New England Patriots: Tom Brady Will Be the 2017 NFL MVP
By Stephen Ur
Heading into the 2017 season, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will be a front-runner for NFL MVP.
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady only played 12 games during the 2016 NFL regular season. During those 12 games, however, he put on one of the most impressive performances in NFL history. He threw 28 touchdown passes and just two interceptions.
Despite the amazing performance, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan went on to win the 2016 NFL MVP award. Fret not, Patriots fans. Tom Brady will win the NFL MVP award next season.
Brady completed his amazing performances against some of the easiest secondaries and defenses in the NFL in 2016. The biggest challenge he faced was the Denver Broncos defense that has Demarcus Ware, Super Bowl 50 MVP Von Miller, Aqib Talib and Chris Harris, Jr. He threw for 188 yards against that defense.
2017 is looking like more of the same. Looking at the opponents the Patriots will face, they will play the Broncos once more in Denver and the Kansas City Chiefs in Foxboro. Those two are the biggest challenges Brady will go up against defensively.
Let it also be noted that in that Denver game, Brady didn’t have his favorite target in Rob Gronkowski. With Gronk coming back in 2017 from a back injury, that should make Brady’s job against this great Denver defense that much easier.
Not only that, but the emergence of wide receiver Chris Hogan will help things, as well. Hogan broke out with a nine-catch, 180 yard performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game. Expect him to continue to be a playmaker on offense.
Even without these top targets, however, Brady still could make things happen on his own. To overcome the 28-3 deficit, Brady used running back James White to lead the Patriots down the field. White finished with a Super Bowl record 14 catches for 110 yards.
Brady vs. the Competition
Brady may not throw only two interceptions again, but there’s not much competition for Brady when it comes to winning the MVP award.
The award is mainly won by quarterbacks because that is the one position in football that most fans and experts look at. Unless a running back or wide receiver put up some historic numbers, a quarterback is usually the one awarded the NFL MVP title.
In the AFC, there is not much competition for Brady. He is easily the best quarterback in the AFC. As for the NFC, there is only two other quarterbacks that could come close for MVP consideration – Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Dak is always in threat of suffering a sophomore slump. The rookie led Dallas to a 14-2 record in 2016. As for Rodgers, he seems to always have a real bad mid-season struggle. The one time he won MVP is when the Packers won 15 games in 2011. That leaves him a longshot at the MVP title in 2017-18.
Next: 5 Reasons Why Pats Can Repeat as Champs
Brady just needs to keep doing what he does best and he will win the 2017 NFL MVP. He could also become the first to win the MVP and a Super Bowl title.