The biggest award one can receive in the NFL is the Most Valuable Player Award. Taking that award home was Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, who led the Falcons high flying attack to one of the highest scoring in NFL history, also earning him Offensive Player of the Year honors.
Ryan led the top scoring offense as the league’s top rated passer (117.1). He was second in the NFL in passing yards (4944) and second in passing touchdowns (38). His 25 MVP votes led the league by a wide margin. It was nearly as many votes as every other candidate combined.
MVP votes
— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) February 5, 2017
Ryan: 25
Brady: 10
Zeke: 6
Carr: 6
Rodgers: 2
Dak: 1
Tom Brady finished second in the voting with 10, then Carr tied with Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott for third.
Through much of the season, Derek Carr was leading MVP considerations. He had a chance to stake his claim in week 14 with the team heading to Kansas City with a chance to lock down the AFC West. Carr instead would have statistically the worst game of his career.
At that point, Ryan jumped to the top and stayed there for the final few games of the season, especially with Carr being lost for the final game of the season with a broken fibula.
Some MVP purists would say that the Raiders’ ugly performances in the season finale as well as in their wild card playoff game only further proves no player was more valuable to their team than Carr to the Raiders. Six voters agreed. But it wasn’t to be.
Carr didn’t come out of the night empty handed though. He won the Castrol Edge Clutch Performer of the Year Award after throwing an NFL record 5 game-winning touchdown passes and winning the Clutch Performer of the Week award four times.
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