Ten weeks into the 2014 NFL regular season, here’s how we view the 10 most valuable players in football at this very moment…
1. Tom Brady, Patriots — As good as Aaron Rodgers was against the Bears and Peyton Manning was against the Raiders, it doesn’t seem fair to take this away from Brady on a bye week. But it really is a multi-horse race.
2. Peyton Manning, Broncos — Five more touchdown passes against the Raiders, giving Manning a league-high 29. He lost to Brady last week, but I still think Manning is steering the ship for the best team in the NFL.
3. Aaron Rodgers, Packers — Where would the Packers be without Rodgers, who leads the NFL with a passer rating of 120.1 and has a league-high yards-per-attempt average of 8.7? Green Bay has won five of its last six and is in position to make a major run.
4. Tony Romo, Cowboys — Likely less than 100 percent, Romo was nearly perfect Sunday against a better-than-you-think Jaguars defense. His sheer numbers aren’t with the top three, but he’s nearly as valuable.
5. J.J. Watt, Texans — Watt didn’t dominate in Week 10, but that’s only because his team didn’t play.
6. Andrew Luck, Colts — He remains on pace to break the single-season passing yardage record after lighting up the Giants in Week 9. Off the bye, he jumps ahead of Ben Roethlisberger and DeMarco Murray.
7. Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers — Back to earth in a major way. Big Ben’s had three ugly outings this year in losses to Baltimore, Cleveland and the Jets. Tough to win a race like this with that on your record.
8. DeMarco Murray, Cowboys — Falling off that 2,000-yard pace but he still had 100 against the Jags and is going to lead the league in rushing by a scary margin.
So long…Philip Rivers, Antonio Brown, Justin Houston, Joe Flacco and Russell Wilson, all of whom haven’t been good enough to remain in the MVP conversation.
