Let’s define the award MVP. MVP stands for Most Valuable Player. The word value means the worth an object possesses in relativity. In football context, the most valuable player would be a player that the team values the most, and in turn, holds the greatest value to a team out of all the teams. Under my interpretation, the MVP award goes to the player that is most important to the success of his team and has the greatest impact on his team compared to players around the league. How does the team do with and without the player?

Although you cannot always examine a team without a certain player if they never leave the game, you can judge their value to a team based on the talent and productivity around them. Of course you can judge a player off of statistics, and many MVP winners win their award based off incredible statistics, but it never tells the true story. In order to fully analyze a player’s ability you have to read between the stat lines and look at the bigger picture down to their own performance.

An obvious MVP candidate so far would be Kurt Warner, who not only leagues the lead in passing yards and touchdown passes, but has brought his team to 7-4 and leading the division. But if you read between the lines, the Cardinals tell a different story. Kurt Warner throws to arguably the best receiving tandem in the league with Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, both of which are top five in the league in receiving yards per game. It might go both ways; however, does Kurt Warner make the receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin who they are? Does he make them the top receivers in the game?

Kurt Warner isn’t doing it by himself. Boldin, although missing games, leads the league in yards after the catch even as a receiver. Only five of the top eleven yards after the catch receivers are wide receivers. Why does that matter? Yards after the catch is a stat that is mostly dominated by running backs catching balls in the flats or with dump-off throws. Just how good is Boldin at yards after the catch? Boldin not only leads the league in yards after the catch, but he has missed two games in which the gap could potentially have separated. Not only does Kurt Warner have the leading receiver with yards after the catch, but also Larry Fitzgerald ranks eighth for receivers in the category.

Tony Romo, on the other hand, not only has the stats, but has showed his value as well. At this point in the season, Romo is averaging 278 yards per game, 40 yards less per game than Warner, but Warner attempts 7 more passes a game. As a result, with the same amount of attempts, Romo would average more yards a game. Touchdown wise, Kurt Warner has thrown 21 touchdowns to Romo’s 18 touchdowns. However, Romo has played three less games, and averages 2.25 touchdowns a game to Warner’s 1.9 touchdowns a game.

The main focus of the award is value. After watching Romo leave the lineup with injury, Brad Johnson, super bowl champion quarterback, led the team to a 1-2 record. The only win came with a defensive hold to 9 points. Even with the addition of Roy Williams, Brad Johnson threw only two touchdown passes in three games, and threw for five interceptions. Brad Johnson threw only two less interceptions than Tony Romo did in five less games. During Johnson’s tenure at quarterback, the team scored a total of 41 points over three games, the same amount of points the team scored against the Eagles in one game with Romo at quarterback.

As Romo returned to the lineup, the team has gone 2-0 with an important win over the division rival Washington Redskins. A common rebuttal for Tony Romo’s excelled play was his array of weapons. Romo’s weapons and the addition of Roy Williams went silent under Brad Johnson. Terrell Owens, who previously had a 36 yard per game average under Brad Johnson, exploded against the San Francisco 49ers for over 200 yards receiving due to the great play and deep ball of Tony Romo.

Through the revival of the Dallas Cowboys since the return of Tony Romo, coupled with his statistical output, Romo demonstrates his value and significance to the team. As the Cowboys went from a super bowl contender with Romo, to one of the worst teams when he left with injury, and back to playoff shape as he returned to the team, Romo shows his ability and value to the Dallas Cowboys.

Gabe Pinchev