Bill Simmons argues Brady for MVP

[T-ShirtDynasty]

Apologies if this has been posted, hadn't noticed it before.

Here's my criterion for an MVP in any sport: Remove the player in question and replace him with an above-average player. What would the team's record look like? Under this criterion, you can rule out Shaun Alexander. Replace him with someone like Reuben Droughns and I still think Seattle goes 10-6 or 11-5 with that cream-puff schedule. Besides, if Alexander were truly the most valuable player in football, don't you think Seattle would have re-signed him by now? Do you think the Giants would be going into the offseason with Tiki Barber unsigned? What about K.C. with Larry Johnson? No and no. I can't give someone an MVP whose own team doesn't care whether he's signed. That's ridiculous.

You can rule out Peyton Manning and Edgerrin James, too. Replace them with an above-average QB (let's say Mark Brunell) or an above-average RB (Rudi Johnson) and the Colts are still 10-6 or 11-5 with their defense and all those offensive weapons. As for Barber, I might have voted for him a week ago, and only because that Giants team would have been 6-10 or 7-9 with an above-average running back in his place (let's say Domanick Davis). But after watching them get kicked around by the Skins last week, I don't think they're a championship-caliber team -- it's hard to imagine the Giants having a league MVP when they probably aren't getting out of the first round.

That leaves Tom Brady. If you replaced him with someone like Jake Delhomme or Drew Bledsoe, the Patriots would have been 1-7 after eight games. I'm telling you. He held them together when they were banged-up and ready to roll over. And in a similar situation, sure, maybe Manning would have held the Colts together … but the fact remains, only six teams have a legitimate chance to win the Super Bowl (Indy, New England, Cincy, Denver, Chicago and Seattle) and only one of those six teams is in that position because of one guy and one guy alone. Not only did Brady hold the fort when the injuries kept piling up, he raised his game to another level and pretty much carried them for two straight months. Now that's an MVP.


http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/051230



Yeah, he's a homer... but he's a good homer.

 

[Brownfan80]

Apologies if this has been posted, hadn't noticed it before.

Here's my criterion for an MVP in any sport: Remove the player in question and replace him with an above-average player. What would the team's record look like? Under this criterion, you can rule out Shaun Alexander. Replace him with someone like Reuben Droughns and I still think Seattle goes 10-6 or 11-5 with that cream-puff schedule. Besides, if Alexander were truly the most valuable player in football, don't you think Seattle would have re-signed him by now? Do you think the Giants would be going into the offseason with Tiki Barber unsigned? What about K.C. with Larry Johnson? No and no. I can't give someone an MVP whose own team doesn't care whether he's signed. That's ridiculous.

You can rule out Peyton Manning and Edgerrin James, too. Replace them with an above-average QB (let's say Mark Brunell) or an above-average RB (Rudi Johnson) and the Colts are still 10-6 or 11-5 with their defense and all those offensive weapons. As for Barber, I might have voted for him a week ago, and only because that Giants team would have been 6-10 or 7-9 with an above-average running back in his place (let's say Domanick Davis). But after watching them get kicked around by the Skins last week, I don't think they're a championship-caliber team -- it's hard to imagine the Giants having a league MVP when they probably aren't getting out of the first round.

That leaves Tom Brady. If you replaced him with someone like Jake Delhomme or Drew Bledsoe, the Patriots would have been 1-7 after eight games. I'm telling you. He held them together when they were banged-up and ready to roll over. And in a similar situation, sure, maybe Manning would have held the Colts together … but the fact remains, only six teams have a legitimate chance to win the Super Bowl (Indy, New England, Cincy, Denver, Chicago and Seattle) and only one of those six teams is in that position because of one guy and one guy alone. Not only did Brady hold the fort when the injuries kept piling up, he raised his game to another level and pretty much carried them for two straight months. Now that's an MVP.


http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/051230



Yeah, he's a homer... but he's a good homer.

The writer may be a homer, but I don't think that piece is homer-tastic. I'm the furthest thing from a homer on this site and I completely agree with this. He's right about it 100%.

