ESPN.com recently had all 32 of their NFL Nation reporters cast a vote for a midseason MVP and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was the runaway winner with 16 votes.
Even though he’s thrown for 196 more yards than Brady has so far this season, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger only received one vote and that came from Michael Rothstein, who covers the Detroit Lions.
Rothstein’s reasoning for casting his vote for Roethlisberger is very sound.
The Pittsburgh quarterback has similar to or better numbers than the other two players I considered, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Roethlisberger has a 7.33 touchdown to interception ratio (22 TD, 3 INT), has thrown only one interception since Week 3 and has a higher completion percentage than Brady or Manning (68.3 percent). He’s also done it under more pressure than the other two, having been sacked 23 times. And he has the Steelers (6-3) just percentage points out of first place in the AFC North.
Let’s also not forget that Roethlisberger has also thrown 12 touchdown passes in his last two games and that he also threw for 522 yards against the Indianapolis Colts back in Week 8.
One lousy vote? Really?
Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown also received one vote and that came from Scott Brown, who has covered the team for eons. Here is his reasoning behind that selection.
The reigning Pittsburgh Steelers MVP is crafting a heck of an argument to win the league MVP. Brown has been unstoppable through the first half of the season as the fifth-year wide receiver leads the NFL in catches (71) and receiving yards (996). Opposing defenses know the ball is going to Brown — his 103 targets are the most in the NFL — and still he consistently gets open and is magic after the catch.
While it’s fun to think about, you can go ahead and forget about the possibility of seeing either Roethlisberger or Brown winning any regular season MVP award this season as the media is just so terribly blinded by Brady and Peyton Manning. This is not new news, nor is it very shocking.
