Three Dolphin Tail sports writers weigh in on who should be tapped as MVP this coming Sunday. See what they have to say, then scroll to the bottom and tell us your opinion in our sports poll!

 

Texans’ J.J. Watt’s defense shows consistency, versatility

By staff writer Kyle Wonzen

Significance. Consistency. Versatility. These are three things all of the leading NFL MVP (Most Valuable Player) candidates lack in comparison to Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt.

Significance: 14. Watt increased the number of Texans sacks by 14, from 30 to 44 in his first year in the league. As a rookie. That’s nearly a third more sacks. When DeMarco Murray came to the Cowboys, he only got 897 yards, only 97 more than their old back, Felix Jones. Believe it or not, out of the three QBs in the MVP conversation, only Peyton Manning in 1998 had more yards than the QB they replaced in their first year (and he only got 200 more than the Colts’ three-headed QB dragon led by none other than Jim Harbaugh). And surprisingly, none of them lead the league in QB touchdowns or passing yards this year. And Murray was tied for sixth in the league in yards-per-carry and 2nd in 20+ yd rushes. Watt was 1st in the league in tackles, sacks, punt deflections, forced fumbles, tied for first in safeties, and tied for 2nd in interceptions, and of course first in touchdowns in all DEs! You can’t get much better than that.

Consistency: One. That was the number of games Watt didn’t get three or more tackles this season. In comparison, Tom Brady had 6 games with a total Quarterback Rating under 65. Aaron Rodgers and Manning each had four. And all three of them had at least one game under 25 total QBR! And Murray, the only other real non-QB contender, had four games with under 100 rushing yards. That’s definitely not consistent. They all had a slump, or period of inconsistency. Everyone but Watt. He stayed consistent.

Versatility. All three of the QBs in the MVP talk aren’t good consistent out-of-the-pocket players. Rodgers can run a little, but he’s no Michael Vick. Murray has no receiving touchdowns. Meanwhile, Watt has only one less TOUCHDOWN than the Texans leading receiver. And he’s a defensive player! Watt, a defensive end, has 5 touchdowns, the first DE since 1944.

Plus, it’s time for a defensive player to finally win the award.  No defensive player has won MVP since 1986. Watt carried his team and clearly deserves MVP! J.J. Watt: the best player in the NFL.

 

Patriots’ Tom Brady has the stats

By staff writer Peter Brady

Tom Brady should be the MVP because of his spectacular performance this year. His team, the New England Patriots, were 12-4 this season with a fabulous performance from other players too.

Weighing in at 225 pounds and standing at 6 feet 4 inches, Tom is a right-handed quarterback who went 373-582 in this season’s completions attempts (64.1%). He had 4,109 passing yards, averaging 256.8 yards per game. He had five 300+ passing yards games. When it came to yards per attempt he had 7.1 yards per attempt. He had 33 touchdowns He only had 6 fumbles, 3 of which were lost. He had 44 (20+) passes.

Tom had only 9 interceptions, which is better than some quarterbacks. He is also 112 for 160 is passing 1-10 in yards. He had a season high of 361 yards in one game. Tom had a rating of 97.4 in this season, but a career rating of 95.9. Tom also has beaten Joe Montana in postseason touchdowns.

“The great thing about Tom is no matter what he went through, it didn’t seem like he allowed the pressure to bother him. A lot of guys might have reacted to the big stage of the Super Bowl by trying to force plays, but he just relaxed. Right now, he seems like a kid in a candy store,” said Pro Bowl quarterback Kurt Warner.

“Tom’s a bright guy, he has a good arm and his teammates look up to him. I think that he has the right stuff,” said former Michigan State head coach Lloyd Carr.

Even though the competition is stiff, I think Tom Brady will win MVP.

 

Packers’ Aaron Rodgers plays the most important position

By staff writer Justin Wong

At 6’2″ and weighing 225 pounds, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers is one of the best QBs around. Though he played in the shadow of Brett Favre for years, this year he was phenomenal.

Aaron Rogers in my opinion is the NFL’s MVP (most valuable player). In the regular season, he scored 38 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, and 4,381 yards. From 16 games (2014-2015 regular season) his stats are:

• Attempts: 520
• Completions: 341
• Percent: 65.6
• Attempts per game: 32.5
• Yards: 4,381
• Average: 8.4
• Yards per game: 273.8
• Touchdowns: 38
• Touchdowns per game: 7.3
• Sacks: 28

Aaron has not thrown an interception at Lambeau Field, the Packers stadium. He is relaxed, reliable, and just has pure skill. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Aaron Rogers is hands down one of the best QBs in the league. In an email, Around the NFL writer Chris Wesseling said, “Everything I know about football and have seen on game film this year tells me that Rodgers is the best player in the league and easily the most valuable. He’s playing the most important position in sports — so important that Vince Lombardi used to tell cronies that the overinflated value of the position was football’s lone flaw — at the highest level it has ever been played.”

A tough competitor is J.J. Watt, a great defensive end, but with Jadeveon Clowney on the team he is losing his sacks and plays. The Texans have a great defense, but it may be good to the team but not the stats. Rodgers may have some competition with Watt, but I think Rodgers will come out on top.

 

So, what do you think? Do you agree with any of our writers? Weigh in on our poll below!