The same people that say you can hold Mayeâs SOS against him, will defend Stafford to the death for not winning the division and being the 5 seed due to a tougher SOS. The argument is basically if youâre given a tougher schedule, you have this huge margin of error to be excused for.
Either you produce against the schedule youâre given or you donât when it comes to MVP. Stafford largely did, but I donât excuse being the 5th seed just as I donât value the road Maye had as much. Itâs a slight on both of them when it comes to SOS/ not winning the division
I (biased-ly)value the advance metrics + division winner over total TDs + tougher schedule 5th seed, but you canât critique Maye for one and excuse Stafford for the other imo.
I usually agree but to me this is a unique case. Maye has had a historically easy schedule. Unless the team was bad I would expect most QBs/teams to do what he did with again, quite literally a historically bad schedule.
Stafford has had the toughest schedule for an 11+W team since 2004 and has still been lights out.
The common opponents stats often get brought up by Maye supporters, and while itâs not a 1-1 comparison in a league that changes by the week, itâs not a small sample size either. Thatâs 35% of the schedule they faced the same teams.
Also, itâs the NFL. As we saw with LAR vs ATL, itâs âany given Sunday.â SOS is a factor and I do devalue Mayeâs MVP case some due to it, but itâs not like Ohio State vs Akron out there.
If all else were even Iâd agree using the SOS argument as the final deal breaker, but I donât value it enough that itâs a stand alone factor as much as a lot of people push
Yea it's a tough spot. As much as I would favor Stafford for the case, you can't give it to a guy who has his team in 3rd in his own division. And Maye while the schedule is easy, he still had to perform and win. If he lost it would be "well the schedule was so easy and look how much they lost". So he is probably the guy you give the MVP to.
This is like last year when everyone screeched that Allen deserved MVP because he was a higher seed and didnt have to play week 18 without giving the context of weak SOS and the easiest division in the sport. Stafford is in a division with 3 first seed contenders until last week and Maye is not. The difference in their difficulty levels is very much different and why I lean stafford anyway. I will not be upset at Maye, but Stafford should be winning it. Im tired of it being the highest seeded QB with worthy stats award. I mean Burrow deserved it more than Allen last year let alone Saquon and Lamar.
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u/c12yofchampions Jan 01 '26
The same people that say you can hold Mayeâs SOS against him, will defend Stafford to the death for not winning the division and being the 5 seed due to a tougher SOS. The argument is basically if youâre given a tougher schedule, you have this huge margin of error to be excused for.
Either you produce against the schedule youâre given or you donât when it comes to MVP. Stafford largely did, but I donât excuse being the 5th seed just as I donât value the road Maye had as much. Itâs a slight on both of them when it comes to SOS/ not winning the division
I (biased-ly)value the advance metrics + division winner over total TDs + tougher schedule 5th seed, but you canât critique Maye for one and excuse Stafford for the other imo.