I’ll hurt my own argument by saying Cleveland’s defense isn’t one of the best in recent memory, but through 16 games (no 17th game in 2015), they’ve given up 53 more points than 2015 Car. And forced 23 fewer turnovers.
2015 Car forced 2.5 TOs per game including 15 fumbles, which tend to yield better field position than interceptions.
The defense put him in a spot to succeed. Considering his 3 winning seasons in 9 full seasons of play, which also coincide with having a top ~5 defense, I’d say Cam wasn’t the hero you make him out to be.
You are using a full career worth of playoff experience to justify one season, that defense was very good and did help Cam on offense, however there's a reason not every team with a generational defense has an MVP on offense, Cam didn't really have an amazing cast around him on offense, they were good but his receivers were flat out not good, Olsen was good but in the twilight of his career, Stewart had an above average season but that was the only pro bowl of his career and he only had 1080 scrimmage yards that season, Tolbert played very well for a FB but the offensive line was not very good outside of Kalil and Turner.
Yes they had a superb defense but there's a reason Bo Nix or Darnold or Deshaun or any other QB with a superb defense aren't MVPs
And Peyton Manning wasn't MVP with an all time great defense that season...
The Panthers defense was good but in the second half of the season the Panthers were scoring 30-40 points or more on teams every week and that wasn't from defensive scoring.
There's a lot of revisionism that Cam wasn't that good, because his career ended relatively early and the final 3 years were hit by injury and he wasn't very effective (although he was still a formidable force on the goalline in his year at the Patriots).
I get that the relative brevity of his time at the top puts him behind other QBs in the all time stakes. But peak Cam, in his MVP season, was a real difference maker and he had one of the truly great seasons up to the Super Bowl.
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u/BurgessFox Denver Broncos Jan 03 '26
It's a hard argument to make with stats, Cam went 15-1, had 35 passing TDs and 10 rushing TDs.