Sports Mythology: Tom the MVP

Why it’s ludicrous to think Tom Brady was this season’s most valuable player

In honor of yesterday’s inauguration of Donald Trump, it seemed like a relevant enough time to talk about Tom Brady; and more specifically, whether or not the star quarterback deserves to win this year’s MVP award. This shall be executed in the form of a new series, the “Sports Mythology” series, which aims to delve into some of the most popular narratives in sports that I disagree with and why. I’m hopeful that these brief, focused bits of debate can better showcase my mostly unpolished and undisclosed passion for everything sports. Now with the introduction — a particular deficiency in my writing, for sure — out of the way, let’s get back to the topic at hand: Tom Brady’s MVP legitimacy.

Tom Brady may very well be the greatest quarterback of all-time, or at least one of the top-5 candidates you could make a case for. Only a fool would think otherwise, and I’m no fool. That being said, Brady’s candidacy for the MVP this season is wrought with fallacy and misconception. The reason for this isn’t as much to do with Brady himself; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Brady’s been stellar, per usual, yet seems to have some specific numbers that many backers typically point to:

• 28/2

That’s the touchdown/interception ratio Brady finished with, which is the best TD/INT ratio in NFL history, and anything that’s the best in history is generally a very impressive thing. However, the previous record was held by Nick Foles. Yes, Nick Foles, the guy you probably don’t remember. He’s one of those guys who was definitely a big deal at one point in time, but became one of those guys who was definitely not a big deal after an extended period of time; basically like Jesse McCartney. Furthermore, the weight of this specific aspect of Brady’s efficiency is substantially mitigated.

There are certainly a monolith of other stats — most of which people much smarter than I would attest to — that also emphasize just how superb Brady’s play has been, and that’s all well and good. Indeed, Tom Brady surely played like an MVP, but it’s the rest of the field being considered that diminish his contention for the award. The two other most popular candidates are Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons, and Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers—another being Derek Carr, who unfortunately fell out of the race due to his crushing injury way back in week 16, eliminating any possible chances the Raiders had in the playoffs (as Conor Cook happily proved to us).

Now then, let’s first discuss the “BADDDDDDDD MAN”, Aaron Rodgers. There’s not much I can say — especially after these past two oh-so-glorious weeks—that will change any minds about Rodgers, since you should already know he’s the best overall quarterback in the league, and has been for a few years.

The whole “Run the table” stretch is synonymous with all football fans at this point, and for good reason, too. Starting in Week 12, Rodgers carried the Packers to six straight wins to the tune of a 15–0 TD/INT ratio and 1667 total yards, which is very good. Another aspect of Rodgers’ game that I can’t stress enough is his ability to move; moving in a way that makes it impossible for opposing defenses to stop him because of the time he creates for himself. Rodgers has good offensive weapons, yes, but not necessarily elite ones (Although Jordy Nelson did have a great season, it’s clear his past explosiveness wasn’t quit there. Even after losing Nelson to injury against the Giants, it was clear in the game against the Cowboys that Rodgers was still plenty capable of dismantling defenses). In the end, I just see this footage of arcane sorcery as the perfect summation of just how next-level Rodgers is:

Next up, Matt Ryan, whom I would personally pick to be this year’s MVP. Yes, I know, my whole spiel about Rodgers being the best in the league contradicts that. Don’t worry, I still firmly believe Rodgers is the best overall player, that won’t change. But the thing is, it’s about this season, and Ryan has performed at a historically elite level. Some quick numbers between the 3 QB’s:

• Ryan: 16 GP; 69.9% COMP%; 4944 PSYDS; 9.3 YPA; 38–7 TD/INT
• Rodgers: 16 GP; 65.7% COMP%; 4428 PSYDS; 7.3 YPA; 40–7 TD/INT
• Brady: 12 GP; 67.4% COMP%; 3554 PSYDS; 8.2 YPA; 28–2 TD/INT

Boom. So, aside from that godly TD/INT ratio from Brady, Matty Ice takes the cake. Ryan’s season was historically good—which is even crazier since, after all, nobody really expected this much from Falcons this season. The same team that fell apart after a strong start last season, and with no real proponents for them heading into this year, ended up scoring the 8th-most points in a single-season in NFL history, all thanks to an unstoppable mix of an elite passing game and balanced running game (both Tevin Coleman and Devonta Freeman being on the same team is borderline unfair at this point). Seriously, did you see what they did to the Seahawks last week?

It’s also noteworthy to mention that Ryan was still as efficient as the others even when his star receiver, Julio Jones (I’m telling you, black people with Hispanic first names, man) sitting on the sideline for times throughout the season — and, devastatingly, right when the Fantasy Football playoffs were underway, sending all of his owners into a berserker-rage.

So, yeah, the stats are clearly against Brady. That’s not all, though, because I wanted to discuss the most fundamentally basic thing about the MVP award; specifically, the word “valuable” and what I believe that means. My perspective on such a word is that, in theory, the most “valuable” player is the player who’s team would suffer the most without their contributions. Based on that, I can’t fathom why Tom Brady, with the evidence we’ve been given, was the most valuable player on their respective team this season.

Two reasons:

1. The Patriots went 3–1 without Brady, which is pretty astounding. I mean, they even won with Jacoby Brissett, their 3rd-string QB.
2. The quality of opponents the Patriots played leaves much to be desired. QB’s that Brady faced? Cody Kessler, Andy Dalton, Landry Jones (starting in place of Roethlisberger), Tyrod Taylor, Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jared Goff, Joe Flacco, Trevor Siemian, Bryce Petty, Matt Moore. They lost to the best quarterback, Russell Wilson, of that group. And some great, even decent, QB’s he didn’t have to face? Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan, Drew Brees, Derek Carr, Cam Newton, Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck, Marcus Mariota, Philip Rivers, Kirk Cousins, Matthew Stafford, and Dak Prescott.

You might argue that some of those guys weren’t that great this season, which is fair. Or, more importantly, you might argue some of their teams weren’t that great, which is also fair. But think about it, the Patriots didn’t play any of the best — Seahawks being the exception, and Steelers didn’t really count — teams this year: No Dallas, no Green Bay, no Oakland, no Atlanta, no Kansas City, and no New York Giants. We saw the Patriots go 3–1 without him, so are we certain not having Brady would’ve been as catastrophic as Rodgers and Ryan being absent? My answer is an unwavering no.

Make no mistake: Tom Brady is a special breed of special breeds, and we should celebrate him as such. The Patriots wouldn’t have the same monumental levels of success, because Tom Brady is very good at football. Despite all that, there’s just not enough substance to justify Brady’s contention for this year’s prestigious MVP honors. Perhaps he’ll win tomorrow against the Steelers, and win the Super Bowl, too. Perhaps he’s the greatest quarterback the league has ever seen. This year, however, his MVP status is a myth, and I consider that myth…[lowers newspaper, lifts sunglasses, smirks at camera]…busted.