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Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians has declared that it would be a travesty if veteran quarterback Tom Brady didn’t win the NFL’s MVP award this year. Brady, who led the Bucs to Super Bowl victory last season, is having an even stronger campaign on a personal front this term and, following a performance against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, the fans inside the Raymond James Stadium showered him with“MVP!” chants.
Brady scored three touchdowns and completed 27 of his 39 passes in the 41-17 victory. He finished the 2021 regular season with 485 completions from 719 pass attempts, as well as 5,316 passing yards and 43 touchdown passes, topping the league in all of the aforementioned categories.
"I think if he doesn't get it, it's a travesty," Arians said on Monday, per ESPN. "Most completions ever, 5,000 yards, touchdowns - the whole nine yards. To me, it's not even a close race."
Brady, 44, is the third quarterback to lead the NFL in all four of the major statistical categories since 1991, with Peyton Manning doing so in 2013 Drew Brees accomplishing the feat in 2018. Brady set an NFL record with his 485 completions in a single season, passing the 471 previously set by Brees in 2016.
The Bucs QB broke another Brees record this season, surpassing the former New Orleans Saints star in the career passing yards department when he returned to New England to play the Patriots in Week 4. He went on to break Brees’ career completions record when he threw his 700th touchdown pass in a win over the Buffalo Bills.
"It just shows what his work ethic is, how dedicated he is to the game of football and just how talented he is," longtime teammate Rob Gronkowski said of Brady’s record-breaking campaign. "Just his determination week in and week out - it's just unbelievable. And it's just surreal how he's pulling it off at age 44 and just coming out here like he's in his 20s still, just winging that ball, zipping it where it needs to be, making fantastic throws week in and week out."
The Buccaneers are in a great position to defend their title, though Super Bowl betting sites have given the Green Bay Packers a slight advantage. The Bucs are 8/1 to win the Super Bowl again at the end of this season while the Packers are the outright favorites at 15/4 and the Kansas City Chiefs are 9/2.
Brady’s 5,316 passing yards this season count for the third-most in NFL history, behind Manning’s 5,477 and Brees’ 5,476. His previous personal best stood at 5,235 in 2011.
Brady is already a three-time MVP, having won the accolade in 2007, 2010, and 2017. He has also been voted NFL Offensive Player of the Year on two occasions, in 2007 and 2010, winning the Super Bowl MVP award five times as well.
"Tom's the MVP every year," Gronk added. "Just the way he adjusts on the fly to his personnel, just trying to get the ball into the best players' hands or the best matchup on that current play - he's just always ready to go no matter what the situation is. He's the MVP every year."
The league’s reigning MVP, Aaron Rodgers, is his biggest competitor for the award this season. A three-time winner himself (2011, 2014, and 2020), Rodgers was named Super Bowl XLV MVP after leading the Packers to victory in 2010.
Brady has played one more game than Rodgers this season due to the Packers star missing a fixture after testing positive for COVID-19 and his 312.71 passing yards per game trumps the latter’s 257.19. He also bested Rodgers in passing TDs per game with 2.53 to the reigning MVP’s 2.31.
Rodgers, though, posted a whopping 9.25 touchdown-to-interception ratio, blowing Brady’s 2.53 out of the water. The former figure marks the seventh-best in the NFL for a single season in the last 20 years. The Green Bay QB also posted a 68.9 percent completion rate, beating Brady’s 67.2 percent, while his Total QBR is just above Brady’s at 68.7 to 68.5.
Brady fired the Bucs to a 13-4 record in the NFC but lost the No.1 seed to Green Bay despite having the same record because the Packers had a 9-3 record that bettered the Bucs’ record of 8-4.
The Packers were also out in front for most of the season, which should help Rodgers’ case. However, his vaccination controversy earned him some ire with the people who will be responsible for voting.
Brady and Rodgers could clash in Green Bay for the NFC Championship and it could be quite the spectacle.
As for the MVP award, it really could go either way.
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