Peter King's MVP Watch

[tony hipchest]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...b.week3/4.html

MVP Watch
We're starting early this year, people. MVP Watch debuted in December last year, but I figured, hey, why not September? Why not get the angry e-mails earlier this year?

1. Tom Brady, QB, New England. Six incompletions in each of his first three games. Playing almost perfect football on the best team of them all. His three-game rating is 141.8, just 12 points shy of perfection ... not that I buy into QB ratings.

2. Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis. Wind him up, and he keeps on dominating and winning.

3. Brett Favre, QB, Green Bay. Reincarnated at 37. Only three times in his career has he had a better quarterback rating and a better completion percentage for a season.

4. Randy Moss, WR, New England. I mean, have you been watching the games?

5. Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Pittsburgh. He wanted the pressure on his shoulders. It was put there, and he's directed the 3-0 Steelers to 32 points per game.

king has slowly been back pedalling away from his ranking of ben as the 17th best qb for this upcoming season, but it now appears he is running away from it.

todays MMQB is chock full of praise for the steelers. (#3 in his fine 15, and naming tomlin his coach of the week.)

4. Pittsburgh is better than even the biggest nut-job Steelers fan ever thought this team would be. The Steelers have won by 27, 23 and 21, respectively, by focusing myopically on today. A defense that showed signs of fraying last year has allowed one offensive touchdown in 32 possessions. I asked coach Mike Tomlin if he'd had much time to watch the Patriots or Colts, and what he thought of them. 'No, I haven't,'' he said. "But the beauty about football is in order to win a championship, you've got to play the best.''

i guess im a nut-job then. i expected the steelers to roll through their first 5 games about as easy as they did their 5 pre season opponents.

[fansince'76]

Not that it isn't WAY too early for this (which it is), but no mention of FWP?

[Mosca]

I sent him a reply saying that if he thinks BR is the Steelers' nominee for MVP, then he hasn't been watching the games, and that FWP is playing like a man possessed and may very well be the next premier back in the NFL; against the '49ers he was going between the tackles for the 4 and 5 yards, then through the holes for 13, 17, 29.

But my responses never get chosen for Tuesday Edition; I mean, heck, I'd be one out of 100,000.


Tom

[The Duke]

Originally Posted by fansince'76

Not that it isn't WAY too early for this (which it is), but no mention of FWP?

Yeah I was surprised at that. Honestly I would put willie in front of Ben cause we run more than pass.

[Atlanta Dan]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...b.week3/4.html
i guess im a nut-job then. i expected the steelers to roll through their first 5 games about as easy as they did their 5 pre season opponents.

I thought they would be 3-0 at this point but certainly not by an aggregate score of 97-26.

The pace now starts to pick up - the road game in Arizona willl be a test and Seattle will be tough if Hasselbeck can have his receivers quit dropping his passes.

[TackleMeBen]

Originally Posted by Atlanta Dan

I thought they would be 3-0 at this point but certainly not by an aggregate score of 97-26.

The pace now starts to pick up - the road game in Arizona willl be a test and Seattle will be tough if Hasselbeck can have his receivers quit dropping his passes.

we dont hasselbeck's recievers to stop dropping passes.. in fact i hope they do it quite alot against us

[Haiku_Dirtt]

Originally Posted by fansince'76

Not that it isn't WAY too early for this (which it is), but no mention of FWP?

WAY too early. I'm still of the opinion that just making the playoffs should be considered a success and an early Charger free-fall doesn't hurt. If can can make it to the bye week with a 5-0 record then the wild card slot is ours to lose.

A traditional MVP at this juncture should go to FWP even though Ben is just a hair under 60%.

But what about a tight end with 10 catches for over 150 yards? A wide receiver with almost 20 yards per catch?

Farrior and Harrison each bagged 17 tackles with two sacks. Haggans seems quicker than I've ever seen him play.

So far I call this annointment Most Valuable Players...plural.

[Livinginthe past]

I like the two Patriots featured in the top 5 for obvious reasons - both have been almost perfect through 3 weeks - taking away dropped catches Brady has thrown about 5 or 6 off target passes through 3 games - to me, that is awesome.

I think it also puts the Peyton Manning thing in perspective - I still think Peyton has the better top 2 WR's - based mostly on time spent together and familiarity which is huge - yet give Brady some elite weapons and he blows the guy off the park from a stat standpoint.

Passer ratings 141.8 for Brady, 104.9 for Manning.

10 TD's brady, 5 for Manning.

I guess Tom will have to win 4 SB's for every one that Peyton wins though - just to get his due as the better QB by far.

As far as team ratings go, I went on record pre-season saying that the Steelers were being masively overlooked - and now the balance has swung the other way (as it typical with the goldfish mentality of the NFL) and Pittsburgh is being given too much credit for beating 3 teams who im sure won't make the postseason.

Not one of those teams seriously threatened to put enough points on the Steelers D to actually place Ben under any type of pressure.

But then that is probably a result of pre-season powerhouse teams such as San Diego and Baltimore (aswell as the Bengals for whatever reason) being less than impressive through 3 weeks.

FWP is indeed the man for Pittsburgh - he is the one who makes it all happen the RB is the guy who has set the tempo in Pittsburgh under Cowher and Tomlin looks to be much the same.

Roethlisberger has avoided basic mistakes that allow the rest of his team the luxury to go out make plays on both sides of the ball - the Steeler D is real, and I never thought it would be any different.

We'll get a true picture of how Ben responds to adversity during weeks 7 through 9 (Denver, Cincy and Baltimore) - those are the first real tests I expect where the opposition will be able to limit the run or put big presure on the Pittsburgh DB's and create potential for a shootout.

[tony hipchest]

We'll get a true picture of how Ben responds to adversity during weeks 7 through 9 (Denver, Cincy and Baltimore) - those are the first real tests I expect where the opposition will be able to limit the run or put big presure on the Pittsburgh DB's and create potential for a shootout.

actually i got a true picture of how ben responds to adversity in the post season of 05 against 2 of those same 3 teams, as he defeated the top 4 offensive teams in the league. i dont expect ben to hit a wall or anything in weeks 7-9.

its really no big stretch or placing the steelers up on a pedestal with the other 2 teams that have won the past 3 superbowls. looking back to 04 and 05 (even the 1st week of 06) our offense is younger and better, our defense is younger and better, and our special teams are younger and better.

i think to much credit was understandably taken away simply based on last years showing. the loss of jerome, cowher, and bens mental and physical stability was far too overweighted. i think many are seeing that the steelers arent ready to take another fall anytime soon. the games against the trendy sb contenders in weeks 7-9 should be fun. it seems every year is their year. i would like to face them as underdogs, but im sure we wont.

anyways ben is playing damn good ball and its about time people start recognizing him as a top player, instead of 17th best.

what do the 4 qb's in kings mvp watch list have in common? they are the only 4 starting qb's in the nfl who have started and WON a superbowl.

[revefsreleets]

Just one little comment on the level of competition. The Pats have played good football, yes, but look at the W's they are getting. The Bills are shared competition, and both the Steelers and the Pats blew them away. The Jets are hardly the second coming of the '85 Bears, and the Chargers have been exposed as vastly overrated. There are some emerging teams this year, and until this all sorts itself out, I'd say there are only a few teams in the entire NFL that have truly distinguished themselves over the first 3 weeks, and the Steelers are definitely one of them.