ESPN since 1998, and began his fulltime writing and reporting career with The Pittsburgh Press in 1976.