Chargers Game Ball of the Week: RB Ryan Mathews

The San Diego Chargers season is nearly one-third of the way complete, so it's time for my favorite stat of the year. Ryan Mathews, the 2nd year running back and first-round draft pick of the Bolts in 2010, has had over 100 total yards from scrimmage in every game this season. To be precise, his yardage totals have been 118, 126, 149, 149 and 132.

Today I wondered to myself just how close Bam Bam might be in the MVP race. After picking my own candidates and order, I settled on Ryan being 4th in the NFL MVP race to this point behind Aaron Rodgers, Wes Welker and Tom Brady.

Now, if you would've told any Chargers fan before the season began that one-third of the way through the season Ryan Mathews would be an MVP candidate, Philip Rivers would be leading the league in interceptions and Antonio Gates would've played in less than half of the Chargers games, they would've called you nuts. However, that's the case.

We've piled adulation on to El Capitan in the past for throwing this team on his back for entire seasons, and we should prepare ourselves because we might have to do the same with Mathews by time the playoffs roll around. Without Mathews playing as well as he has, I don't know that this 4-1 Chargers team has a winning record.