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This is the time of year when MVP candidates are made. The V stands for valuable, and theres nothing more valuable than stepping your game up a notch to lead your team to wins in December. (Except, of course, doing the same thing in January, but MVP is a regular-season award.)As our panel of 12 experts reassessed the top candidates after Week 13s action, how did things change? Who helped himself? Who moved up? Who dropped out?With four weeks to go, this is the way we see the NFLs MVP race.Methodology: Each of our 12 panelists nominated their top five candidates.?First-place votes were worth five points, second-place votes worth four, third-place?votes worth three, fourth-place votes worth two and fifth-place worth one.1. Derek Carr, QB | Oakland Raiders?Regular-season passing:?300-for-458 (65.5 percent); 3,375 yards; 24 TDs; 5 INTs; 65.8 Total QBRCase for Carr:?He is Mr. Fourth Quarter. A tough-as-nails team leader who gets better as the game goes along. Down 24-9 to the Bills with a little more than 20 minutes left in the game, Carr led the Raiders to 29 unanswered points and a sixth straight victory. Hes at his best in the biggest moments, which is MVP stuff.Case against Carr:?As was the case last week, Carrs numbers overall dont stack up brilliantly with other MVP-candidate quarterbacks such as Tom Brady, Dak Prescott, Matt Ryan or even Kirk Cousins. Theres also a growing case to be made that Carr is the second-most valuable player on his own team, behind star pass-rusher Khalil Mack.2. Tom Brady, QB?| New England Patriots?Regular-season passing:?208-for-302 (68.9 percent); 2,470 yards; 19 TDs; 1 INT; 82.1 Total QBRCase for Brady:?The touchdown-to-interception ratio is flat-out inconceivable. He has to play without his top offensive weapon now, and if the numbers and wins keep piling up post-Rob Gronkowski, thatll only make Brady look more valuable by seasons end.Case against Brady:?Its all about games played. We went over it last week. For a candidate to win this award in spite of playing only two-thirds as many games as his competitors, his performance has to be considerably and unassailably better than theirs. And there are just too many strong candidates whove played every game.3. Ezekiel Elliott,?RB?| Dallas Cowboys?Regular-season rushing:?263 carries; 1,285 yards; 12 TDs Regular-season receiving:?28 receptions; 322 yards; 1 TDCase for Elliott:?No team runs the ball on a higher percentage of its plays than the Cowboys do, which means the run game is more important for Dallas than it is for any other team in the league. Elliott leads the league in rushing yards by 242 and in runs of 20 or more yards. He stays on the field on third downs and blocks or catches the ball if need be. He is the Dallas offense.Case against Elliott:?As with Carr, there are some who wonder as to whether Elliott is even the most valuable player on his own team, or if that award should go to fellow rookie Dak Prescott. Couple that with the tendency of this award to go to quarterbacks (eight of the past nine years), and you wonder whether Elliotts year can be clearly good enough to convince voters.4. Matthew Stafford,?QB?| Detroit Lions?Regular-season passing:?291-for-433 (67.2 percent); 3,224 yards; 21 TDs; 5 INTs; 72.5 Total QBRCase for Stafford:?He has a case kind of like Carrs, given that his team has had to come from behind in the fourth quarter in seven of its eight victories. Staffords performance has been steady in Jim Bob Cooters offense, and the comebacks are the kinds of heroics that help a guys MVP case.Case against Stafford:?The numbers really arent that good. Even in the fourth quarter, he has just five touchdowns and two interceptions. Overall, hes eighth in Total QBR, eighth in completion percentage, 12th in yards per attempt, 10th in yards and eighth in completion percentage. The numbers look all right next to Carrs, but theyre not among the top in the league. Ephemerally, Stafford feels like an MVP candidate because he passes the eye test and his team is 8-4, but he doesnt have MVP stats.5. Dak Prescott, QB?