13 Sports Stars Who Carry the Team on Their Shoulders

Would the Carolina Panthers have started 7-0 without Cam Newton? Would the Cleveland Cavaliers have made it to the NBA Finals without LeBron James? (Hint: No.)

Certainly, team sports are called such for a reason. No one person (not even LeBron) can do everything. Still, when the going gets tough, some players just have that ability to throw the whole team on their shoulders and march on. The following 13 athletes have that ability, and as such, have been vital to their teams' performances as of late.

This does not include guys like Steph Curry, who is an unreal talent but also has a lot of great teammates surrounding him. The Golden State Warriors (probably) wouldn't immediately implode without him. The same goes for Josh Donaldson, who had an incredible MLB season but also had Jose Bautista and David Price helping him out.

Not only do each of the following athletes stick out as their team's most valuable player, but you also get the feeling the team would be far worse without them. Or, to put it another way, if any of these athletes went down with a season-ending injury, the team's fanbase would look like this.

Alright, let's do this.

Warning: It's a little quarterback heavy, but let's be honest. The list of "positions most integral to team success" is also a little QB heavy.

Note: All stats are prior to Week 9 NFL matchups and that big LSU-'Bama game. 

Honorable Mention: Denver Broncos Defense

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The Denver Broncos defense isn't one person (obviously), so it's getting an honorable mention. Still, is there a unit in sports right now carrying its team more than this one?

Through Week 8, the Bronco defense tops the NFL in yards allowed. In the matchup against the Green Bay Packers, it held reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers to 77 yards passing, the lowest mark of any complete game in his career.

Also (and not that this matters in actual football, but), the Denver defense is on pace to score 267 fantasy points, per Tristan H. Cockcroft of ESPN.com, a staggering number for you fantasy aficionados out there.

Honorable Mention: Mets Starting Pitching

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Again, "Mets starting pitching" isn't the name of a person, but the New York Mets' rotation was largely responsible for the team's success in 2015.

In the regular season, the Mets ranked just 17th in the league in runs scored.  Meanwhile, their team ERA was fourth, behind only the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs.

Three Mets starters— Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey and Bartolo Colon—had at least 13 wins. Harvey and deGrom both posted sub-3.00 ERAs, and rookie sensation Noah Syndergaard contributed nine wins and a 3.24 ERA.

Tony Romo

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Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo hasn't gotten a lot of love over the years, but his importance to the team is apparent. Since an injury sidelined him after Week 2, the Cowboys haven't won a game, bringing their record to 2-5 through Week 8.

Last season, Romo led the league in quarterback rating and helped his team to a 12-4 record and a playoff appearance. In Week 1 of the 2015 season, Romo threw for 386 yards on an 80 percent completion rate and three touchdowns.   

The team does have dangerous offensive weapons in wide receiver Dez Bryant and tight end Jason Witten, but Bryant has missed much of the season with an injury, and Witten hasn't caught a TD pass since Week 1.

Lionel Messi (Then Neymar)

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Yes, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez all play for FC Barcelona. However, before Messi went down with an injury, it was clear who the man was.

According to Mike L. Goodman of Grantland (RIP, Grantland), Messi was taking 17.7 percent of his team's touches in the offensive half of the field, fourth in La Liga among players with at least 400 minutes.

Goodman wrote:

"

But with no Messi, Neymar has become Barcelona's fiery center. When Messi is on the field, Neymar gets 55.07 touches per 90 minutes and takes 2.94 shots. Since Messi's injury, those numbers have jumped to 79.47 and 5.17 in five combined Champions League and La Liga matches.

"

You can't replace a Lionel Messi. Neymar himself even said the team misses his play, but the young Brazilian is certainly stepping up. 

Anthony Davis

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In 2014-15, Anthony Davis led the New Orleans Pelicans to a 45-37 record and a postseason berth, the first since 2011 (when Chris Paul was still there).

After a tough playoff loss to the Golden State Warriors in which Davis scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, SB Nation ran the headline, "Anthony Davis alone was almost too good for the NBA's best team." And he was.

