Arians believes Tampa’s Brady is NFL MVP
For all the talk about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defying the odds of keeping last year’s Super Bowl roster together, there’s been one constant in the team’s recipe for getting back to the playoffs — Tom Brady.
The 44-year-old, seventime NFL champion had one of his best seasons statistically, leading the Bucs to a franchise-record 13 regular-season wins, the club’s first division title in 14 years and the No. 2 seed in the NFC. Brady led the league in completions, attempts, passing yards and touchdown passes, helping Tampa Bay withstand a slew of injuries that have tested the team’s depth on both offense and defense while joining Drew Brees as the only quarterbacks in NFL history with multiple 5,000-yard seasons.
As far as coach Bruce Arians is concerned, there’s no question Brady is the league’s most valuable player.
“I think if he doesn’t get it, it’s a travesty,” Arians said on Monday (Tuesday in Manila). “Most completions ever, 5,000 yards, touchdowns, the whole nine yards. To me, it’s not even a close race.”
Brady enters the playoffs this weekend, coming off the 66th game of his career with three TD passes and no interceptions — most in league history.
His 485 completions this season surpassed Drew Brees’ record of 471 in 2016. And with a career-best 5,316 yards passing, 43 TDs and 102.1 passer rating, he became one of just five players in league history to finish with 5,000-plus yards, at least 40 TDs and a passer rating of more than 100.0 in the same year.
And, he’s done it while playing at times without tight end Rob Gronkowski, running back Leonard Fournette and receivers Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Antonio Brown and Scotty Miller due to injuries.
Brown, of course, won’t be around to help Brady in the playoffs after he had an in-game meltdown against the Jets and was released last week.
Defensively, linebackers Lavonte David, Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul; cornerbacks Carlton Davis, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Jamel Dean and Richard Sherman; and safeties Jordan Whitehead and Antoine Winfield Jr. have all missed games due to injury.