Why should J.J. Watt be the NFL MVP?

This season's NFL MVP discussion has been one of the more exciting ones in recent memory. First, let's go though our candidates. We have the usual guys, Rodgers, Manning, Brady. Andrew Luck has had an impressive season and is looking like the guy Indianapolis thought he would be when they took him with the number 1 pick. You also have to include Demarco Murray who was a surprise, but we all know how good he has been when healthy, it was just a matter of playing every game. Tony Romo has a chance, and should definitely be discussed. I'd like to say Antonio Brown and Le'veon Bell are in the discussion and both have a strong case, but neither of them really have a chance of winning. Finally, there is J.J. Watt. It has been discussed a lot as he is the first defensive player to have a legitimate shot in the MVP discussion in awhile. So, why should J.J. Watt be the NFL MVP?

First let's look at what each candidate has done this season(in alphabetical order):

Le'veon Bell
Bell has been the ultimate all-purpose running back in his second season in the NFL. His pass blocking has been phenomenal, he has racked up 1,278 yards on the ground on 262 attempts, and 765 yards on 76 receptions. He has a total of 10 touchdowns, 7 rushing 3 receiving. On top of all that he has 0 fumbles this season, if he continues this through the last two weeks of the season he will join Barry Sanders and Marshall Faulk as the only players in NFL history with 2000 yards from scrimmage and no fumbles.

Tom Brady
Brady has continued doing Brady-like things this season. After an uncharacteristically slow start to the season he has rebounded and now has a passer rating of 99.8. He has thrown for 3,847 yards with 32 touchdowns. He has accounted for a total of 14 turnovers, 8 interceptions and 5 fumbles.. Additionally he has a completion percentage of 64.4% on 541 attempts. He has his team tied for the best record in the AFC at 11-3.

Antonio Brown
AB has been sensational this season. He leads the league in receptions(115) and targets(159), which gives him a ridiculous 72% catch rate. For comparison Larry Fitzgerald, widely considered to have some of the best hands in the NFL, had his highest rate in 2009 with a 63% catch rate on an average of 11.3 yards per completion. He seems to make an unbelievable catch look routine in every game he has played. Antonio Brown also leads the league in receiving yards with 1,498. His biggest black mark is that he ONLY has 11 touchdowns on the season which is 2 behind league leader Dez Bryant. He has also thrown a touchdown pass.

Andrew Luck
Luck is one of the bright young stars in the league and is already starting to look like one of the elite players at his position. He leads the league in both passing yards with 4,492 and passing touchdowns with 38. Luck has also added 268 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. He has a passer rating of 97.5. His main problem is that he has turned the ball over at an alarming rate with 14 interceptions and has put the ball on the ground 8 times. Another issue he has shown is his inability to beat quality opponents, with half of the Colts wins coming in the lowly AFC South.

Peyton Manning
Manning has been good for the majority of the season, however, the Broncos have recently switched to a more run heavy game plan. This could be due to Manning slowing down because of age, but it also could just be what was required to win games. Whatever the reason it has slowed Manning down a bit from his early season pace. All of that being said, he has still put up fantastic numbers throwing for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns for a passer rating of 106.4. He has thrown 11 interceptions and has fumbled 3 times. Manning currently has the Broncos tied with the Patriots with an 11-3 record. However, Tom Brady won the head to head match up, so they are sitting in second place.

Demarco Murray
Demarco Murray set the league on fire in the beginning of the season, rushing for over 100 yards the first 8 weeks of the season. He has cooled off a bit recently but is still racking up the yards. He has accumulated 1,687 yards on the ground and 395 yards through the air. He has 11 touchdowns, all of which have come when running the ball. He is averaging 4.8 yards per carry on his 351 attempts. He had a problem hanging on to the ball initially fumbling 5 times. He has been better about ball security lately as 4 of those fumbles came in the first 5 games.

Aaron Rodgers
Rodgers has been on fire since his famous R-E-L-A-X speech. Or he WAS on fire, until the Bills shut him down last Sunday. He has thrown for 3,837 yards with a 64% completion percentage and 35 touchdowns. He has thrown 5 interceptions and has 4 fumbles. He has added 255 yards and a touchdown on the ground. He has a QB rating of 105.8. What has been the most obvious trend with Rodgers has been how impressive he has been in wins and how horrible he was in losses. All of his interceptions have come in his losses to Seattle, New Orleans, and Buffalo. That means he has played 11 games where he didn't throw an interception, which is remarkable when you think about it.  He also had a clunker week 3 against Detroit where he only threw for 162 yards.