During the regular season, Davis led his team in points (24.4), blocks (2.9) and rebounds (10.2) per game. The team's second-leading scorers were Tyreke Evans (16.6 per game) and Jrue Holiday (14.8). In four playoff games against the Warriors, Davis averaged 31.5 points, three blocks and 11 rebounds per game.

In terms of "most valuable to his own team," Davis is up there with LeBron James.  

Note: James Harden was up there too last season, but A. Dwight Howard is making his return to health, and B. Harden sort of choked when it mattered most, something James and Davis did not do. 

Philip Rivers

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Through Week 8, the San Diego Chargers are just 2-6, which is why quarterback Philip Rivers isn't higher on this list. The man is getting virtually no help, plus he and his team are dealing with all that moving-to-L.A. business.

Rivers has thrown for the most yards in the NFL, 2,753, and has an 18-7 touchdown-interception ratio. Rivers' biggest offensive weapon is wide receiver Keenan Allen, who has 725 yards and four touchdowns.

The lack of a real running game hurts, though—Melvin Gordon is the team's leading rusher with 382 yards—as does a team defense ranked in the wrong half of all NFL teams, per NFL.com.

Elena Delle Donne

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Elena Delle Donne of the Chicago Sky won the WNBA MVP Award in September, garnering 38 of 39 first-place votes. She led the league in scoring with 23.4 points per game and twice blew up for over 40 points.

The Sky played to a 21-13 regular-season record and earned a No. 2 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.

Delle Donne's importance to her team was obvious—the Sky's second-leading scorer was Cappie Pondexter with 15 per game, over eight points less then Delle Donne.

For the sake of comparison, Maya Moore of the eventual champion Minnesota Lynx led her team with 20.6 points per game, but Sylvia Fowles and Seimone Augustus weren't far behind with 15.3 and 13.8, respectively.

Aaron Rodgers

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The Denver Broncos defense proved in Week 8 that as Aaron Rodgers goes, so go the Green Bay Packers. The Broncos held Rodgers to just 77 yards passing, the lowest number of his career (in any game he didn't suffer an injury). The Packers got smoked, 29-10. 

The loss dropped the Pack to 6-1 on the season, but there's no denying Rodgers regularly carries much of the load for his team. The quarterback still has 1,568 yards, 15 touchdowns and just two interceptions through seven games. He spreads the passing attack around—five targets have 100 receiving yards or more—so no one receiver is indispensable.

Beyond that, the Packer defense ranks 23rd in the league in yards allowed per game (375.7). And with running back Eddie Lacy's numbers dropping from last season (71.2 yards per game in 2014 to 42.6 in 2015 through Week 8), it's even more apparent that for the Packers to win, their passing game (and Rodgers) needs to be on point.

Rodgers would be higher on this list if he had carried his team to victory in Denver, but make no mistake, he is indispensable to his team. 

Alexander Ovechkin

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Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player in 2014-15, but Alexander Ovechkin came in second. One of the game's best goal scorers, he was the only player in hockey to score more than 50 goals in 2014-15, and he did it while no other player on his team scored more than 21.

Ovechkin led the Caps to the playoffs, where they lost to the New York Rangers in the second round. He notched five goals and nine points in 14 playoff games, including one in a nail-biter of a Game 7.

After Ovi scored an insane go-ahead goal in a recent win over the New Jersey Devils, teammate Jason Chimera said, "That's what the fans pay money to see. Just a world-class goal by a world-class player. You don't see that. A lot of guys would fall down if they tried that kind of stuff," per Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post.

Washington has a good team, but without Ovechkin, the potential for greatness would suffer significantly. 

Tom Brady

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Yes, Tom Brady has Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, but really, would the New England Patriots be undefeated without their quarterback? Would they even be thinking about a Super Bowl run with Jimmy Garoppolo at the helm? 

Through Week 8, Brady has thrown 20 touchdown passes and one, yes one, interception. He also leads the league in passer rating with a figure of 115.8.

Brady's value is seen more clearly through hypothetical subtraction. His backup is an unproven rookie who likely wouldn't have the ability or opportunity to make the kind of throws Brady makes regularly.

Without Brady, the team would need to lean more on the run game. The only reason Brady doesn't rank higher on this list is because LeGarrette Blount and Dion Lewis are talented backs, and the team defense is ranked 12th in the league—not the best, but also not the worst.