 

[T-ShirtDynasty]

The writer may be a homer, but I don't think that piece is homer-tastic. I'm the furthest thing from a homer on this site and I completely agree with this. He's right about it 100%.

I agree with you 100%. I think this is right on. I only mentioned he's a homer before some Troll came along to point it out, we all know Simmons is a Pats fan.

 

[PATSNUTme]

I agree with you 100%. I think this is right on. I only mentioned he's a homer before some Troll came along to point it out, we all know Simmons is a Pats fan.

Actually there was a little blurb in the Sporting News Magazine under "Scouts opinion". These "scouts" give the MVP to Brady.

 

[Tony Collins]

Apologies if this has been posted, hadn't noticed it before.

Here's my criterion for an MVP in any sport: Remove the player in question and replace him with an above-average player. What would the team's record look like? Under this criterion, you can rule out Shaun Alexander. Replace him with someone like Reuben Droughns and I still think Seattle goes 10-6 or 11-5 with that cream-puff schedule. Besides, if Alexander were truly the most valuable player in football, don't you think Seattle would have re-signed him by now? Do you think the Giants would be going into the offseason with Tiki Barber unsigned? What about K.C. with Larry Johnson? No and no. I can't give someone an MVP whose own team doesn't care whether he's signed. That's ridiculous.

You can rule out Peyton Manning and Edgerrin James, too. Replace them with an above-average QB (let's say Mark Brunell) or an above-average RB (Rudi Johnson) and the Colts are still 10-6 or 11-5 with their defense and all those offensive weapons. As for Barber, I might have voted for him a week ago, and only because that Giants team would have been 6-10 or 7-9 with an above-average running back in his place (let's say Domanick Davis). But after watching them get kicked around by the Skins last week, I don't think they're a championship-caliber team -- it's hard to imagine the Giants having a league MVP when they probably aren't getting out of the first round.

That leaves Tom Brady. If you replaced him with someone like Jake Delhomme or Drew Bledsoe, the Patriots would have been 1-7 after eight games. I'm telling you. He held them together when they were banged-up and ready to roll over. And in a similar situation, sure, maybe Manning would have held the Colts together … but the fact remains, only six teams have a legitimate chance to win the Super Bowl (Indy, New England, Cincy, Denver, Chicago and Seattle) and only one of those six teams is in that position because of one guy and one guy alone. Not only did Brady hold the fort when the injuries kept piling up, he raised his game to another level and pretty much carried them for two straight months. Now that's an MVP.


http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/051230



Yeah, he's a homer... but he's a good homer.

Took awhile but I got it. Let's see. You go 3-5 against teams with winning records, you should be MVP.

Thought I was slow.

 

[Drewwho]

Hey, I am a huge Brady backer, but to say Alexander is not deserving because he is not signed is a bit overboard. This is homerism at it's highest degree.

Tom Brady will not win the MVP this season or any to come, but he will win more SB's and frankly that is all that matters!

 

[Tony Collins]

The writer may be a homer, but I don't think that piece is homer-tastic. I'm the furthest thing from a homer on this site and I completely agree with this. He's right about it 100%.

So the fact that they were 4-4 after 8 games means he should be MVP.

With spectacular losses to the Chargers and Colts at home. Denver and Carolina on the road. with wins against Atlanta, Oakland, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh.

I don't think it's even close.

 

[mtbykr]

Well

He may be a homer, but let's not forget that he's right!

 

[coltshater]

So the fact that they were 4-4 after 8 games means he should be MVP.

With spectacular losses to the Chargers and Colts at home. Denver and Carolina on the road. with wins against Atlanta, Oakland, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh.

I don't think it's even close.

Brady can only play quarterback. The issue with the team early on was the defense; they were giving up about 29 points per game. The Patriots defense was so bad that they had to rely on the offense to outscore the other teams. The offense was also missing Givens, Dillon, Faulk, Light. Brady kept the offense moving inspite of the missing personnel. I would like to see how Manning would do under similar circumstances.

