Why New England Patriots Tom Brady Must Be Awarded the NFL MVP for 2012

When it comes to the 2012 NFL MVP Award, most already view it as a foregone conclusion that Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will receive the honor, with New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees next in line.

Ultimately, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is more valuable than both, however.

It truly is hard to argue against any of the three aforementioned players, but when you take into account the true meaning of the award, Brady is the most deserving.

First off, there is really no question that the award should go to a quarterback this season. This was the year of the quarterback, and the passing numbers were eye-popping.

When you compare the statistics of Brady, Rodgers and Brees this season, you're basically splitting atoms.

Brady ended up with 5,235 passing yards which is the second-highest output in a single season of all time behind Brees, who broke Dan Marino's long-standing record this year.

Brady also had 39 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions. For comparison's sake, Brady had more yardage than Rodgers, but less than Brees. He had more interceptions than Rodgers, but less than Brees. He had less touchdown passes than both Rodgers and Brees who had 45 and 46 respectively.

Basically, you can call it a dead heat.

Despite all of that though, Brady isn't really being mentioned in the same breath as Rodgers and Brees in terms of the MVP talk.

Rodgers will certainly be tough to beat. He entered the season with a lot of hype thanks to his Super Bowl win last season and he has done nothing this season to disappoint.

Brees led an assault on the passing record book, but he also had the benefit of the most attempts in the league by a wide margin with 657. I'm not going to try to belittle what Brees and Rodgers have done statistically, because they both truly were incredible this season.

In order to understand why Brady is more valuable, you have to look a bit deeper. The Patriots' defense was miserable all season long as it was ranked 31st against the pass and 17th against the run. While the Packers' defense technically ended up worse against the pass, that was only because they were torched by Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions in a meaningless Week 17 game.

Brees' defense also gave up a lot of passing yardage, but they were a distant third behind the Packers and Patriots. Also, Brees was helped by the No. 6 running game in the league, so he actually had quite a bit of support from his running backs and his defense.

New England's running game was only 20th in league, and it was virtually non-existent until late in games that were well in hand.

Statistics only tell part of the story, but I think that most people who watched a Pats game this season saw that Brady had to pretty much do everything himself on offense in order to overcompensate for his abomination of a defense.

It's impossible to say how the Patriots, Packers and Saints would have fared without Brady, Rodgers and Brees respectively, but I wouldn't hesitate to say that the Patriots would be worst off.

Their defense is the weakest of the three, and there really isn't much threat of a running game, so a generic quarterback couldn't just step in and have success.

The voters don't deal with hypotheticals, so I realize that Rodgers could very likely win the award, and he is deserving in his own right, but the Patriots would be nothing without Brady. The playoffs aren't taken into account when it comes to MVP voting, but Brady continues to prove his worth on the big stage as well.

There are three very deserving candidates this season, but no player is more valuable to his team than Brady.