Steven Ruiz

USATODAY

This is a plea to MVP voters. A plea to keep an open mind when casting their votes for the NFL's MVP award, which has gone to a quarterback or running back every year for the last 30 years. A defensive player hasn't won the award since Lawrence Taylor in 1986, and if anyone is capable of ending that drought, it's another Giants defender, Landon Collins. But only if voters give him a chance.

If you haven't been following the Giants this year, you're missing out on one of the greatest defensive seasons in NFL history. Collins, a second-year safety out of Alabama, is on pace for a season unlike any other we've seen since the league started tracking major defensive stats like tackles, sacks and interceptions.

And if numbers aren't your thing, just look at all the big plays Collins has made in crunch time, including a fourth-quarter interception of Jay Cutler that sealed New York's 22-16 win over the Bears on Sunday. Collins has now made at least four plays that have directly led to a Giants win. That's the difference between New York making a run at the NFC East and drafting in the top-10 next spring.

It's not a given that Collins will continue to make these big plays. He's a very good player, but a lot of his success has been of the "right place at the right time" variety, but that shouldn't really matter when deciding who wins the MVP award. MVP awards are about impact, not necessarily who the best player in the league just happens to be in a given season. And no NFL player has had a bigger impact than Collins.

Surprisingly, the Giants are 7-3 due in large part to their defense and not their star-studded offense. New York's defense, which ranks 11th in points allowed, is good due in large part to Collins, who does it all for the unit. He leads the team in tackles and interceptions and is just one sack behind Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon for the team lead. He's acts as an ancillary linebacker in run situations and has been stellar when dropping into coverage.

Collins is on pace for 128 tackles, five sacks and eight interceptions. That is a completely ridiculous stat line. So ridiculous in fact, no player in NFL history has ever hit all three of those benchmarks in a given season, per Pro-Football-Reference.

We've been down this road before. Just two season ago, J.J. Watt put together a 20.5-sack, five-touchdown season and still finished far behind Packers QB Aaron Rodgers in the MVP balloting. At the same time, Watt's Texans failed to reach the playoffs and he faced more competition for the award. Rodgers put together a statistically dominant season and led his team to 12 wins. It's tough to take down a QB having that good of a season.

Fortunately for Collins, the most obvious MVP candidate missed the first four games of the season, and his team managed to go 3-1. Should that disqualify Tom Brady from winning the award? Probably not, but there will be more than a few voters who do hold it against him. Matt Ryan is also a threat to Collins. Maybe even a bigger threat than Brady, but there's an argument to be made that Julio Jones (and even Atlanta's offensive line) has been just as valuable.

The other MVP candidates will fall short for similar reasons. Derek Carr has been propped up by the best pass-blocking line in the league. Ezekiel Elliott has been propped up by the best run-blocking line in the league. Dak Prescott has help from both the line and Elliott. Matt Stafford is the MVP of the fourth quarter, but the first three quarters matter, too.

Collins should, at the very least, be included in the MVP discussion. Throw him some votes, sports writers. That's all I ask. And if Ryan tails off and Brady is punished by voters for missing those first four games, maybe, Collins can win the thing, as he's done for the Giants so many times this season.