Tony Romo
Tony Romo is having a fantastic season of his own and yet has somehow stayed a bit more under the radar than these other guys. He was bitten by the injury bug in the middle of the season but is now fully recovered and is looking better than ever. His most impressive game might have been his last one against Philadelphia, who sold out to stop Murray and let Romo go for 265 and 3 TDs. On the season he has 3,188 yards and 28 touchdowns. He has thrown 8 interceptions and has a QB rating of 110.4. He has completed 69.3% of his 381 attempts.

J.J. Watt
Watt has 16.5 sacks, 11 batted passes, 3 forced fumbles, an interception which he returned 80 yards for a touchdown, a fumble returned for a touchdown, and three reception touchdowns. All of these numbers stand out even more when you realize he has done this while consistently facing double and triple teams. He has easily been the best defensive player in the league this season and probably the best overall player.



Now for my comments:
So, once again, why should J.J. Watt be the NFL MVP? Well, he shouldn't. I get the argument, this guy has been playing at a level we haven't seen from a defensive player since... well, ever. In fact, I initially sat down and started writing this intending to name him the MVP, but the more I thought about it, the more I started to disagree with that idea.  As I said above, he has probably been the best overall player this season. However, MVP doesn't stand for "best overall player." In fact, you could argue that all of these guys on this list are more worthy than Watt simply because they are all on teams likely heading to the playoffs. Watt just hasn't made enough of an impact to win more games, and that's all there is to it. It's unfortunate because I don't think any defensive player really has a chance to win nowadays. It is an offensive league and this whole experience is just more evidence of that.

Antonio Brown is having an MVP caliber season, seriously, watch the tape he has been that good. Unfortunately, I don't think Brown or Bell really has a chance to win, unless they put on some miraculous performance in their final two games. It would be interesting to see if it would change peoples perception if they weren't on the same team.

I don't think Romo deserves the award. He has been awesome this season, but has really taken a back seat to Demarco Murray. Speaking of Demarco, he would probably be #2 on my list. I would argue that his performance this year has been as good as 2012 Adrian Peterson. You know, the Vikings team that had Christain Ponder at quarterback and somehow made the playoffs. A lot of people predicted Dallas to be terrible this season and while I think Romo deserves some credit, it has been Murray and that offensive line that has made all the difference. He has allowed the Cowboys to dominate possession and keep their terrible defense off the field. Unfortunately, Romo will get more credit then he deserves and it will keep Demarco from having a shot at MVP.

Andrew Luck has turned it over too much to be the MVP, all there is to it. He is almost there. If you take away Luck from the Colts and they probably win 4 games at most, but only because they get the Jags and Titans twice. This kid is gonna be good.

Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have won a combined 5 out of the last 7 MVP awards. It is remarkable how dominant these two guys have been over the years. Manning has struggled recently which more than likely ended his MVP hunt, but what he has been able to do should not be understated. He lost his favorite TD maker, Orange Julius, for a majority of the season. Welker hasn't been the same this year after suffering his 30th concussion, or something like that. He is on his 3rd running back. Yet, he still put up good numbers. I would even argue that he is the reason the defense is so dominant against the run. He means an immense amount to this team. Brady's guys, on the other hand, have only been getting healthier and he has been on fire since that Kansas City game.  Not that it ever matters with Brady. Brady is so good he can make Brandon Lafell into a quality wide receiver. You're eyes do not deceive you, I said Brandon Lafell. If he had been able to go win in Green Bay than he would be the easy front runner for this award.

Which leads me to Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers has just been better than everyone this season. If I had a vote he gets it. Here is the reason why I think he deserves the MVP. In the Packers 11 wins, Rodgers has thrown 32 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. In their 3 losses, he has thrown 3 TDs and 5 interceptions. That is probably the most obvious way to distinguish how important Rodgers is to the Packers.  J.J. Watt has a good game against the Colts and yet the Texans still lost. The Buffalo Bills take away Aaron Rodgers and beat the Packers.When he plays well, they win. When he plays poorly, they lose. Simple as that. That's what it means to be the most valuable player.