The NFL’s regular season just ended and the chatter surrounding the MVP race is at a fever pitch.

It isn’t easy handicapping the field, but in NFL history there have been 61 players who have won MVP or co-MVP and almost two-thirds of them (40) are quarterbacks, so we can rule out Dallas Cowboys rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott. And with only three other non-skill players winning the award – defensive tackle Alan Page (1971), kicker Mark Moseley (1982) and linebacker Lawrence Taylor (1986) – rest assured picking from a pool of passers is not going to eliminate any serious contenders.

Some will simply look at a quarterback’s stats to determine who should win and ignore the context of the performance. The simple fact is not all seasons are equal. A passer who plays with a gifted offensive line against weak opponents is going to have an easier time compiling eye-popping stats than one that has to deal with more pressure in the pocket while playing from behind.

It’s that added context that makes Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons the clear choice for MVP this season.

Tom Brady may have finished the regular season with the best touchdown-to-interception ratio in NFL history with 28 touchdown passes against just two interceptions, but Ryan’s overall season was simply more impressive.

Ryan finished with the highest QBR this season, throwing 38 touchdowns and just seven interceptions while facing the second-toughest schedule in terms of defensive ability. Brady and the New England Patriots had to navigate a defensive schedule that ranked 10th. When taking teams as a whole, the Patriots had the easiest schedule in the NFL this year, one more reason not to get too caught up in a passer’s win-loss record.

THE CASE FOR RYAN

After taking all that context into account, here’s how Ryan stacks up against the oft-mentioned top MVP candidates and why he’s most deserving of the award.

Ryan averaged 309 passing yards per game and finished the regular season leading the league in passer rating (117.1). Since the merger of 1970 there have been four other passers who topped both 300 yards per game and a 110 passer rating. Three – Brady in 2007, Aaron Rodgers in 2011 and Peyton Manning in 2013 – all won the MVP award. The fourth, Drew Brees in 2011, was a runner-up.

And not only did Ryan produce a near-historic season, he did it facing top-10 pass defenses as ranked by Football Outsiders, like the Broncos, Eagles, Cardinals, Buccaneers (twice) and Chiefs. In fact, Ryan’s passer rating against top-10 pass defenses in 2016 was 102.9; against everyone else it was 128.4. Even against that strong competition, he produced one of the best passer ratings in NFL history.

Brady played just two top-10 defenses this season, Denver and Baltimore. Against the Broncos, Brady completed 16 of 32 passes for 188 yards and zero touchdowns. Ryan completed 15 of 28 yards against Denver for 267 yards and a score. This doesn’t end the argument of Ryan vs. Brady obviously, but it is another data point that illustrates Ryan, even against a common opponent, comes out ahead.

SO COOL, HE’S CALLED ICE

Playing against a strong defense is one thing, having to do it with a shaky offensive line adds an additional layer of difficulty.

“Security means the world to the quarterback, and it means the world to the play-caller in what he’s trying to get done,” former Patriots left tackle Matt Light told the Boston Herald. “You can’t stress the importance enough of having a really good solid offensive line.”

Derek Carr of Oakland had the best protection in the NFL behind an offensive line that allowed a league-low 126 total sacks, hits and hurries. After adjusting the team’s 18 sacks allowed for down, distance and opponent, the Raiders’ offensive front held opponents to a 3.4 percent sack rate, almost half the league average (6.1 percent). The Patriots’ offensive line allowed the fifth-lowest adjusted sack rate (4.7 percent). The Packers ranked 11th (5.5 percent) and the Falcons were much closer to the bottom with an above-average 6.5 percent allowed. Despite that, Ryan still managed an 87.2 passer rating under pressure this season, the second-highest in the NFL after Rodgers (93.8).

“He’s just so cool, calm and collected, and that’s why he got his nickname Matty Ice,” said Brian Finneran, a former teammate of Ryan’s with the Falcons and current radio host on WCNN 680 in Atlanta. “It’s the scariest thing in the world when you have 300-pound linemen coming to rip your head off. It’s confidence, it’s know-how and it’s an understanding of the game plan so you can trust guys around you.”

Ryan is the only quarterback this season (playing a minimum of half his team’s drop-backs) without an interception when facing significant pass-rush pressure or on third down, which is typically a blitzing down for defenders.

Perhaps having a receiver like Julio Jones to target is a knock against Ryan – Jones did lead the league in yards per route run this season (3.1) – yet you could argue that Ryan puts Jones and the rest of the receivers in a position to succeed.

“Sometimes you don’t even have to try and catch the thing, it just kind of falls in your hands and in the right spot,” Finneran said. “If the corner or defensive back has inside leverage on you, Matt puts it high and outside, away from contact, away from big hits, and he makes the game easy on his receivers.”

Of Ryan’s 316 targets to his wideouts, 232 (73 percent) were deemed catchable by the game charters at Pro Football Focus. Among the MVP finalists, only Brady had a higher success rate (77 percent). And remember, the Patriots had a lower level of defensive competition.

Admittedly, Finneran, having played with Ryan for a few years in Atlanta, is biased. But others, like three-time MVP Brett Favre, also recognize that Ryan had a special season worthy of recognition.

“I think (Ryan) does get overlooked,” Favre said. “Is he deserving? Absolutely. Only one guy can get it. That’s the reality. And there’s always going to be one, two, maybe three guys that you could make the argument (for). I think his production has been nothing short of amazing.”