The problem with Most Valuable Player votes is they are cast before anyone really gets to see who is most valuable. It’s like picking Miss America by resume.
Most Spectacular Player is easier. When somebody like Barry Sanders pops the eyes, it isn’t necessary to ponder. Most Efficient Passer is a simple math problem. Actually, it’s too complex to explain, but it is a simple matter of trusting in numbers. Steve Young is the most efficient passer in history and again ranks far ahead of this season’s runner-up, Atlanta’s Chris Chandler.
Likewise, Best Defensive Player usually is someone who emerges well before voting deadlines. This year 49ers defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield is leading the league in sacks for the league’s No. 1 defense. It’s a potent combination that should get him votes as the first defensive MVP since the New York Giants’ Lawrence Taylor, who led the league in sacks in 1986 for the league’s second-ranked defense.
But MVP is a special category reserved for players who clearly win games for their teams. The rule of thumb is to imagine the team without the player. If you can’t imagine the team winning, it’s a good idea to imagine the player as MVP.
More than just winning games, it’s a matter of winning big games, stretch games, road games. Quarterbacks have won 25 of the 41 MVP awards since the NFL started recognizing MVPs in 1957 because quarterbacks are the difference when it’s crunch time.
Running backs are second with 11 winners. Emmitt Smith was the last one in 1993 when the Cowboys lost their first two games without him, then won the Super Bowl with him leading the league in rushing. His 168 yards in the final regular-season game to beat the Giants in overtime despite a separated shoulder gave the Cowboys the NFC East title and a playoff bye in one of the great performances in NFL history. It was also after MVP ballots were cast, but he validated the vote.
This year Denver’s Terrell Davis looked like the MVP as the Broncos started fast and Davis led the league in rushing. He also received quarterback John Elway’s endorsement. “It’s Terrell’s team,” Elway said. This was important because the Broncos always have been dangerous with Elway. With Davis they were starting to look dominant.
But the Broncos have lost two big road games in the last four weeks to lose the lead for home-field advantage in the AFC. Davis has lost the rushing lead to Sanders.
Should Sanders be MVP? Only if the “V” meant Vanishing, as in his uncanny ability to disappear from tacklers. Or Vastly Virtuous. Although the Lions would be no fun at all to watch without him, they never have won much with him. It’s not his fault any more than it was Jim Brown’s fault or Walter Payton’s fault that their teams won only one championship apiece.
The Lions aren’t good enough yet for Sanders to be considered more than wondrous to watch, although Payton won his MVP in 1977, when the Bears were barely kicking. The worst team ever to produce an MVP was the 1960 Lions, who were 7-5 when linebacker Joe Schmidt shared the award with Eagles quarterback Norm Van Brocklin.
This year’s MVP is last year’s MVP and the MVP the year before that–Brett Favre. Although he had done nothing to lose his two-time crown all season, Green Bay’s quarterback won it the last three weeks in victories over Dallas, at Minnesota and at Tampa Bay.
The Packers have not been as dominant on defense or special teams as they were last year, but Favre’s 30 touchdown passes for the fourth season in a row puts him in uncharted territory. He is fast approaching the MTFGP award–Most Taken-For-Granted Player. Michael Jordan has retired that honor in the NBA.
Steve Young is a valid contender because the 49ers lost Jerry Rice in the season opener and nobody could imagine them winning without Rice. Must be somebody else. But the 49ers players are victims of one of the easiest schedules in the league and when they went to Kansas City, they got blown out 44-9 by a team with a backup quarterback, Rich Gannon. Which is why some Chiefs are voting Gannon their MVP. He is winning games down the stretch.
Passer ratings are not to be confused with quarterback ratings. There is a formula for passers that enables Oakland’s Jeff George to excel. Great quarterbacking includes intangibles. You can’t always measure it, but you know it when you see it.
“Overlooked is his (Favre’s) control of the team and the game,” Packers coach Mike Holmgren said. “When we haven’t scored a lot of points, he still has control of the game. His audibling, he’s doing that so well this year. I don’t know what more we could ask of Brett Favre.”
To win three MVPs would be unprecedented. Voters apparently get tired of old faces even when they’re young. Favre just turned 28, is signed through 2003, and has been the most durable NFL quarterback by far, which is enough to turn young rivals old and tired.
“That’s a good situation for Mike Holmgren. They should be comfortable for a long, long time,” Tampa coach Tony Dungy said.
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“I think there are avenues and roads and highways–how do you like that one?–we can still go down and he can take us down,” Packers General Manager Ron Wolf said. “He’ll get better and better.”