NFL MVP: Who is Leading the Race?
The NFL MVP race has begun. Halfway through the season we have seen our front runners. However, nobody is playing better than New England’s quarterback. At this point, Tom Brady would have to have a major collapse to not win his third league MVP award. Let’s see why.
Before going into week 10, Brady has thrown 22 touchdown passes along with two rushing touchdowns all while only throwing two interceptions. Brady has the most touchdowns (24) as a quarterback this season and at the same time has the least amount of interceptions as a starting quarterback.
With 2,705 passing yards, Brady ranks third in the league only behind Phillip Rivers and Drew Brees. This season, Brady has not allowed his team to score less than 27 points and has yet to throw less than two touchdowns in a single game. He has yet to throw less than 275 yards in a game this season with his biggest game against Buffalo in week two, when he threw 466 yards and three touchdowns. These numbers are ridiculous.
All of this is being accomplished with a starting offensive lineup that has been changed many times throughout the season. Brady is also leading the NFL in quarterback rating at 113.5, which is the most important stat in determining a quarterback’s efficiency.
However, Brady isn’t the only one competing for MVP. Carolina Panther’s quarterback Cam Newton may not have the numbers or nearly the amount of talent on the offense that Brady has. Nevertheless, he sure has the will and
determination to win and this is proven through the 8-0 record the Panthers boast.While Newton ranks 23rd in passing yards and has thrown nine interceptions, he still makes a great case for the MVP race. Newton has 343 rushing yards which leads all quarterbacks in the league. His 14 passing touchdowns ranks 12th in the league. To go along with that, his five rushing touchdowns makes him the leader of all the starting quarterbacks in that category. He is ahead of Jameis Winston and Joe Flacco who each have three rushing touchdowns with the rest of the quarterbacks falling short of that.
Those five rushing touchdowns ties Newton with six running backs in the league. The only running backs with more rushing touchdowns than Newton are Chris Ivory with six and Devonta Freeman with nine. Newton is also accomplishing all of this without his star receiver, who went down in preseason with a season ending injury.
A true test for Brady was in week 10. Even though it didn’t look like a tough match up on paper, the game against the New York Giants was a challenge for Brady. Eli Manning and the Giants have proven to be Brady’s kryptonite as Brady’s only two super bowl losses have been against the Giants. Tom Brady is on pace to exceed the numbers he put up in 2011, when he lost his second super bowl to the Giants. In 2011, he posted 5,235 passing yards, 39 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. That is the only year he threw more than 5,000 yards.
Tom Brady shows no sign of slowing down and continues to play at a Hall of Fame level. Is he getting better at the age of 38? Absolutely. As Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan has said, “What’s wrong with him? That quarterback never gets worse.”
