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The first marquee NFC West showdown takes place on Sunday, October 3, at SoFi Stadium between the 3-0 Arizona Cardinals and fellow unbeaten the Los Angeles Rams.
Not only will this be the first divisional battle of the undefeated, but the Cards at Rams showdown will feature two players already causing early Most Valuable Player buzz for their teams.
And on Sunday, we’ll see which one between Arizona’s Kyler Murray and L.A.’s Matthew Stafford will get the leg up on the early race for league MVP.
The MVP Case for Murray
One betting line is all in on Murray for MVP.
According to BetMGM, the 24-year-old is the favorite to win the league’s top individual honor. He’s ahead of Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady who are second and third via BetMGM, respectively.
Through three games, Murray has put together the following numbers:
- Murray is third in the league in passing yardage with 1,005. He’s also third in the league in average yards per pass at 335.
- He’s tied for fifth in the league with seven touchdown passes.
- He’s one of six players who is tied for the NFL lead in rushing touchdowns at 3 — part of a list that includes Derrick Henry and Ezekiel Elliot.
Andrew DeWitt, sports betting senior editor for The Athletic, wrote this assessment about Murray’s play on the morning of Tuesday, September 28:
“If you’ve watched Murray play, it isn’t surprising at all. What doesn’t he do for the Cardinals offense? It also helps that Arizona runs one of the highest tempo offenses which allows him to add even more stats to his already outrageous stat lines each week. BetMGM took a ton of bets of Murray in the preseason and now he’s the most bet on with 15.7 percent of the bets and 16.4 percent of the money bet on him.”
But he’s not just the odds on favorite via BetMGM. He has another backer.
The Case for Stafford as League MVP
The 33-year-old Stafford has never been a league MVP before — even in the years he threw beyond 4,500 yards at Detroit, which he did three times.
He’s tied for the MVP lead with Murray in one sportsbook: Tipico, as of Monday, September 27. Here’s what Stafford has been able to put together:
- Stafford is tied with Mahomes for second in the NFL with nine TD passes.
- Stafford is fifth in the league with 942 passing yards.
- His QB rating, though, is second behind Russell Wilson at 129.8.
Stafford additionally has this going from him via Rams broadcaster J.B. Long.
Stafford’s Career is Now in Comparison with Former NFL MVP
Stafford is on pace to shatter career-highs and franchise records in this 17-game schedule. But per Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report on Monday, Stafford’s career is starting to look comparable to the 2002 NFL MVP. Here’s what Gagnon described:
“Remember Rich Gannon? Dude spent his first 12 seasons toiling away as a replacement-level quarterback in Minnesota, Washington and Kansas City, sometimes as a backup, other times as an underwhelming starter. Then, at the age of 33, he moved to California to run Jon Gruden’s innovative offense with the Oakland Raiders. Over the course of the next four years, Gannon made four Pro Bowls, was a first-team All-Pro twice and was league MVP once for an Oakland team that was a perennial contender.
It’s hard not to think about Gannon’s career arc while watching Matthew Stafford, who spent the first 12 seasons of his career toiling away with little support and even fewer accolades in Detroit before moving to California at the age of 33 to run Sean McVay’s innovative offense with the Los Angeles Rams.”
Murray and Stafford have been on the same field twice. The first meeting? The 27-27 tie on September 8, 2019, in Murray’s NFL debut. Both QB’s threw for more than 300 yards that day. The following year, both men matched the same passing yardage (270) and TD passes (two), but Stafford and the Lions escaped with the 26-23 win on September 27, 2020.
So Murray is 0-1-1 against Stafford-led teams. But against the Rams? Murray is yet to beat L.A. in four games versus the Rams.
What about Stafford against the Cardinals? He’s got a good chance to get his personal record to .500 against AZ, as he’s 3-4-1 overall against them.
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