Buccaneers’ Bruce Arians: ‘if he doesn’t win MVP it’s a travesty’

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians is outraged by the fact people are beginning to think Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady will not win the 2021 season MVP award. Ironically, in Brady’s last game where they defeated the Carolina Panthers. 41-17, ended in “MVP” by the whole stadium. Arians continues to make a strong case for the 44-year-old to win the award.

“If he doesn’t get it, it’s a huge injustice,” Arians stated on Monday. “Record-breaking completions, 5,000 yards, touchdowns — he has it all. In my opinion, it’s not even a contest.”

Tom Brady continues to break records

According to ESPN, Brady finished the regular season with 719 pass attempts, completing 485 of them for 5,316 yards and throwing 43 touchdown passes. All these stats, are the top in the entire league, making him just the third quarterback alongside Drew Brees and Peyton Manning to lead the league in all four major passing categories.

Brady’s 485 completions in a single season surpassed Brees’ previous record of 471 completions in 2016, making NFL history. Brady and Brees are the only two quarterbacks in history that have multiple 5,000-yard passing seasons. Not to mention, he also broke Brees’ record for the most career passing yards. He also broke his completion record while throwing his 700th touchdown pass in the same season.

“It really demonstrates his work ethic, dedication to the game, and incredible talent,” tight end Rob Gronkowski commented on Brady’s record-breaking achievement. “His determination every week is just unbelievable. It’s surreal to see him perform at this level at the age of 44, throwing the ball like he’s still in his 20s, delivering precise and impressive throws week after week.”

Brady threw for 5,316 passing yards this year were the third-most in NFL history. He bested his own personal record of 5,235 passing yeards in 2011. Many people are critical of broken records with the extra game installed at the beginning of this season. However, even without the 17th game, Brady threw for 4,990 passing yards in his first 16 games. This still makes him 14th all-time in single-season passing records, per ESPN.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates support Brady for winning the MVP

Brady has won the MVP three times in his career, the most recent year he won was in 2017. He won the MVP also in 2007 and 2010. He’s won the Offensive Player of the Year award twice, in 2007 and 2010. As many know, in his seven Super Bowl victories, he’s been rewarded the Super Bowl MVP five times.

“Tom is the MVP year after year,” Gronkowski stated. “He effortlessly adapts to his teammates, constantly striving to get the ball to the right players or exploit the most favorable matchup in every play. He’s always prepared, regardless of the circumstances. He truly is the MVP every single year.”

Many have changed their tune about Brady receiving the MVP award though with the monster in Green Bay lurking in the shadows. As well as a year Brady is having, Aaron Rodgers is having a just exceptional year. The competition between the two ar every stiff, however, Rodgers played one less game than Brady due to testing positive for COVID-19.

All in all, both quarterbacks are talented, yet, the facts still remain. Brady still leads Rodgers in passing yards per game, 312.71 to 257.19. He also leads Rodgers in passing touchdowns, 2.53 to 2.31. To be fair, Rodgers does have a higher completion rate, 68.9 to 67.2, also a higher quarterback rating, 68.7 to 68.5.

Down the road in the playoffs

It’s very likely these two could meet in the playoffs. This game will be highly anticipated and will again go through Green Bay as it did last year in the NFC championship. The Green Bay Packers have a 68.1% chance of reaching the NFC Championship while the Bucs have a 52.3% chance of making it, according to ESPN.

As the Bucs get healthy and receive some of their stars back this playoff run will be more interesting. They plan to receive Leonard Fournette and outside linebackers Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul this week.