Todd Gurley knows how to pick his spots.
With Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown sent to the hospital for a leg injury, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson at the helm of a crushing home defeat to the Los Angeles Rams, and Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz nursing a knee injury at home while Nick Foles led Philadelphia to victory, the Rams running back staked his claim to the 2017 MVP award in Week 15.
The odds have always been stacked against Gurley - Adrian Peterson's the only non-quarterback to win the MVP award in the past decade. But, unaware of what else was happening around the league Sunday, Gurley took care of business by rushing for 152 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries, adding another 28 yards and a touchdown added on three receptions.
He helped his team solidify a temporary hold on the NFC West title too, checking off the box for team success on his MVP candidacy application.
And there aren't many qualified applicants. With Wentz's injury unofficially eliminating him from contention, the demise of the Seahawks doing the same for Wilson, and otherwise mediocre season-long quarterback performance around the league, Tom Brady seems to be in line for his first MVP win since 2010 - seemingly by default.
The New England Patriots quarterback has thrown for more yards, more touchdowns, and fewer interceptions in his recent non-MVP seasons. If he didn't win the award for any of those near-legendary campaigns, why should he win this year?
Brady's lack of positional competition has cleared the way for him more so than in any past season, when one-off elite campaigns produced first-time - and one-time - winners. With two games to go, Gurley now looks like Brady's last competitor standing.
Gurley's been this season's top running back with 13 rushing touchdowns, and ranks among the leaders in yards and yards per attempt. He's also having the best receiving season of his three-year career while playing over 80 percent of the Rams' offensive snaps.
By the definition of the award, he should be the MVP. The best season of his career has coincided with the Rams improving from 4-12 in 2016 to 10-4 through 15 weeks, putting them on the brink of clinching their first division title since 2003.
Brady's Patriots, meanwhile, will finish with a worse record than they did a year ago, despite many predicting they would go 19-0 this season en route to a second straight Super Bowl victory.
Gurley has racked up five 100-yard rushing games, 11 games with 100 total yards, and five games with multiple touchdowns scored, and he seems to be ending the season at his best.
He's scored six touchdowns in his past two games, allowing recency bias to help sway voters' opinions, and the Rams finish the season with games against the collapsing Tennessee Titans and upstart San Francisco 49ers.
Brady has long been viewed as a measuring stick for the MVP title - someone another player would need to unseat in order to claim the award. If voters want to choose "anyone else," Gurley is the best remaining selection.
(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)
