You forgot playoff games, also games during his rookie season when he was a backup, and his 1 game he was rested at the end of a season. He almost certainly still wore them if he’s that superstitious. Probably also wore them on the day of the 2 games he was injured and recovering back in 2019.
So the number is closer to 121, still not that bad.
Best Chiefs defense I can remember in a long time. Probably the best since we had all of Hali, Houston, Barry, and Flowers.
And, as evidenced by his 2019 season where he barely had over 3,000 passing yards, the volume passing starts aren’t a prerequisite to winning MVP
You’re right that volumetric passing stats aren’t a hard prerequisite. But he did have 1,206 rushing yards and 9 rushing TDs to go with his 3,127 passing yards and league leading 36 passing touchdowns to total 4,333 yards and 45 touchdowns. So overall a very productive year when you count his work on the ground.
This year so far he’s on pace for 3,690 passing yards, 17 passing TDs, 831 rushing yards, 9 rushing touchdowns to total: 4,521 yards and 26 touchdowns. And I think it’s that clear drop in scoring that has people wondering why he’s being considered so highly for MVP, a 19 TD drop from his MVP season.
His ANY/A, which correlates pretty closely with the QB who ends up winning MVP has dropped from his MVP winning season of 8.19 to 6.88. Anything over 8.00 is pretty elite and almost every MVP winner has had an ANY/A over 8. Anything below 7.00 is fairly pedestrian and closer to being league average.
So overall his efficiency and scoring are way down from his previous MVP season. So I think without watching the tape to wonder why he’s being thought of so highly right now other than the Ravens being good. But that’s just as much if not more because of their #1 ranked defense.
He would technically be eligible to return to play, but the Eagles would still have to take him off their reserve/suspended list. They can just decide to waive him like they did instead of taking him off the list. And he had no more guaranteed money left and/or it was all voided a long time ago so the situation doesn’t really change much.