Despite his age, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is still defying Father Time and playing at a high level, leading his team to an NFC South-leading 4-1 record. The 44-year-old Brady threw for 411 yards and 5 touchdowns in their 45-17 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium. It was the first time that Brady threw for 400-plus yards and 5 touchdowns in a single game. With his performance, Brady now leads the league in passing yards after Week 5, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. According to Smith, Brady now has 1,767 yards, more than 100 yards ahead of Derek Carr of the Las Vegas Raiders (1,605).
Third on the list is Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams (1,587) while Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers and Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals are 4th and 5th with 1,576 and 1,512 yards, respectively.
Brady also leads league in pass completions
Brady also leads the league in pass attempts with 225, ahead of Herbert’s 207, and currently has the most completions with 149, ahead of Atlanta Falcons’ Matt Ryan, who has 141 completions. Currently, Brady is chasing the all-time record for completions currently owned by Drew Brees. Brady currently has 6,927, just 216 shy of Brees’ 7,142. Brady is second on the list when it comes to touchdown passes with 15, just one scoring strike behind Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, per ESPN stats.
With this, Smith reported that based on the assessment of Football Outsiders, Brady is now leading the Most Valuable Player race, ahead of young quarterbacks such as Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills, Herbert, Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys and Stafford, based on a tweet by Football Outsiders founder and CEO Aaron Schatz, who is considered the “founding father of football analytics.” According to Schatz, based on a player’s DYAR or Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement, Brady has the most value and currently leads the MVP race.
As of now, Brady has completed 149 of 225 passes for 1,767 yards and 15 touchdowns with just two interceptions.
The new leader in quarterback DYAR, the quarterback with the most value by our numbers and thus theoretically the leading candidate for MVP?
It's not Allen, or Herbert. Or Mahomes, or Stafford, or Prescott, or Murray.
44-year-old Tom Brady.
— Aaron Schatz 🏈 (@FO_ASchatz) October 11, 2021Update on Lavonte David’s injury
The Buccaneers suffered a big loss on defense in their blowout win over the Dolphins on Sunday after linebacker Lavonte David suffered an ankle injury in the first half.
Based on the update by Luke Easterling of USA Today, David suffered a low-ankle sprain and he is expected to miss some time. David is not expected to play against the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday, but he won’t be placed on injured reserve. This is a bit of good news since this means that the Buccaneers expect him back in less than three games. In David’s absence, Devin White will have to raise his game to another level. The Buccaneers are also expected to start veteran reserve Kevin Minter in David’s place until he returns. The Buccaneers also have rookies K.J. Britt and Grant Stuard as backups on defense.
