Tom Brady will be the 2006 NFL MVP

I don't agree with the people who say the preseason is meaningless.  If that were really true, the coaches wouldn't even bother watching the film.  So when I saw the Patriots had beaten the Redskins 41-0 on Saturday, I was intrigued.  Then I read this Washington Post column written by a clearly concerned Michael Wilbon and I became even more confident in my prediction that at least one of the much-hyped NFL East teams would fade by the middle of the season. 

Unfortunately, I then watched the game (through the magic of TiVo and the NFL Network).  In the first half at least, the Redskins actually played about as well as a team on the receiving end of a massive drubbing could play.  Quarterback MarK Brunell is clearly still not comfortable in the new offense, and they missed Clinton Portis, but they moved the ball decently except for a couple of big sacks that killed drives.  On defense, the 'skins didn't give the Pats much running room, had decent coverage, and got a fair amount of pressure on Brady.  I don't want to oversell their performance (they did get killed after all), but it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be.

The problem for Washington -- and by extension the rest of the League -- is that Tom Brady is frighteningly good.  He completed short passes and long passes, passes to running backs, tight ends and receivers, passes where he had plenty of time and passes where he unloaded just before he got drilled.  He was fitting balls into tiny holes, without ever looking like he was forcing the action.  It was a clinic.

Here's a good comparison for those of you who have been watching the Eagles preseason games this year.  Donovan McNabb has been in complete control of the offense, completing 23 of 31 passes for 283 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions.  That's a completion percentage of 74 percent.  The guy is locked in.

Brady looked twice as good.

I'm dead serious.  Yes, it's the preseason.  Yes, the Redskins were without a number of key defensive starters.  But the throws he was making in the situations he faced were simply uncanny.

That's why I think he's going to win the MVP this year.  And it's also why I wouldn't read too much into that Redskins score.  I'd love to believe those guys are dead coming right out of the box.  Instead I think they just ran into the Brady buzzsaw.