| Dallas Cowboys?Regular-season passing:?243-for-358 (67.9 percent); 2,974 yards; 19 TDs; 2 INTs; 85.2 Total QBR Regular-season rushing: 217 yards; 5 TDsCase for Prescott:?The Cowboys went 1-11 without Tony Romo last season. This season, with Prescott, theyre 11-1. He diagnoses defenses pre-snap like a veteran, he makes smart decisions during the course of the play and the team clearly believes in him. Theres nothing not to like about him.Case against Prescott: It may or may not be fair to downgrade him for this, but Prescott is operating in maybe the most favorable of circumstances for a quarterback in the entire league. He has the leagues best offensive line in front of him, the leagues best running back and an elite receiver in Dez Bryant, who catches the ball when Prescott chucks it downfield. That doesnt mean hes not most valuable, just that there might be other players carrying a higher share of the responsibility for their teams success. Javy Guerra Nationals Jersey . Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series. Aaron Barrett Jersey . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. https://www.cheapnationals.com/1647r-max-scherzer-jersey-nationals.html .C. -- Manny Malhotra had two goals and an assist, leading the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Nationals Jerseys 2020 .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Wilmer Difo Nationals Jersey . -- Team after team passed on Andre Ellington in the draft. NEW YORK -- Brian Dozier had just struck out on three pitches against Jerry Blevins, ending the 95th defeat in a Twins season that could become the franchises worst since it arrived in Minnesota more than six decades ago.Losses approaching a hundred, Dozier said. Thats not good.Gabriel Ynoa struck out eight over 4 2/3 innings in his first major league start, Blevins got a four-out save and the New York Mets completed a three-game sweep with a 3-2 victory Sunday.A big league-worst 55-95, Minnesota was swept in a series for the 14th time this season and has lost seven straight games against the Mets. The franchises poorest record since moving to Minnesota for the 1961 season was 60-102 in 1982. This years losses could be the most for the team since the 1949 Washington Senators went 50-104.Were just trying to play the best we can as hard as we can until the last out is made in a couple of weeks, manager Paul Molitor said. Were a little bit beat up. Were having to run some people out there. We dont have the great depth that we maybe like to have in September, but thats just kind of where we are.Michael Conforto drove in two runs with a first-inning, opposite-field single to left off Kyle Gibson (6-10), and rookie T.J. Rivera added a solo home run in the third. Gibson gave up three runs and seven hits in five-plus innings.It was frustrating to put our team in that kind of hole there in the first inning against a contending team, Gibson said.All the losses have left the Twins battling to keep a positive approach.I think theres been times when weve gotten pretty down on ourselves and allowed it to affect us, Gibson said. I think thats when you see the 10- and 12-game losing stretches, and there were 15 games where we were not playing too well.Ynoa breezed through the Twins, except inn the second.dddddddddddd Minnesota loaded the bases with one out, John Ryan Murphy hit a sacrifice fly and Gibson grounded out.Mets manager Terry Collins replaced Ynoa with Josh Edgin after Dozier singled with two outs in the fifth, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 22 games. The Twins loaded the bases with two outs before Erik Goeddel (2-1) struck out Kennys Vargas.Vargas homered in the eighth against Fernando Salas, a drive off the Wise billboard above the bullpens, and Blevins retired pinch-hitter Eduardo Escobar on a popup to strand Robbie Grossman at third in the eighth.Blevins struck out Murphy starting the ninth, then got pinch-hitter Joe Mauer to pop out. After a mound visit by pitching coach Dan Warthen, Blevins threw a pair of called strikes to Dozier and got him to swing over a curveball in the dirt.Grossman tied his career high for hits with four singles, but it wasnt enough.I think at the end of the day, you look up and were the worst team in baseball, Dozier said. Thats no good.TRAINERS ROOMTwins: LF Eddie Rosario didnt play after hurting his left thumb while diving into first base Saturday. Molitor said an X-ray was not conclusive due to swelling, and an additional scan will take place Monday, after the team returns home. ... C Kurt Suzuki was rested defensively for the second straight day after taking a foul off the mask Friday, two days after a foul caused a cut that needed five stitches. He pinch hit and struck out.UP NEXTTwins: LHP Hector Santiago (12-8) is to start Tuesdays series opener against visiting Detroit after Minnesota decided to skip RHP Tyler Duffey. Santiago is 2-0 in his last four starts with a 1.80 ERA. ' ' '