Thursday open thread: Who has been the Detroit Lions’ MVP through 5 games?

The Detroit Lions are 2-3 at the bye week, and while that is probably not where they want to be right now, they’re still in the thick of things. There’s only one team in the division with more wins than them, and only four in the entire conference. Considering this team started with two ugly losses, that’s at least some kind of minor accomplishment.

The interesting thing about the Lions’ two wins is that they won in different ways. No drastic Matthew Stafford comebacks were needed. No Calvin Johnson-esque performance was needed. Both victories over the Packers and Patriots were true team wins, making it hard to point to a single player or two responsible for the victories.

So today’s question is a tricky one.

Who has been the Lions’ MVP through five games?

My answer: Every week we do a Game Ball poll to decide the best three players each week. The top vote getter gets three points, second place gets two and third place gets one. Here’s a look at the standings through five games.

Kenny Golladay - 9.5
Da’Shawn Hand - 3
Devon Kennard - 3
Kerryon Johnson - 3
Golden Tate - 3
Matthew Stafford - 2
Frank Ragnow - 2
Quandre Diggs - 2
Darius Slay - 1.5
Romeo Okwara - 1

Kenny Golladay doesn’t even lead the Lions in receptions or yards, but he’s absolutely running away with the Game Ball so far, and it’s hard for me to disagree. The man is making big plays in big moments. Last year it was Marvin Jones Jr. who was making highlight reel catches on weekly basis. He has passed that torch to Golladay this year. And the thing is, Golladay has made several plays that were nullified by penalties, too. His impressive 428 yards and three touchdowns should be even higher than that.

It’s hard to point to a single player that has been consistently good for all five games so far, but Golladay is the closest this team has. He has at least four catches and 50 yards in all five games this year, and has a catch of 20+ yards in four of five contests. It may not be official on the stat sheet or the snap counts, but Golladay is this team’s No. 1 receiver right now, and he’s been the MVP through five weeks.

Your turn.