MVP Watch: Week 13

Opinion

With week 13 of the NFL season in the books, it’s time to take a look at 5 players standing out and making their case of NFL MVP.

1) Aaron Rodgers

Quarterback, Green Bay Packers

After his 368 yard, 2 TD performance vs the New England Patriots it will take four weeks of extremely terrible performances for the rest of this field to catch Rodgers at this point.

2) Tom Brady

Quarterback, New England Patriots

Brady posted a 100+ passer rating vs the Packers for the first time since the week 8 match up vs the Chicago Bears. While he looked flustered at times it was still a good performance in a very hostile environment, less QBs would and have struggled in similar situations this season.

3) Peyton Manning

Quarterback, Denver Broncos

Manning’s stock for the 2014 MVP continues to free fall.  Facing two of the leagues best passing defenses in consecutive weeks tends to pose problems for most QBs and Manning was no exception.

4) Andrew Luck

Quarterback, Indianapolis Colts

It’s been hard keeping Luck off of this list most of the year, but surpassing 4,000 yards and 30 TDs on the season helps to propel him into the top 5.  He does lead all QBs on this list with 11 INTs on the season, which puts him at the bottom of a very deep group of excellent QBs.

5) DeMarco Murray

Runningback, Dallas Cowboys

Murray had by far his worst performance of the season vs the Philadelphia Eagles on Thanksgiving.  Limited to under 100 yards for only the second time this season and under 4 yards a carry for the first time all season.  Projected to finish the season with 1,900 rushing yards, it will take a minimum of 2,000 to even be considered a legitimate MVP candidate in today’s NFL.

Honorable Mention: JJ Watt, Le’veon Bell, Tony Romo, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers