Some years, the NFL most valuable player vote is easy. This is not such a year.Strong candidates abound, and no ones case is clear-cut. The best player missed four games. The Dallas Cowboys have not one, but two rookies who can make a claim. And good luck trying to sort out the relative value of what Derek Carr is doing in Oakland compared to what Matt Ryan is doing in Atlanta or what Matthew Stafford is doing in Detroit.Our panel of 12 ESPN experts took a shot. Did we get it right? Odds are, most of you wont think so. But with five very valuable weeks still to play, here is how we see the NFLs MVP race -- guaranteed to change:1. Derek Carr, QB | Oakland Raiders?Regular-season passing:?281-for-423 (66.4 percent); 3,115 yards; 22 TDs; 5 INTs; 66.7 Total QBRCase for Carr:?This season the Raiders have won five games in which theyve trailed in the fourth quarter. Carr has a 122.5 passer rating with 10 touchdown passes and one interception in fourth quarters and overtimes this year. Oakland is also 5-0 on the road, where Carr has passed for 11 touchdowns and one interception this season. The quarterback has come through at a high level in the toughest of situations for the Raiders all year.Case against Carr: His?numbers overall dont stand out among the other quarterbacks competing for this award. Carr is ninth in completion percentage, 14th in yards per attempt and 14th in Total QBR. Hes aces in the fourth quarter, but if youre looking for a reason to downgrade him, it seems there are other candidates performing better in the first three periods.2.?Matt Ryan, QB?| Atlanta Falcons?Regular-season passing:?262-for-380 (68.9 percent); 3,516 yards; 26 TDs; 6 INTs; 82.5 Total QBRCase for Ryan:?The numbers absolutely sparkle. Third in yards, third in touchdowns, third in Total QBR, third in completion percentage, second in passer rating and first in yards per attempt at 9.25. Ryan is performing at an elite level on a first-place team. And he has erased his biggest issue from 2015: He doesnt have a single game this year with more than one interception.Case against Ryan:?The Falcons are 7-4, which is a nice record, but its not the 9-2 or 10-1 that the other candidates on this list can claim. In a year with a lot of strong MVP candidates such as this, odds are the eventual winner will come from one of the elite teams at the top. Atlanta hasnt proved to be that just yet.3.?Tom Brady, QB?| New England Patriots?Regular-season passing:?175-for-256 (68.4 percent); 2,201 yards; 18 TDs; 1 INTs; 85.0 Total QBRCase for Brady:?I mean, its Tom Brady. He belongs in the discussion every year. And since his return from his four-game suspension, he has been as good as or better than anyone else in the league. Eighteen touchdowns and one interception? 6-1 with a banged-up Rob Gronkowski and an underachieving defense? You can argue that Brady is the most valuable commodity in the entire NFL, in a vacuum.Case against Brady:?Were not in a vacuum. Were in an NFL season, and Brady has played in 64 percent as many games as the other candidates on our list have. If youre going to give the MVP to a guy who has played seven games over a collection of guys whove played 11, the formers performance needs to have been considerably better than those of the latter. It hasnt. The Patriots went 3-1 without him. Could the Falcons have gone 3-1 without Ryan? Could the Raiders have gone 3-1 without Carr? Participation carries value. For 36 percent of the season that has been played so far, Brady was of no value to the Patriots whatsoever.4.?Ezekiel Elliott, RB?| Dallas Cowboys?Regular-season rushing:?243 carries; 1,199 yards; 11 TDs Regular-season receiving: 24 receptions; 303 yards; 1 TDCase for Elliott:?The Dallas offense works only if it has a dominant running game. Elliott is leading the league in rushing yardage with a 156-yard margin over former Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray, who has played one more game than Elliott has this season. Elliott has 71 rushing first downs, which is 18 more than anyone else in the league. He averages 4.9 yards per carry and is the only player in the league with at least 10 runs of 20 or more yards. He also can help as a receiver and a blocker. Elliott makes the most efficient offense in the league go.Case against Elliott:?Theres a case to be made that anybody could have success running behind the Cowboys all-world offensive line. Darren McFadden had more than 1,000 yards and averaged 4.4 yards per carry last year in Dallas. The season Murray had in Dallas in 2014 earned him a free-agent fortune. The offensive line, as a group, could be more valuable than the back running behind it, in which case, how can he win?5.?Dak Prescott, QB?| Dallas Cowboys?Regular-season passing:?231-for-340 (67.9 percent); 2,835 yards; 18 TDs; 2 INTs; 86.0 Total QBR Regular-season rushing: 180 yards; 5 rushing TDsCase for Prescott:?Hes the starting quarterback on the leagues best team. Not only is he a nimble decision-maker who protects the ball and manages the game responsibly, but he also has shown the ability to hit a big throw down the field in a big spot. After the Cowboys went 1-11 without Tony Romo last season, thered have been value in any replacement who could even be competent. Prescott has been much more, to the point of taking Romos job.Case against Prescott:?As with fellow rookie Elliott, Prescott benefits from the brilliance of his offensive line. Add in Elliott and wide receiver Dez Bryant as big-time playmakers at vital positions, and there are few quarterbacks in the league whose surrounding cast puts them in a better position to succeed. Air Max 720 Clearance Sale . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. Air Max 720 Cheap Wholesale .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. http://www.cheapairmax720uk.com/ . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Cheap Air Max 720 Wholesale . Burris threw two TD passes, including a key 15-yard fourth-quarter strike to Bakari Grant that effectively countered a Toronto comeback bid and led Hamilton to a 33-19 victory. Discount Air Max 720 . Tevez, who has had conflicts with coaches in the past, has not been called up since Sabella was named coach in 2011. Argentina boasts Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Angel Di Maria. Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella credited his teams seamers for holding their nerve against a big-hitting West Indian lower order after Sri Lanka pulled off a one-run win to secure their place in the final of the Zimbabwe tri-series. Dickwella was one of two Sri Lankans to reach the 90s in a total of 330 for 7 before Sri Lanka held West Indies to 329 for 9 in reply.Our bowlers held their nerve, and our fast bowlers did really well, Dickwella said. Suranga [Lakmal], [Nuwan] Kulasekara and Nuwan Pradeep - they were the key players in defending this total. We were confident of defending the score, with our bowling attack. We missed some opportunities that we should have capitalized on, but fortunately we were on the winning side on the end.Evin Lewis, the West Indies opener, survived two early lbw shouts and was also dropped twice during the first Powerplay in an uncharacteristically sloppy fielding effort by Sri Lanka. Lewis was dropped again off a tough chance at mid-on before he had reached fifty, and he went on to score a maiden hundred. He might have been run out shortly thereafter, but Dickwella disturbed the stumps with his glove before collecting the ball.That was one of his few lapses in the field or with the bat - after his 94 in the morning he eventually ran Lewis out for 148 - to increase Sri Lankas advantage at the death. Dickwella then held on to an awkward inside edge off Ashley Nurses bat in the penultimate over of the match.It is kind of a challenge [batting up the order and keeping wicket], but you just have to adapt to the situation, and play according to that, Dickwella saidd.dddddddddddd Im a wicketkeeper-batsman, and when I score runs when were batting first, I still have to keep wicket for 50 overs. Obviously I have to do that, for my team.Batting at No. 3, Dickwella was at the crease in the third over of the match and fell 36 overs later just six runs short of what would have been a maiden ODI hundred in his fifth match.It was a good track, he said. Since the morning, it was a flat track. There was a bit of grass, but it was dead grass, so we didnt expect it to move a lot. We thought it would move a bit, but that didnt happen.It was coming on to the bat. It was a pretty easy wicket to bat on, compared to the previous games. I could have got a hundred, and scored some more runs for the team, but Im really happy with my performance today.Performances such as these will help Dickwella state his claim for a spot in Sri Lankas touring party for their trip to South Africa in December. He is one of a number of fringe players who have come in to Sri Lankas squad in the absence of injured senior players such as Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal.Some of the senior players back in Sri Lanka, Angelo Mathews and Chandimal, theyre recovering. Theyve started training again. The selectors must be picking up some juniors from this tour for the big upcoming tour, so this is a good opportunity for the juniors to perform and show them that we are good, talented players. This is a good opportunity to play, perform and win even if we dont have those seniors with us. ' ' '