 

[pats1]

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?t=28489

 

[Brownfan80]

So the fact that they were 4-4 after 8 games means he should be MVP.

With spectacular losses to the Chargers and Colts at home. Denver and Carolina on the road. with wins against Atlanta, Oakland, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh.

I don't think it's even close.

With what we had to contend with this season and that early schedule, to come out still set up to win the AFCE is an amazing feat. And that feat is entirely on Tom Brady's right shoulder. So absolutely. We started with the hardest schedule in the league through 8 weeks and lost both our OC and DC along with half the starting OL and DBs in that span, not to mention fielding two new starters at ILB and losing Richard Seymour for most of that 4-4 stretch. Tom Brady saved our season by getting us to 4-4 and in position to do what we've done in the second half as we've gotten healthier. If we'd had pretty much ANY other QB we'd have gone at best 2-6 and we would be sweating bullets right now about this game with Miami as it would actually mean something.

 

[Tony Collins]

Brady can only play quarterback. The issue with the team early on was the defense; they were giving up about 29 points per game. The Patriots defense was so bad that they had to rely on the offense to outscore the other teams. The offense was also missing Givens, Dillon, Faulk, Light. Brady kept the offense moving inspite of the missing personnel. I would like to see how Manning would do under similar circumstances.

Oh spare me. He won one game he wasn't supposed to win. That was against Pitt. He was nowhere against San Diego. He played poorly at Carolina. And the Denver game was embarrassing.

So, he beat the Raiders, Bills and Falcons (without Vick)

Sorry, it's not exactly an MVP resume.

 

[coltshater]

Oh spare me. He won one game he wasn't supposed to win. That was against Pitt. He was nowhere against San Diego. He played poorly at Carolina. And the Denver game was embarrassing.

So, he beat the Raiders, Bills and Falcons (without Vick)

Sorry, it's not exactly an MVP resume.

You should try watching some of these games before you comment. Your man love for Manning clouds your judgement. FYI - Vick is awful.

 

[Patjew]

Oh spare me. He won one game he wasn't supposed to win. That was against Pitt. He was nowhere against San Diego. He played poorly at Carolina. And the Denver game was embarrassing.

So, he beat the Raiders, Bills and Falcons (without Vick)

Sorry, it's not exactly an MVP resume.

Who's your choice for MVP?

And why do you seem so angry?

 

[Bella*chick]

Sorry, it's not exactly an MVP resume.

*snicker* no, but it IS a HoF one.

Wow, yet another person who thinks VICK RULZ. How utterly predictable and hilarious.

 

[marty]

Who's your choice for MVP?

And why do you seem so angry?

You'll have to forgive him, he's a frustrated colt fan.

 

[Tony Collins]

*snicker* no, but it IS a HoF one.

Wow, yet another person who thinks VICK RULZ. How utterly predictable and hilarious.

Nope. Don't think Vick rules. The team is better with him than Matt Shaub.

Never said he wasn't a hall of famer.

 

[Tony Collins]

You'll have to forgive him, he's a frustrated colt fan.

Not frustrated at all. Enjoying this season and seasons past tremendously.

You know, it was very funny around here before the November game. I seem to remember Patriot fans delighting in whether or not it would snow, how many pics Manning would throw, Belichick inside their heads.

And then !!!!! 40-21.....Then it got very quiet areound here.

The posts all looked like "We are a very mediocre team now"
"We will win a weak division"

Just then.....5 out of 6 with the one loss coming to the only good team in that stretch and your'e all jacked up. It will make beating you guys so much more fun. If you get by Jacksonville or Pittsburgh first.

 

[Tony Collins]

Who's your choice for MVP?

And why do you seem so angry?

My choice for MVP would have been Barber. Giants are 4-12 without him.

Regardless of what Simmons says.

 

[coltshater]

My choice for MVP would have been Barber. Giants are 4-12 without him.

Regardless of what Simmons says.

I think your real choice is anyone but Brady, just a hunch.