The 2016 NFL MVP race was on full display in Week 8

You may or may not have noticed it, but Week 8 in the NFL was a microcosm of the league’s MVP race.

Typically, there’s more discussion around the race for the league’s Most Valuable Player award, but with other topics owning the NFL news cycle, it’s somewhat flown under the radar.

Last season, it was Cam Newton’s award for the majority of the year without any contention.

Right now, it’s very much looking like a three-man race. Tom Brady’s resurgence since his four-game suspension has been nothing short of spectacular. Derek Carr has the Oakland Raiders off to their best start in 15 years at 6-2, and Matt Ryan has been leading the most prolific offense in the NFL through eight weeks.

Could it be possible that Tom Brady’s four-game suspension for Deflategate was actually one of the best things that could have happened to him this season? Brady is 39 years old, which is ancient in the good world of sports. His body had some extra time off to heal, and while some could have envisioned him having rust, that hasn’t even been close to the case.

The two-time MVP has been sharp in the four games that he’s played in since returning, and we’re talking above his career averages. For his career, he’s completing 63.7 percent of his passes, and has averaged 7.5 yards per attempt. This season, he’s completing 73 percent of his passes, is averaging 9.8 yards per attempt, and has yet to throw an interception to go along with his 12 touchdowns.

After watching his team suffer the first shutout loss in Gillette Stadium to the Buffalo Bills without him, Brady was going to get back at the Bills. He did that in Week 8, with 315 passing yards and four touchdowns in a cakewalk victory for the Patriots. The win improved his career record against the Bills to 26-3, tying Brett Favre for the most against one team in NFL history.

Brady’s mission to dominate the NFL after serving his suspension is going as well as he could have hoped for, and he’s not showing signs of slowing down.

Carr has certainly developed into the quarterback the Raiders hoped he would be. He’s largely been the reason for the Raiders’ 6-2 record, their best start since 2001. The combination of Carr and second-year wide receiver Amari Cooper has been a delight for fans in the Bay Area, who haven’t enjoyed such a talented quarterback-wide receiver duo in quite some time.

If there were any questions of his legitimacy, they were answered in Week 8. Carr was able to carry the Raiders past the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in an overtime win despite his team committing an NFL-record 23 penalties. Carr completed 40 of his 59 pass attempts, and threw for 513 yards and four touchdowns. It was a spectacular performance.

Carr has thrown for 2,321 yards this season, which is fifth-best in the league. Cooper has accounted for 787 of those yards, which is third in the league among receivers. Carr is currently on pace for 4,642 yards, which would be just shy of Rich Gannon’s franchise record of 4,689 passing yards back in the 2002 season when the Raiders went to the Super Bowl.

If Carr is able to keep the Raiders atop AFC West until the end of the season, he has to like his chances after leading a franchise that has been in the dumps for over a decade.

Matt Ryan has taken a lot of criticism over the course of his career. This season, he’s doing so much that even detractors can’t do anything except sit back and watch Ryan and the Falcons pour on the yards.

Ryan, like Carr, has made up for one of the best quarterback-receiver duos in the league with Julio Jones. Ryan leads the league in passing with 2,636 yards, with 859 of them going to Jones, good for second-best in the league. The two combined for a never-before-seen performance in which Ryan threw for 503 yards against the Panthers, with Jones having 300 of those yards receiving.

The Falcons quarterback put on a masterful performance against the Green Bay Packers in Week 8. Ryan completed 80 percent of his 35 passing attempts, throwing for 288 yards and three touchdowns, including this strike to Mohamed Sanu with 31 seconds left for the win:

Ryan’s biggest threat to his MVP candidacy might not be the two aforementioned frontrunners, but rather his team’s defense. The Falcons are 31 in the league in points allowed and 25th in total defense. But when they’re on, Ryan and the offense do more than enough to win games.

If he continues his pace, Ryan will finish the season with 5,272 yards, which would be the third-best passing season in NFL history. Yet out of the eight quarterbacks to throw for 5,000 yards in a season, just two have won the league MVP for that season.