Giants vs. Patriots: 4 Non-QBs Who Could Take Home the MVP

In the last 12 Super Bowls, seven of the games' Most Valuable Players were quarterbacks.

Quarterbacks generally get more credit for their teams' wins in the regular season, and the same can be said for the playoffs as well as the NFL's biggest game.

However, in Sunday's matchup between the New England Patriots and New York Giants, a non-quarterback could potentially take home the coveted MVP award.

In the following slides, I detail four players who have a shot to win the award over quarterbacks Tom Brady and Eli Manning.

Victor Cruz, WR, New York Giants

New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz emerged from relative obscurity in 2011 to become one of his team's most dangerous weapons.

There's little chance that the New England Patriots secondary, which ranked 31st in the regular season in passing yards allowed, will be able to keep Cruz under control.

That means Cruz is poised for a huge game. In the regular season, Cruz caught 82 passes for 1,536 total yards and nine scores, for an average of 96 yards a game, and had 142 receiving yards in the NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers.

If quarterback Eli Manning can connect with Cruz for more than one score, and if the second (or third) is the game-winner, Cruz gets the MVP and not Manning.

Wes Welker, WR, New England Patriots

New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker is one of quarterback Tom Brady's most reliable targets, even if he isn't the team's highest scorer. With 122 receptions for 1,569 yards and nine scores in the regular season, the small and speedy Welker has been a difference-maker throughout 2011.

Though Welker had eight regular season games with 100 or more receiving yards, the most he has had in the postseason is 55 and just one touchdown. However, he could come up big in the Super Bowl and possibly end up with the Most Valuable Player trophy.

Welker's strength is between the 20s, where he can use his quickness and agility to make defenders miss and rack up serious yards after the catch. Though New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle will be assigned Welker for the majority of the game, and he's the Giants' top tackler this season, Welker is adept at making even the most elite defenders look like amateurs.

It won't be about points scored that would make Welker the game's MVP; instead, he would need to have a 200-plus yard receiving day to set up each scoring drive. Though Welker could have as many as two scores, it will ultimately be a high-yardage performance that would make him the game's Most Valuable Player.

Jason Pierre-Paul, DE, New York Giants

Since 2000, just two defensive players have walked away with the Super Bowl MVP—the Baltimore Ravens' Ray Lewis in 2001 and Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Dexter Jackson in 2003.

So while it's hard, it's not impossible. And if any defensive player could take it, it's New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul.

In 2011, Pierre-Paul led the Giants with 16.5 sacks and had 86 combined tackles and two forced fumbles. With his assignment in the Super Bowl being to break past rookie Patriots right tackle Nate Solder, Pierre-Paul could find himself in quarterback Tom Brady's face throughout the game.

This Super Bowl has all the hallmarks of a shootout, but it's not a foregone conclusion that will happen. The Giants defense has been playing out of their minds in the playoffs, and will likely look their best Sunday.

Should a Giants victory come not from what they are able to do on offense but what they managed to keep Brady and the Patriots from accomplishing, a member of the Giants defense could find himself hoisting the MVP trophy after the game.

Considering the numbers he's put up all season long Pierre-Paul would be a likely recipient of the award. It just might take four or five sacks and a forced fumble (perhaps recovered for a score) to get there. It's a tall order, but certainly not inconceivable.

Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, TEs, New England Patriots

No tight end has ever won the Super Bowl MVP, but then again, few tight ends of the likes of the New England Patriots' Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez have taken the field in the NFL's biggest game.

Gronkowski was the Patriots' highest scoring member of their receiving corps this year, with 18 total regular-season touchdowns, and Hernandez put up numbers many dedicated wide receivers should be jealous of.

Thanks to the additions of Gronkowski and Hernandez to the Patriots offense in the 2010 season, the team has remained as dominant as ever, though their means to an end have changed.

No longer does quarterback Tom Brady need to rely on a dynamic, traditional wideout like Randy Moss; now he can throw to the far more versatile pair of tight ends with similar—if not better—results.

Gronkowski is suffering from a high ankle sprain that might see him limited in Sunday's game. But he's clearly tough, and may not be hobbled as severely as many are thinking.

But if he is, then Hernandez will have an even greater role in his team's offense. He's already been used effectively as a running back in the playoffs, and if he's successful in making up for the injured Gronkowski, he could have an excellent day in the passing game as well.

Gronkowski had 145 receiving yards and three scores in the Patriots' divisional round trouncing of the Denver Broncos. If either he or Hernandez put forth a performance like that in a Patriots Super Bowl win tomorrow, then that man is likely to be the game's first tight end to be named Super Bowl MVP.