numberFire: Matt Ryan is the NFL’s MVP, and “it’s not close”

Sports analytics website numberFire weighed in on the MVP vote, and let’s be honest, anyone who has watched Matt Ryan is giving the award to the Falcons quarterback. numberFire uses their specialized metric Net Expected Points (NEP) “which measures the value of each play on the field based on how an average team would be expected to score in each scenario using historical data.” I don’t know exactly what that means, but it sounds like they grade each play and Matt Ryan did better than anyone else.

Ryan received 80% of the vote for MVP, with Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers splitting the remaining 20%.

Where does Ryan matchup with other NFL MVPs? Man, this thing is full of awesome stats.

Phew. We have talked widely about all the records Ryan has been breaking this year, and have plenty more to come. Be on the lookout on Friday for a podcast including Scott Kacsmar from Football Outsiders talking about the ridiculous numbers Ryan has been putting up this season.

Anything else noteworthy?

Ryan had a few votes for offensive rookie of the year, Vic Beasley got one for defensive player of the year, and the Falcons had a few votes for Super Bowl winner. It is safe to say the New England Patriots are the favorites to win out, thanks in part to plenty of bad AFC teams.

Ryan is slowly getting some respect nationally, and it is impossible to say Ryan wasn’t the most consistent and best-performing quarterback in 2016.