Our second NFL Thursday miniseries gets its annual installment today with a look at both the recent Super Bowl and the recent regular season. The title game was an instant classic, going to overtime with new rules in place, and the season itself was pretty interesting for a variety of reasons. Professional football in America remains the most popular spectator sport by far, based on TV ratings and resulting revenues.

Super Bowl LVIII MVP: Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City (original, confirmed)

The Kansas City Chiefs defended their Super Bowl title from last year with another victory in the big game, beating the San Francisco 49ers (again), by a 25-22 score in overtime. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (399 total yards, 2 passing touchdowns) won his third Super Bowl MVP vote despite throwing an interception. We’re big fans of this guy, but we don’t always agree with the voters, obviously. So, now what?

It was an OT game, so both teams could supply the MVP. So, 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings became just the second player ever to throw a TD pass and catch one in the Super Bowl, yet he only totaled 63 yards on the day. San Francisco running back Christian McCaffrey managed 160 total yards with 1 TD receiving, but he had a costly fumble in the red zone that deprived his team of some needed points. So, it is Mahomes.

His passing was typically pretty good, and he did enough on the ground (66 yards rushing) to compensate for the turnover, which was a bad throw on his part. We don’t like rewarding QBs who turn the ball over, but again, no other QB on the planet could have done what Mahomes did at the end of regulation and again in overtime. There is a statistic to verify this, going back to the 2001 season. Mahomes is the GOAT, people.

2023 NFL ROTY: C.J. Stroud, QB, Houston & Will Anderson, DE, Houston (original); Stroud (revised)

Well, for the second year in a row, both voted ROTYs came from the same team; only this time, that team won its division and actually made the postseason. The Houston Texas improved from 3-13-1 to 10-7 while winning the AFC South, and QB C.J. Stroud—who was robbed of the 2022 Heisman, if you recall—and defensive end Will Anderson were named the vote winners here. Let’s breakdown each vote for starters.

On offense, Stroud (100.8 QB rating, 26 total TDs, 5 INTs) and Los Angeles Rams WR Puka Nacua (1,575 scrimmage yards, 6 TDs) stand out from the rest. Stroud was discussed briefly in our NFL MVP analysis, so he belongs here, but so does Nacua: the Rams were 5-12 last season and recovered to go 10-7 and make the playoffs. Of course, L.A. also won the Super Bowl in 2021, so the roster was not as barren as in Houston.

Defensively, Anderson was good (7 sacks, 45 total tackles), but we think Rams nose tackle Kobie Turner (9 sacks, 57 total tackles) was better. Yet Turner also had the benefit of playing next to Aaron Donald, one of the best defensive linemen in NFL history. We also like Detroit Lions defensive back Brian Branch (74 total tackles, 3 INTs), who helped his team reach the postseason for the first time since 2016. However …

Branch, like Turner, also had some help from last year’s winner in this space for the ROTY, and in the end, the Lions defense didn’t improve that much, statistically. As for the Texans, they jumped 16 spots in the points-allowed rankings, and that had some to do with Anderson—but more to do with a change in head coaching philosophy … and the fact the Houston offense leapt 17 spots, too, in the points-scored rankings.

So, we’re giving this nod to Stroud, as being a successful NFL rookie QB is surprising in itself, let alone the flip from the worst record in the conference to the division crown—even if it is just the weak AFC South. He did fumble 8 times, yet look at this supporting cast: only 1 receiver with over 710 yards receiving and 1 running back over 420 rushing yards. Stroud had to carry a lot on his young shoulders, and he did do that.