A handful of clear candidates have emerged as the frontrunners for the NFL’s Most Valuable Player through the first nine weeks of the 2016 season.
The MVP conversation starts with the New England Patriots‘ Tom Brady and Atlanta Falcons‘ Matt Ryan, the pinnacle of the position at the midway point of the campaign. Youngster Derek Carr’s leadership for the Oakland Raiders, who at 7-2 look primed for their first post-season appearance since 2002, has also led to some MVP chatter in the Bay Area.
Ezekiel Elliott deserves a nod for making America’s Team great again, as the dynamic rookie has led the Dallas Cowboys to a 7-1 record with an unrivaled running game behind the league’s most dominant offensive line.
And, of course, there’s everyone’s favourite havoc-wreaking pass rusher, Von Miller. He’s the most important defensive player on a Denver Broncos team looking to repeat as champions, and his 9.5 sacks are good for second in the league through nine weeks.
But emerging from the Motor City is a player who has quietly made history over the last month. Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has willed his team back into the NFC playoff picture with four game-winning drives in the last five games (five in total this season), capped by Sunday’s highly improbable win over the Vikings in Minnesota.
Snatching home-field advantage from their division rivals, the Lions are now just one game back of the Vikings for the NFC North lead after trailing by three games a month ago. And it’s Stafford’s late-game heroics that have gotten them to this point.
Week 9’s impressive win was just the latest in Detroit’s season of comebacks: Down three with 23 seconds left in the game and starting from their own 25-yard line, Stafford hit a pair of passes—the second a 27-yard bullet down the middle to Andre Roberts—to set up Matt Prater’s 58-yard game-tying field goal.
In overtime, Stafford—with a little help from his friend Golden Tate—made sure the Vikings didn’t even touch the field.
And with that, the Lions’ pivot made history, becoming the first quarterback since the 1970 merger to seal his team’s first five victories with game-winning drives.
Fourth-quarter rallies and game-winning drives are nothing new to Stafford. Since coming into the league as the No. 1 pick in 2009, the Lions’ all-time passing leader has orchestrated a whopping 25 game-winning drives. Only “Matty Ice” has more over that time.
The difference this season is Stafford no longer has the luxury of a Hall of Fame receiver at his disposal. Sure, Marvin Jones has helped fill part of the hole left by Calvin Johnson’s retirement and Tate has bounced back to make a big impact in recent games. But what Stafford has done this season has been done without one of the all-time greats, a target many predicted Detroit’s signal-caller would struggle without.
He’s done the complete opposite. Statistically Stafford is on pace for one of his best seasons, posting career-highs in completion percentage (67.3), yards per pass attempt (7.5) and quarterback rating (101.6) through nine games.
But it’s his incredible composure in the final minutes of games that should put Stafford among the names mentioned in the race for 2016 MVP. Yes, the Lions defence deserves credit for keeping Detroit in many of these games—all of Detroit’s games have been decided by seven points or less—but it helps to know you’ve got a quarterback waiting in the wings who has no quips about leading his team to victory regardless of the seconds quickly running off the clock.
Stafford’s numbers so far this season are among the league’s best—No. 9 ranks fourth in passing TDs, fifth in passer rating and seventh in passing yards. His stats in Detroit’s five comeback wins? Off the charts.
| Week | Opp | Result | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Rate | Y/A | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @ IND | W 39-35 | 31 | 39 | 79.49 | 340 | 3 | 0 | 128.6 | 8.72 | 4QC / GWD |
| 5 | PHI | W 24-23 | 19 | 25 | 76 | 180 | 3 | 0 | 135 | 7.2 | 4QC / GWD |
| 6 | LAR | W 31-28 | 23 | 31 | 74.19 | 270 | 4 | 0 | 139.8 | 8.71 | 4QC / GWD |
| 7 | WAS | W 20-17 | 18 | 29 | 62.07 | 266 | 1 | 0 | 103.5 | 9.17 | 4QC / GWD |
| 9 | @ MIN | W 22-16 | 23 | 36 | 63.89 | 219 | 2 | 1 | 87.6 | 6.08 | 4QC / GWD |
What makes this more impressive is Detroit’s putrid running game. The Lions have the 27th-ranked rushing offence, have scored just three TDs on the ground and are averaging a mere 3.9 yards a carry. That means Stafford is getting it done late in games with absolutely no dangerous running threat, beating defences that are focused entirely on stopping him.
In all likelihood, NFL fans will see either Brady or Ryan named Most Valuable Player on the eve of Super Bowl LI.
But Stafford’s heroics over the last five weeks have catapulted him into the conversation. Should he continue to play at a high level and the Lions win the NFC North, or even clinch a wild-card berth, Stafford must be among those in consideration come Feb. 4.
