Former Colts Pro Bowl center thinks Drake Maye should have won NFL MVP over Matthew Stafford

“Listen, I understand the lifetime achievement award to Matt Stafford. He’s unbelievable, played a great season, all those things were great,” Saturday said on “Get Up” Friday. “And you’re gonna talk to me about touchdowns and what he did against the Seahawks — he played [them] three times — you know the division very well. All that’s good.”

Stafford, the Rams’ QB, plays in the NFC West, which is also home to the Seahawks. Therefore, Stafford faced Seattle three times: twice in the regular season and once in the NFC Championship Game. However, the Seahawks bested the Rams in two out of three contests, including when it mattered most.

The Patriots and the Rams had six common opponents this season in the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers, Ravens, Saints, and Titans. ESPN collected stats from both Maye and Stafford in their games against those teams in a graphic that Saturday used to defend his stance.

“Maye [went] 6-0, Stafford 4-2. Maye [had] 84 first downs, Stafford 74. QBR — is that a 20-plus-point difference in QBR? Yes, it is, sir. Yes it is,” Saturday said. Maye’s total QBR in those six games was 81.4 while Stafford’s was 57.8. “… (Maye) has more yards in total than Matt Stafford because he also uses his legs.”

Saturday argued that Maye, 23, was more deserving of winning MVP because he’s a dual-threat QB, making him all the more difficult to defend. Meanwhile, Stafford, one of the league’s oldest active signal-callers, isn’t capable of using his legs. Maye finished the regular season with 4,394 passing yards, fourth-most in the league. Stafford finished with 4,707 yards, a NFL-best.

Additionally, Maye finished the regular season with 31 passing touchdowns and four rushing scores; Stafford threw 46 TD passes and didn’t break the plane himself.

“Is it more difficult to try to stop somebody who can run and pass, or just pass? Just answer honestly. Drake Maye has done that,” Saturday said.

On top of that, Saturday came to Maye’s defense by saying that the sophomore QB didn’t have the elite weapons around him that Stafford did. The Rams possessed an elite offensive receiving and rushing corps that was expected to thrive. On the other hand, many of the Patriots’ weapons entered the season with something to prove and arguably succeeded because Maye brought out the best in them.

“And, by the way, put all this in a little bow: (Maye) did it with less. He ain’t got Puka [Nacua] and he ain’t got Davante Adams, and he dang sure ain’t got 12-plus one-yard touchdowns,” Saturday said.

Fellow ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes — who did cast a MVP ballot — defended her vote for Maye over Stafford Thursday.

“From a dominance perspective, Drake Maye was better than Matthew Stafford in just about every meaningful statistic,” she said on “First Take.” “QBR, EPA per dropback, success rate. He had the highest completion percentage in the NFL. He was first in all of those, despite having a high average depth of target. On top of that, he was the more efficient quarterback. He also brought an element of rushing you just don’t get from Matthew Stafford.”

Kimes defended her vote for Maye over colleague and former NFL QB Dan Orlovsky, who made his Stafford MVP vote known publicly well before the regular season was even over. Orlovsky and Stafford were teammates on the Lions for three seasons in the 2010s.

“I voted for Stafford. This is my biggest pushback to you and this is where you lose it,” Orlovsky said in response to Kimes. “You can’t, on one hand, talk about the numerical advantage or the statistical advantage that Drake Maye had on some of the things that you referenced, and then not talk about the schedule. … The top-ranked defense New England played against was Buffalo at 12.”

Kaley Brown

Sports producer

Kaley Brown is a sports producer for Boston.com, where she covers the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox.