MVP

It's Sunday morning as I type this, and I'm sitting on my parents' couch waiting for the start of the Giants' first playoff game since their wildcard loss to the 49ers in the 2002 season. Since I've got football on my mind, here's some thoughts on the recently decided NFL MVP race.

There's no doubt that Alexander had the best season out of just about anybody in that race, and for that I congratulate him. He led the league in rushing yards and set a single-season touchdown record. But if you take the MVP award at its literal meaning of the player who was most valuable to his team overall for the year, there are at least two candidates who are far more deserving: Tom Brady and Tiki Barber. Playing in the NFC west, there really was very little doubt that Seattle was going to run away with the division and make the playoffs. True, they did better than almost anyone expected, running away with a first round bye and home field, but would they have done without Alexander? Chances are they'd still have won the division regardless--after all, 7-9 would have been enough to take it.

How would the Giants have done without Barber? How would they have done without over 40% of their offensive yardage? It's all speculation, but chances are they'd have lived up to preseason expectations and gone 8-8 or 7-9, and missed the playoffs--after all, in the NFC East, Dallas would have missed the playoffs even if they'd won their meaningless Sunday night game on New Year's Day to go 10-6. Tiki's phenomenal performance on the ground (a Giants franchise record for single season rushing yardage, by the way, and only 20 yards behind Alexander) and as a receiving option opened up the offense for a young, developing quarterback, who, oh yeah, still hadn't played a full season halfway through 2005.

And then there's Tom Brady. Sure, he started the season as a defending champ, predicted to continue to do great things in 2005. But then the wheels came off the bus, one by one, as defenders, receivers, and running backs fell to injury. It got so bad that Tedy Bruschi had to come back from a stroke to fill out the Pats' D (and he still makes me nervous every time he collides with someone). But Tom Brady stepped up, got the job done, and the Patriots are now in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Here's my rankings for the Beast's World 2005 NFL MVP, using the AP candidates:

1. Tiki Barber
2. Tom Brady
3. Shaun Alexander
4. Carson Palmer
5. Peyton Manning

Happy 2006, everyone!