Brady for MVP this year or is there someone more deserving?

[PatsFanInVa]

God, somebody fed the "5 interceptions in 4 games" line into every idiot's Narrative Machine, not to mention into the vacuum between the ears of some fans.

No, it's not a good number. Over a season, that's a Favre-esque number (20 for 16 games). However that has not happened.

This is a terrible, horrible stretch, in Brady terms. Five INTs is a bad game in terms of the Favrevruhs and Mannings of the world. Actually, 6 interceptions is a bad game for those guys.

Now, if you're finding reasons to argue against Brady, I guess you could hang your hat on that 4-game stat. I don't care much for the MVP thing, I'm just irritated by the newest parroted "stat"... 5 interceptions in 4 games! Tribulations such as never have been witnessed before!

I'd rather our familiar 1 per quarter (year) pace. But if that's the Brady-bash for the next 5 years... you remember when he threw 5 picks in 4 games... I think the people who repeat this so credulously and vapidly, need to look around at the rest of the league, and at the other QBs who got nothing but love from fans and the league, while throwing 6-pick games.

Edit - that was just Favrevruh with a 6-interception game. Manning's hit 4. So has Brady.

 

[K. Dog]

I think Brady will win the award but I hope he doesn't. Winning the award will hurt the Patriots repeat chances in the following ways:

1. It plays into the media narrative that the league favors the Patriots.

2. It distracts the attention of fans and players from the goal of team wins to the goal of individual performances. It devalues the importance of the other players on the Patriots.

3. Similar to 2, but it would I think hurt the narrative that Belichick tries to instill in players that the goal of players should be team wins, not individual honors.

4. It would give the Patriots or Brady one less chip on their shoulder, and could detract from their motivation. I think Ryan winning the MVP hurt him in the Super Bowl last year actually, by subtly pressuring him to try to play like and MVP and not play to win; and by motivating the Patriots by its apparent unfairness.

5. Similar to 2 and 3, it helps the prestige of the award, and thus of the importance of individual awards. One of the advantages the Patriots generally has over other teams is their lack of attention to these awards.

By contrast, there are no significant benefits whatsoever to Brady from this award.

So I see a number of bad things happening if Brady wins, and no good things. In fact, I'm confused by the behavior of fans on this board who both seem to view the award as important (which is wrong) and believe Brady should win it (which is perplexing).

 

[Deus Irae]

I think Brady will win the award but I hope he doesn't. Winning the award will hurt the Patriots repeat chances in the following ways:

1. It plays into the media narrative that the league favors the Patriots.

2. It distracts the attention of fans and players from the goal of team wins to the goal of individual performances.

3. Similar to 2, but it would I think hurt the narrative that Belichick tries to instill in players that the goal of players should be team wins, not individual honors.

4. It would give the Patriots or Brady one less chip on their shoulder, and could detract from their motivation. I think Ryan winning the MVP hurt him in the Super Bowl last year actually, by subtly pressuring him to try to play like and MVP and not play to win; and by motivating the Patriots by its apparent unfairness.

5. Similar to 2 and 3, it helps the prestige of the award, and thus of the importance of individual awards. One of the advantages the Patriots generally has over other teams is their lack of attention to these awards.

By contrast, there are no significant benefits whatsoever to Brady from this award.

So I see a number of bad things happening if Brady wins, and no good things. In fact, I'm confused by the behavior of fans on this board who both seem to view the award as important (which is wrong) and believe Brady should win it (which is perplexing).

Brady winning the MVP would not hurt the Patriots chances of repeating, in any way.

 

[supafly]

I think Brady will win the award but I hope he doesn't. Winning the award will hurt the Patriots repeat chances in the following ways:

1. It plays into the media narrative that the league favors the Patriots.

2. It distracts the attention of fans and players from the goal of team wins to the goal of individual performances. It devalues the importance of the other players on the Patriots.

3. Similar to 2, but it would I think hurt the narrative that Belichick tries to instill in players that the goal of players should be team wins, not individual honors.

4. It would give the Patriots or Brady one less chip on their shoulder, and could detract from their motivation. I think Ryan winning the MVP hurt him in the Super Bowl last year actually, by subtly pressuring him to try to play like and MVP and not play to win; and by motivating the Patriots by its apparent unfairness.

5. Similar to 2 and 3, it helps the prestige of the award, and thus of the importance of individual awards. One of the advantages the Patriots generally has over other teams is their lack of attention to these awards.

By contrast, there are no significant benefits whatsoever to Brady from this award.

So I see a number of bad things happening if Brady wins, and no good things. In fact, I'm confused by the behavior of fans on this board who both seem to view the award as important (which is wrong) and believe Brady should win it (which is perplexing).

I don’t think you need to concern yourself with Belichick or anyone else ever thinking that Tom Brady is going to be focused on an individual achievement. That’s never going to happen.