Mike Trout

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There were many great individual performances in MLB this season—Bryce Harper, Jake Arrieta, Josh Donaldson—but few did more with less than Mike Trout.

The Los Angeles Angels outfielder led his team in virtually every offensive category including batting average (.299), slugging percentage (.590), on-base percentage (.402), runs (104), hits (172) and home runs (41). Albert Pujols edged him in the RBI department but barely, 95-90.

The team's most effective pitcher was ace Garrett Richards, but he went down in August with an injury. The rest of the Angels pitching staff performed respectably (3.94 team ERA), but it wasn't the same help as say, Harper got from his staff. The Washington Nationals posted a 3.62 team ERA, helped along by Max Scherzer's 2.79 figure. 

The Angels ranked 20th in the league in runs scored and 13th in ERA. Still, despite a relatively mediocre year overall, they weren't eliminated from playoff contention until the final day of the regular season.

Leonard Fournette

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Heading into a big showdown with Alabama on November 7, the LSU football team is 7-0 and ranked second in the first installment of the College Football Playoff rankings.

Taking nothing away from an undefeated team, LSU would, simply put, not be where it is without the outstanding play of running back Leonard Fournette. The sophomore's stats are absurd. In just seven games, he has racked up an FBS-leading 1,352 yards on 176 carries, good for an average of 7.7 yards per carry, and 15 touchdowns. By contrast, the next-most yards produced by a non-quarterback on LSU are wide receiver Travin Dural's 426.

Fournette is so good, other teams have started to throw compliments his way. According to Jonathan Clegg of the Wall Street Journal, Fournette said (in reference to Florida defenders), "They'd say I'm good, but my offensive line is trash, or imagine what you could do with a real quarterback. It was some real dirty things."

Not nice, but probably at least partly true. 

Carey Price

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Last season, Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price won the following trophies: Hart (MVP), Jennings (fewest goals scored against), Lindsay (most outstanding player per NHLPA) and, of course, Vezina (best goalie). He led the league in wins (44), save percentage (.933) and goals against average (1.96).

All the while, his team finished the regular season ranked 19th in the league in goals per game (2.6).

Toward the end of the regular season, retired NHL goalie Marc Denis said, "This is a middle-of-the-pack team. They wouldn't be fighting for first in the East. They wouldn't be considered one of the contenders. It takes a Vezina and Hart type of season to take them here," per Ben Shpigel of the New York Times.

To start the 2015-16 season, Price is at it again with seven wins in his first nine games.

LeBron James

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LeBron James has always been a player capable of putting a team on his back. Just look at the following records:

• 2009-10 Cleveland Cavaliers: 61-21
• 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers: 19-63

The difference? No LeBron.

In the 2015 NBA Finals, with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving out with injuries, James put up 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game, and recorded two triple-doubles. His Cavs lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games, but there's only so much one man can do.

Former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy told Zach Lowe on The Lowe Post, "If you flipped LeBron James to Golden State and you flipped [Stephen] Curry to Cleveland, what would the series be? It'd be a sweep. It'd be a sweep, and that's not knocking Curry; Curry's had an unbelievable year ... But there's no doubt who's the MVP of this series," per Scott Davis of Business Insider.

Love is back to start the 2015-16 season, but as long as the Cavs have James, they will be competitive. 

Cam Newton

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Where would the Carolina Panthers be without quarterback Cam Newton? Probably not sitting at 7-0 through Week 8.

After the Week 2 win over the Houston Texans, Conor Orr of NFL.com wrote, "Cam Newton is going to have to do this on his own. Outside of a beautiful touch pass bomb to Ted Ginn Jr. and a few fantastic catches by Greg Olsen, the Panthers are 2-0 thanks to a player who does everything but kick the extra points."

Not a whole lot has changed since then. Yes, Newton has some offensive weapons, but he is still the second leading rusher on the team behind running back Jonathan Stewart and has four running touchdowns (more than Stewart's three).

He doesn't have a great completion percentage (54.2), but Newton's dynamic playmaking abilities and infectious leadership are more than a big part of how this team has gotten to where it is.