Yet, while Brady is probably the most responsible man for the team’s 14-2 record, he is just one of 22 players contributing. He can’t run, he can’t catch, he can’t tackle and he can’t play defense. So who is the Patriots’ other MVP?
Here’s a runthrough of a few options.
BenJarvus Green-Ellis
A formidable running game opens up the passing game, and this undrafted, unheralded and previously unknown back out of Mississippi topped the 1,000-yard mark, jumping from the bottom of the depth chart to the top and proving the Pats with balance they haven’t seen since Corey Dillon.
Rob Gronkowski
A big target at 6-foot-6, 265 pounds, the 21-year-old rookie caught 10 touchdowns. That’s the most of any rookie tight end since a guy named Mike Ditka caught 12 back in 1961. Gronk also set a Patriots rookie record and the franchise record for touchdowns by a tight end, surpassing Patriots Hall of Famer Ben Coates, who caught nine TDs three different times. Add in that Brady only threw seven touchdowns to tight ends all of last season, and that’s a whole lot of value from the steal of the second round.
Jerod Mayo
Tackles aren’t exactly the most scientific of statistics, but the middle linebacker did lead the league for pretty much the entire season. NFL.com says he had 175, and the closest competitor was Stephen Tulloch at 159. Mayo played in all 16 games and was the rock at the center of the Patriots’ defense.
Devin McCourty
There was a very small group of people that believed the Patriots made a good first-round pick in Devin McCourty, and that group was pretty much limited to McCourty’s parents and Bill Belichick. The Rutgers product made believers out of everyone rather quickly, making seven interceptions on the season, despite teams’ tendencies to throw away from his side of the field. That was good enough for second in the entire NFL. Not bad for a bad draft pick, eh?
Wes Welker
Welker, by his standards, had a down year, but that’s only because his standards are insane. Welker’s 86 catches weren’t his highest mark as a Patriot, but he still led the team in receptions by a healthy margin (he had 38 more than Deion Branch). More impressively, he did all of that after going through one of the fastest recoveries from knee ligament tears the sports world has ever seen.
Vince Wilfork
What Skinny Vinny does on a daily basis isn’t pretty, but it’s the type of work that wins football games. This season, Wilfork was particularly valuable for his ability to line up either on the center’s nose, offseet on the center and even out on the end. Weighing more than 325 pounds, No. 75 clogged rushing lanes all season long.
Other than Tom Brady, which Patriots has been team MVP?Market Research
