Not That I Care, but the 'Carson Wentz: MVP' Talk is Ridiculous
Top graded QBs through Week 10 pic.twitter.com/QxxdZQsuNx
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) November 16, 2017
Sorting all 32 NFL QBs by PFF grade https://t.co/gBRVuQ20Xg pic.twitter.com/dQqHLbHz2N — Pro Football Focus (@PFF) November 16, 2017
Tom Brady vs. Carson Wentz 2017 @PFF passing grades pic.twitter.com/kB2WKbA40U
— Steve Palazzolo (@PFF_Steve) November 15, 2017
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Let me repeat what I said in the headline: I do not care about the MVP. Do. Not. Care. Individual regular season award are swell. But in the grand scheme of things, they’re a press release. A Madden cover. A late season PTI debate topic. A bar trivia question.
I’m just bringing it up now because I want us to have an honest, mature discussion and admit that the idea of Carson Wentz as the front runner over Tom Brady is a joke. The Eagles are without question the best team in football so far this season. You can make a case for the Rams because they’ve got the No. 1 offense and No. 3 defense and the biggest point differential by far (134 to Philly’s 104). But LA has a loss to the Redskins on their permanent record they can’t explain away.
So Philadelphia is the top team. Carson Wentz is their quarterback. That is the sum total of all the arguments you can make that he’s been more deserving than Brady. But if you spend more than three seconds to move beyond that shallow analysis, know know Brady had quarterbacked circles around him. Just look at those graphics I posted. And add:
–Brady is 1st in PFF’s formula for passer rating, and 2nd by the NFL’s formula.
–When under pressure, Brady is 1st according to PFF with a 107.2 passer rating. No other QB is above 95.
–PFF keeps stats on Yards in the Air, with drops and without. Brady is 1st in both
–In completion percentage adjusted for things like drops, getting hit, spikes, etc., Brady is 4th, Wentz is 24th
–Wentz leads the league in TD passes. Brady leads in attempts, completions and yards while being 2nd in TDs, passer rating, interceptions, interception % and adjusted yards per attempt.
I could go on, but that would hurt my underlying point that I. Don’t. Care.
If anything I don’t want Brady to win regular season MVPs. Those are way too 2010. I actually want him to finish his career with no more than the two he has, while needed to have extra fingers surgically attached to his hands to hold the rings he wins. Because it’s a badge of honor when he gets passed over for one, then beats the actual MVP in the postseason. He did it to Matt Ryan last year. To Ladainian Tomlinson in 2006. To Peyton Manning in 2004, actually knocked off co-MVPs in the 2003 playoffs, Manning and Steve McNair, and Kurt Warner back in 2001.
So if things keep up like this, give it to Wentz. Give it to him as his sort of Breakthrough Performance MTV Movie Award. And if the Eagles make it Minneapolis in February, he can be another MVP head on Brady’s wall. Let’s just not kid ourselves that it’s because he’s actually more valuable.