National Football League

Tom Brady is building a dominant case to win his fourth NFL MVP

Published Dec. 6, 2021 3:26 p.m. ET

Tom Brady: What can't the man do?

His most recent performance on Sunday was just another addition to a list of strong outings the 44-year-old has posted this season.

His final stat line affirmed the poise of a QB who's established a blueprint for success: 368 yards on 38 of 51 completions to go with four TDs.

Tampa Bay won the lopsided matchup over Atlanta, 30-17.

But this type of preeminence over Atlanta, in particular, is noteworthy.

The Falcons' defense is underwhelming, one of the key cogs in the their plummet to the NFC South basement at 5-7. The squad is surrendering 27.7 points per game (second-most in the NFL), while relinquishing the eighth-most total yards per contest (367.1).

Still, no defense –– be it the Falcons' porous group or New England's fearsome forge –– has had an easy go when it's come to slowing down TB12.

Brady's currently leading the league in TD passes (34), and he alone has more total scores (35) than 17 of the league's 32 teams. He's also first league-wide in passing yards (3,771) and completions (347).

On Sunday, he registered his sixth game of the season with at least four touchdown passes (most in both the NFL and in Brady’s career). No other quarterback has more than two such games on the year.

Peyton Manning holds the NFL record with nine such games in 2013, and every quarterback with six or more games with four-plus TDs thrown has won the MVP award in their respective season.

Brady is also on pace to smash the NFL's completions record (the 491 he's on track for would beat out Drew Brees' mark of 471, set in 2015), and he'd become the oldest player to lead the NFL in passing yards and TDs if he maintains the top spot in those categories.

He also needs just 18 more completions to become the NFL's all-time leader. He's currently at 7,125, while Drew Brees holds the record at 7,142.

With that, Skip Bayless believes no one can usurp Brady as far as the MVP race is concerned.

"I predicted before the year started that the 44-year-old was going to win the MVP," Bayless said Monday morning on "Undisputed."

"It is shocking that he now has 34 TD passes. He's got a shot at 50. He has to average three a game to get there. Can he do that? Yes, he could. Right here, right now, Tom Brady is leading the league at 314 pass yards per game. That's pretty extraordinary."

However, Shannon Sharpe still isn't as impressed with Brady's display, saying that T.B. ran up the numbers on Atlanta in an effort to help Brady.

"I thought the Bucs went out of their way and made a concerted effort to throw the ball 50 times against a very porous Falcons' defense," Sharpe said about Tampa's game plan.

He continued to highlight Atlanta's weaknesses, before revealing his own pick for the award.

"The Falcons are dead last in sacks, 31st in points allowed, 19th in pass defense and 23rd overall. Tom Brady is on pace to be only the second player in NFL history to throw the ball over 700 times. … He's thrown the ball 135 more times than Aaron Rodgers. If you project that out, he's probably thrown the ball three full games more than Rodgers.

"[Brady has] 10 INTs and 12 total turnovers, which ranks him bottom in the league. Did you know that Tom Brady has more turnovers than Big Ben, Matthew Stafford and Daniel Jones? Aaron Rodgers has four total turnovers."

Colin Cowherd sided with Bayless, putting Brady at the top of his MVP ladder as well. But his reasoning centered around Brady's availability as opposed to his fellow competitors.

"I like quarterbacks to have some wiggle," Cowherd said Monday on "The Herd." "Jalen Hurts moves around a lot – he's hurt. Lamar Jackson moves around a lot –– he's regressed. Kyler Murray runs around a lot –– he's not 100 percent. ... Justin Fields: Very athletic – he's hurt."

"You know who's not? Tom Brady, who should be the MVP. ... He moves very well inside the pocket. The NFL added a game [this season]. That's another game, another 10-12 hits on the body. As much as we all love a QB that can move, Brady is the runaway MVP."

The ageless one –– it appears –– just keeps getting younger.