With four weeks left to go in the NFL season, the competition for the Most Valuable Player award has begun to heat up.
Right now, there are two players in contention to receive the award: New England Patriots’ Tom Brady and Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton.
Something we all predicted, right?
Well perhaps just Brady.
Brady has thrown 3,912 yards with 31 touchdowns, leading the league in both, and thrown only six interceptions. His dominant play has led the Patriots to a 10-2 record.
On the other side, Newton has thrown 2,797 yards with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Not nearly as impressive as Brady, but where Newton really stands out is in his running game.
On 108 attempts this season, Newton has rushed for 476 yards and seven touchdowns, which is good for 29th in the league.
This season, Newton became the 10th quarterback in NFL history to accumulate more than 3,000 rushing yards in a career.
Newton also has 30 games under his belt with at least one passing and rushing touchdown, just one shy of Steve Young’s record.
Although the numbers play an important part in the MVP voting, fans have turned the MVP title into a numbers award, which it’s not.
The MVP award should go to the player that the team would not be as successful without.
When you look at the Patriots, their receiving core is stacked with playmakers such as Rob Gronkowski, Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman, which makes life for any quarterback much easier.
Granted, the Patriots have run into some injuries that have sidelined many of their receivers in the past weeks, a time in which the Patriots have dropped their only two games of the season.
That brings us to Newton.
Apart from Greg Olsen, Newton does not have a strong receiving core.
After a season-ending ACL tear for Kelvin Benjamin, the team’s leading receiver in 2014, questions were raised as to whether the team could contend in the NFC South, despite being the first team to win the division in back-to-back years.
I recall the ESPN articles saying how the Panthers were doomed for failure and how they would be lucky enough to reach seven wins.
Which, at the time, was a valid argument.
Newton’s No. 1 receiver is Ted Ginn Jr., who is second in the league in dropped passes.
Yet, despite the lack of weapons around him, Newton has found ways to win. His Panthers stand as the only unbeaten team at 12-0.
Newton has gone into CenturyLink Field and led a fourth-quarter comeback to beat Seattle at home. He has closed out games against Green Bay and Indianapolis, two teams who were favored to reach the Super Bowl. And he has found ways to score points on days when his defense was struggling.
He does so, not by throwing 400 yards a game, but by being an obstacle for defense with his ability to make big plays. The league has simply not seen a player quite like him, a dual threat who can compete with his arm and his legs.
That doesn’t take away from the MVP-type season Brady is having in New England.
But Newton’s game just seems to be getting better as the season progresses, including throwing five touchdown passes during two of his last three games.
If the season ended today, I think Newton would have the edge over Brady. And if Newton and the Panthers can run the table and finish the season undefeated, there is no question that Newton will be the first Heisman trophy winner to win MVP in NFL history.
micbhern@indiana.edu
