Dallas Cowboys rookie Ezekiel Elliott is the best running back in the NFL after eight weeks. Can he win MVP if he leads the NFL in rushing?
Voting for the 2016 NFL MVP could become rather interesting if the second half of the campaign plays out like the first. The Dallas Cowboys are currently the most interesting team in the NFL and also the best overall team in the NFC. Dallas has followed a Week 1 loss to division rivals the New York Giants with six consecutive victories, thanks largely to a duo of rookies who haven taken the league by storm during the first two months of the campaign: Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott .
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Prescott has impressed while filling in for the injured Tony Romo. So much so that the job may belong to Prescott, regardless of Romo’s status between now and Week 17. As well as Prescott has performed, Elliott has met and even exceeded expectations. The rookie out of Ohio State leads the NFL in rushing yards heading into Week 9, averaging five yards per carry. Moreover, he rushed for over 130 yards in four of his first seven pro games.
Elliott is currently the top offensive playmaker for what is, entering Week 9, the best team in the NFC. With midseason grades and awards being handed out, it’s only natural some would wonder if Elliott could pair a MVP trophy with a Rookie of the Year award that seems to be in his future.
A perfect storm is brewing in Dallas and around the NFL that could result in Elliott winning MVP. Normally, these days, quarterbacks have MVP in the bag. Players such as Cam Newton, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have, more often than not, taken home such honors over the past decade, save for the occasional year when a running back such as Adrian Peterson has swooped in and earned the award.
What quarterback out there deserves to finish ahead of Elliott for MVP if votes were cast after Week 8, though? All things considered, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots is playing better than anybody else at the position. Don’t overthink the matter and don’t bother responding with fantasy football stats. Brady was nearly perfect in the month of October during the opening stages of his unannounced revenge tour following his “Deflategate” suspension.
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That four-game ban may be enough to cost Brady MVP, though.
Brady will play in only 12-of-16 games so long as he remains healthy, meaning he is guaranteed to miss at least one-fourth of the regular season. Unless Brady embarks on a historic 12-game run that rewrites record books, his suspension is likely to cost him at least some MVP votes.
Both Derek Carr of the Oakland Raiders and Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota accumulated admirable statistics during the first half of the season. It’s still hard to convincingly argue that either Carr or Mariota are more valuable than Brady at this point of the season.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan has to be in the MVP conversation, particularly after a stellar Thursday Night Football performance against the defense of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Following a win over the Bucs, the Falcons are on pace to finish at around 10-6 or 11-5. That record may not be good enough to finish ahead of the Cowboys in the NFC standings, which is something to consider when voting for NFL MVP.
No other quarterback in the NFC is flirting with running away with MVP. Eli Manning, Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Sam Bradford and Matt Stafford have all experienced up-and-down campaigns. Young Mr. Prescott is not the MVP of his own offense, let alone of the entire NFL.
That brings us back to Elliott.
Some may be quick to point out the Dallas offensive line is the team’s true MVP at the start of Week 9. That’s an easy argument to make when you look at stats such as time of possession, sacks allowed, Elliott’s rushing production and the club’s overall rushing numbers.
The problem with such a notion, though, is that offensive linemen don’t win NFL MVP. They deserve plenty of praise for doing the dirty work up front, but they aren’t stars and they don’t generate highlights. The NFL is an entertainment product, and Elliott is a better face for that product than any offensive lineman. It’s the nature of the beast.
If anything, the Dallas offensive line bolster’s Elliott’s MVP hopes as it could help him avoid the so-called “rookie wall” that often impacts first-year running backs as the start of winter approaches. Elliott may even gain steam running behind a unit capable of beating up defensive lines suffering from fatigue that comes with playing a grueling campaign.
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A lot can and will happen over the next two months. Perhaps Ryan and the Falcons will continue to improve as the Cowboys come back down to earth. Maybe Carr will play better than ever during the second half of the season. Or perhaps Brady will an unstoppable force unlike any we’ve ever seen. Elliott, at the very least, has to be in NFL MVP conversations a few weeks ahead of Thanksgiving.
But will he be there when it’s all said and done? Stay tuned.