In the final game of the season, the Pirates faced the Black Panthers, and Tom Brady's single-game three-touchdown helped the Pirates win 41-17. After the game, the sound of "MVP" in the Pirates home stadium resounded on the pitch, and the team's coach Bruce Arians also said that Brady would be a strong contender for MVP.
"If Brady loses the MVP, I'd find it an irony," Arians said, "The all-time touchdown record, the 5,000-yard season, the leading touchdown and yard count in the league, in my opinion, Brady's MVP is a matter of course."
Brady completed 485 of his 719 passes for the 2021 season, accumulating 5316 yards and 43 touchdowns, which are the most in the league. In league history, in addition to him, only Drew Brice in 2018 and Payton Manning in 2013 have been able to lead the league in all four major stats. Meanwhile, the 485 completed passes surpassed Brith's 471 in 2016, becoming the most in history, while Brady had a second 5,000-yard season of his career, and in league history, he was the only one in league history who had more than one 5,000-yard season.
Returning to Boston in the fourth week, Brady broke Brith's career totals record, and then in the match against Beal, he broke Brith's career pass record with his 700th career touchdown.
"It's hard to imagine brady, 44, who did the same thing he did when he was in his 20s and when he first came here," said Brady's close comrade-in-arms, Rob Gronkowski.
The 44-year-old Brady is indeed pushing his limits, with 5,316 yards in a single season being the most in his career, and at the same time, in history, it is second only to Manning's 5477 yards in 2013 and Brith's 5476 yards in 2011, surpassing his career record of 5235 yards in 2011. Even counting the added 17th game, Brady's 4990 yards passed in 16 games can rank 14th in history.
In the MVP odds table, Brady is behind Rogers, and it is true that Rodgers has played one less game, but Brady's average of 312.71 yards per game is still higher than Rodgers' 257.19 yards, and his average of 2.53 touchdowns per game is still higher than Rodgers' 2.31. But Rogers' touchdown-to-intercept ratio is a staggering 9.25, the seventh highest in the past 20 years, while Brady's touchdown-to-intercept ratio is only 2.53. Compared with Brady's 67.2% pass success rate, Rogers' pass success rate is 68.9%, and the two people's QBR is 68.7 and 68.5, respectively.
In terms of team records, both team leaders won 13 wins and 4 losses, but because the Packers had a better record against the divisional teams, they forced the Pirates to get the number one seed in the National League and qualify for a bye. The chances of the two legendary quarterbacks meeting in the National League Finals are also not small, according to ESPN's analysis, the Packers have a 68.1% chance of reaching the divisional finals, and the pirates have a 52.3% probability. At the same time, the probability of the two teams eventually reaching the Super Bowl is 37.5% and 29.8%, respectively, which is also very close.
However, the Pirates have to take the lead in solving their own personnel problems, Arians said that running back Leonard Funett, outside defender Barrett and Pierre Paul will return this week, but Antonio Brown's successor Cyril Grayson is in doubt and may not qualify for super wild card week.
(Text/Geng Haoyang)