Tom Brady wins NFL MVP for third time on eve of Super Bowl LII

MINNEAPOLIS — It wasn’t a surprise when Tom Brady was named The Associated Press’ NFL MVP on Saturday night at the annual NFL Honors show.

The Patriots quarterback, 40, is the oldest winner of the award that was first given out in 1957. Brady received 40 of the 50 votes from the football writers, with Rams running back Todd Gurley picking up eight votes and Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz receiving two.

Brady led the NFL in passing attempts (581) and passing yards (4,577) while completing 66.3 percent of his passes with 32 touchdowns to just eight interceptions.

Brady, who has now won the MVP award three times, will have another chance to add to his legacy when he faces the Eagles in Super Bowl LII Sunday night.

Brady is looking to win his sixth Super Bowl title.

Comedian Kevin Hart, wearing dark sunglasses, announced the award winner and said Brady was a “little busy” so he couldn’t give his acceptance speech.

Instead, injured wide receiver Julian Edelman spoke for Brady.

“Tom wanted to say he was honored and humbled he gets this award for MVP,” Edelman said. “But he wanted to thank his teammates, his friends, family and the Patriots organization for going out and doing what they do.”

The Patriots went 13-3 and earned the No. 1 seed from the AFC for the playoffs. Brady had five games with over 300 yards passing and one game with over 400 yards. He threw five touchdowns in a Week 3 victory over the Texans and had five games with three or more touchdown passes.

The MVP race was close until late in the year when Wentz was injured in December. Before the injury, Wentz threw 33 touchdown passes to just seven interceptions. He threw for 3,296 yards and had a 101.9 quarterback rating. In Week 14, Wentz’s final game, he he threw four touchdown passes in a wild 43-35 victory over the Rams before exiting with the injury.

With Wentz gone, it left Gurley and Brady in the race for the MVP. Gurley led the NFL in yards from scrimmage (2,093), rushing touchdowns (13) and total touchdowns (19). Gurley still picked up an award, winning the AP Offensive Player of the Year.

But ultimately it was Brady’s time to win the MVP again and on Sunday night he might have some more hardware to take home with him.