NFL MVP

I don't know. I mean, Trout played in only 159 of the 162 games this season.

 

I'm fine with excluding Bell from the discussion. The Steelers didn't miss a beat with D'Angelo Williams as the bell cow, either. Never for a second thought Dak is an MVP candidate. You can make an argument for Elliot, I suppose, but it's really hard for RBs to win it these days.

Rodgers is throwing for only 258 y/g, well behind Brady's 306 or Matt Ryan's 309. Ryan's got a 32-7 TD/INT ratio (same as Rodgers) and a higher completion percentage than both of them at 68 percent. His 13.6 yards per completion is also higher than Brady or Rodgers.

Stafford is well behind in all those categories and Cousins has relatively terrible TD and INT numbers for this discussion.

Ryan has thrown at least one TD in every game, never more than one INT and he's only had two real stinkers (vs. SD and @PHI). He's also done it against a relatively strong schedule. If the season ended today, I'd probably vote for Ryan.

 

In 1962, Mickey Mantle was AL MVP despite playing in only 123 games. He led the league in walks, OBP, Slugging percentage and course OPS. That would seem a more accurate comparison. Like Mantle, Brady is an all-time great playing at the level that made him one despite missing a significant part of the season.

 

It was a joke.

And, the Patriots are a well-oiled machine who would win with Goff more times than not.

 

It's a travesty that wide receivers are just excluded from the conversation. You take antonio brown or beckham or julio off their teams and they'd be huge losses. They belong in the argument

 

I agree. Without Beckham, the Giants would be scoring about as much as the 49ers.

 

The Giants are scoring about as much as the 49ers.

 

Well taken point. So make my sentence "less than."

 

1. Just looked up more 1962 stats. Only alternative to Mantle, whose team did win pennant, would be Killebrew. Twins finished second and he led league in homers and RBI. But he also had way lower BA and OBP than Mantle. I mean, how can it be a joke when Mickey Mantle won an MVP?
2. There's a big difference between "win more often than not" and "best regular season record and favorite to make and win Super Bowl." That difference is Brady.

 

To the point about WRs, Brown or Julio Jones are probably having the best seasons, but neither of them has been transcendent, or even as productive as Zeke Elliott. Beckham is right there with those guys - he's become the first player to record 80 catches and 1,000 yards in each of his first three seasons and one of only three players ever to catch 10 TDs and crack 1,000 yards in each of his first three seasons - but he's still got less than 1,200 receiving yards.

Jerry Rice in his MVP season scored 22 TDs in 12 games (!) in the strike-shortened season.

Right or wrong, the argument against WRs will always be that they are too reliant on the QB for their success.

 

Rice didn't win the MVP. Elway won that year.

 

You're right, my mistake. Rice was named Pro Football Writers Association NFL MVP that season. Read it too quickly.