 

[Ring 6]

God, somebody fed the "5 interceptions in 4 games" line into every idiot's Narrative Machine, not to mention into the vacuum between the ears of some fans.

No, it's not a good number. Over a season, that's a Favre-esque number (20 for 16 games). However that has not happened.

This is a terrible, horrible stretch, in Brady terms. Five INTs is a bad game in terms of the Favrevruhs and Mannings of the world. Actually, 6 interceptions is a bad game for those guys.

Now, if you're finding reasons to argue against Brady, I guess you could hang your hat on that 4-game stat. I don't care much for the MVP thing, I'm just irritated by the newest parroted "stat"... 5 interceptions in 4 games! Tribulations such as never have been witnessed before!

I'd rather our familiar 1 per quarter (year) pace. But if that's the Brady-bash for the next 5 years... you remember when he threw 5 picks in 4 games... I think the people who repeat this so credulously and vapidly, need to look around at the rest of the league, and at the other QBs who got nothing but love from fans and the league, while throwing 6-pick games.

Edit - that was just Favrevruh with a 6-interception game. Manning's hit 4. So has Brady.

Didn’t manning throw 6 in a playoff game?

 

[Deus Irae]

Didn’t manning throw 6 in a playoff game?

Colts v. Chargers, 2007

NFL Passes Intercepted Single Game Leaders | Pro-Football-Reference.com

 

[Uptown]

No knock on Brady at all. Just informative.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

I don't think Brady has been playing MVP quality football these last 3 weeks, but I still think his overall body of work this year will have him win it by default unless Todd Gurley figures out a way to get like 500 all-purpose yards in week 17

 

[RobertWeathers]

I think once Hogan comes back Tom's pre Thanksgiving play will as well.

 

[mosslost]

As Deus said several weeks ago, with Manning, the sports media had looked for reasons to award him the MVP; with Brady, they look for reasons to deny him the MVP.

Brady deserves it for this year and for years that he should have or was close (11, 14, 15, even 16 possibly)

 

[mosslost]

I think once Hogan comes back Tom's pre Thanksgiving play will as well.

The year he has had with no Edleman and mostly no Hogan is MVP worthy.

 

[363839]

I don't think Brady has been playing MVP quality football these last 3 weeks, but I still think his overall body of work this year will have him win it by default unless Todd Gurley figures out a way to get like 500 all-purpose yards in week 17

Yeah that Gurley guy has been climbing the charts with a bullet. But not enough to overcome TB, I don't think.

 

[RobertWeathers]

The year he has had with no Edleman and mostly no Hogan is MVP worthy.

No question.

Still hanging 29ppg and 4th qtr comebacks in the process.

 

[TB12TheGoat]

no welker or edelman for the first time in 10 years

 

[borg]

ESPN has a very detailed MVP comparison...Gurley vs Brady

Barnwell: Todd Gurley's surging case for MVP, and why the GOAT still has an edge

Two points that received little or no attention in this article but deserve mention IMO:
1) The Rams making a quantum leap from a 4 win team to a potential 12 win team while NE will likely win one less game year over year. Everyone's definition of MVP is different and voters love to reward rags to riches narratives
2) 50 voting media members from across the nation will have their say and we all know how most of America feels about NE.

Countering these points:
1) Brady's age should earn him plenty of goodwill
2) The wins, the consistency.
Unfortunately, too often this endless stream of excellence gets taken for granted.

 

[sean10mm]

Maybe MVP voters are sick of picking guys with no playoff history, or a history of getting punked in the playoffs, which devalues the award?

 

[HailHydra]

I love Brady and the Patriots but this isn't an MVP season for any QB in the NFL (except what Carson Wentz was going through). Brady hasn't put up the amazing numbers (especially over the last few weeks) that he has in previous MVP-caliber seasons, and he hasn't faced the lack of talent as he did in say, 2013. Brady has a LOT of talent he has the potential to utilize on offense and he is partially at fault for having games closer than they should be. That being said, other than Carson Wentz, Brady still played like the best QB in the NFL this year - but it was a statistically off season for QBs in general. Instead, I feel that Gurley would be a better representation of MVP due to his crazy stats, and his ability to take over games throughout the season. I might be a bit biased towards him since I owned him in Fantasy, but he put up a really special season this year - something which none of the current NFL QBs had done.

 

[TB12TheGoat]

yet manning can win with 27/12 and 33/16 (the same year Brees had 34/11 and Favre had 33/7)

 

[363839]

Well that game in Miami didn't help.

 

[sean10mm]

I mean, the idea that Brady is slumping after a game where he completed 75% of his passes for 8.0 yards/attempt and had a 106.8 passer rating is... curious.

Likewise the idea that leading the league in completions, yards and yards per attempt as the QB of the likely #1 seed in the AFC isn't an MVP resume.