Patriots vs. Jets: Strong Showing Proves Tom Brady Deserves NFL MVP

Tom Brady isn't the best quarterback in the NFL this season—that honor belongs to Aaron Rodgers—but, as he proved once again in a 37-16 win for the New England Patriots over the New York Jets, he is still the most valuable, and after the first 10 weeks of the 2011 campaign, deserves to be considered the front runner for the MVP.

At 6-3, the Pats once again rule the roost in the AFC East, and while their defense made some big plays against Gang Green on Sunday night, the team's success has hardly been predicated on stopping opposing offenses. As nice as New England's three forced turnovers—two interceptions by Rob Ninkovich and a fumble recovery by Niko Koutouvides—look on paper, they don't exactly mask the fact that the D bent plenty without breaking, allowing Mark Sanchez to throw for 306 yards and the Jets' ground game to rack up 110 of its own.

For all you non-math wizzes out there, that's 416 yards of offense allowed, not including yardage given up on sacks.

And we're not talking about an offensive juggernaut here, people. We're talking about the Jets, who came into Sunday's action ranked 28th in the NFL in total yards per game, thanks in large part to the more-or-less subpar play of Mark Sanchez this season.

I think we can safely assume that the 2011 Pats aren't exactly the 1985 Chicago Bears. Heck, at this point, Bill Belichick might be happy if his no-name bunch were even a half of a half as good as that all-time group of defenders.

What allowed the Pats to dominate this game and climb back to the top of the division, more so than a rare respectable performance from their defense, was the play of the Golden Boy, who threw for 329 yards and three touchdowns while even finding a way to get Chad Ochocinco involved.

Imagine that!

Realistically speaking, the Patriots are still not a very good team and haven't been for two-and-a-half years now. Yes, they managed to win 14 games last year and 10 the year before that, and will probably win at least 10 games again in 2011, but that success has come in spite of the degradation of the roster that Brady finds around him. The defense now consists of guys who originated on the scrap heap for a reason, while the offense is still lacking a deep threat in the wake of Randy Moss' departure.

The blame for all of this may well fall on who, in their (clearly not) right mind, thought it would be a good idea to let Scott Pioli, the Pats' former vice president of player personnel and the architect of their three Super Bowl championships, walk from Foxborough to Kansas City. Since Pioli departed, the Pats' front office has done nothing but duds in the draft and even more via free agency and trades.

Unless, of course, anyone thinks Ochocinco, Albert Haynesworth and Ras-I Dowling constitute home runs for the personnel department.

For most teams, those sorts of missteps would spell doom and gloom, but not for the Pats, so long as Brady is still under center. He's helped to mask many of his team's shortcomings, serving much the same role that Peyton Manning did with the Indianapolis Colts before he was forced out with a neck injury.

Pats fans can only hope that their beloved team wouldn't fall apart like the the winless Colts have if Brady went down with an injury, or once Tom decides to call it a career. Bill Simmons, ESPN's "Sports Guy," likes to rave about Brian Hoyer, seeing as how he's a Pats fan and all, but it's tough to say whether Hoyer would be able to hold up the crumbling edifice in New England like Matt Cassel did in 2008, when the foundation was still strong, or if he'd just be the next Curtis Painter.

Regardless, it's clear that Tom Brady is now more like Peyton Manning, his "arch rival," than he's ever been, at least as far as his role with his team is concerned. He won the NFL MVP last season on the strength of spectacular numbers (36 touchdowns against just four interceptions) and what those meant for a team with a similarly terrible defense.

Brady may not be dodging opposing defenders as well this season as did last, with 10 picks through nine games, but that hasn't exactly kept him from stewarding his team back to the top of a competitive AFC East.

And, for that, Brady deserves to add another MVP trophy to his already well-stocked mantle.