Tom Brady Wins His Second NFL MVP Award

For the first time in history an NFL Most-Valuable Player winner is the winner by unanimous decision. According to an article on ESPN Boston.com , Tom Brady won the distinction in just that way with all 50 votes. This is Brady's second MVP honor the first as the article points out with 49 of the 50 votes.

Some might ask why is Brady the MVP when his team had a collapse of mega-proportions in the Divisional game against the New York Jets? There are a few answers for that.

The first is that the MVP honor is not based on what happens in the post season but rather only on the regular season. The second reason is the most influential. Given the team that Tom Brady was working with at the beginning of the season everyone considered this to be a "rebuilding" year for the Patriots. Instead they had a remarkable season in what was possibly Tom Brady's best season to date and the one in which he clearly showed his leadership and poise.

There is one particular record that Brady broke this season (the previous record was his own) that is perhaps the most impressive. His touchdown: interception ratio was remarkable 9.0, previously the best was 6.3 his own record in 2007 and before that 1990's Steve DeBerg at 5.8 as pointed out by ESPN stats. Clearly blowing away the competition in this category, Brady set a new standard for NFL quarterbacks. Ironically his first interception in over 345 passes came in that loss to the Jets to send the Patriots home.

With three SuperBowl rings by age 27, 2 MVP honors, 2 SuperBowl MVP's and numerous NFL records, it is easy to see why Tom Brady is considered one of the elite quarterbacks of all time. What is remarkable this season is that the Patriots played to a 14-2 record with an amazing amount of rookies. A lot of that had to do with the leadership Brady exuded to clearly call the team to action. In many past years, it could be argued Brady was good because of those around him. This year a lot of his greatness came with a lot of challenges.

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