Peyton Manning for MVP
12/18/2011 02:34 a.m.
My brother recently made the case to me that Peyton Manning should be the 2011 NFL MVP. At first I laughed this suggestion off as a joke, but after giving it more thought, it's not a bad idea.
General criteria for an MVP is the player who is having the best season, and is almost always on a playoff-bound team. Given that, the obvious choice for this year is Aaron Rodgers. The Packers are thus far undefeated, and Rodgers has been having a tremendous season. What we don't know, however, is how the Packers would be doing with Matt Flynn or someone else as their QB for the season. They could continue to be undefeated. The Packers supporting cast could be the true MVPs, with Rodgers just at the head.
With Peyton Manning, we know how the Colts would do without him: Winless. This is following a 9-year streak of making the playoffs, along with 2 super bowl appearances in that time. The last time the Colts had 13 losses was 1997, before Peyton Manning, and 1998, his rookie season. Since then, the Colts have made the playoffs 11 times in 12 years.
For a team with so much success to completely fall flat after losing one player, it seems pretty obvious who is their Most Valuable Player. In 2008 the New England Patriot's Tom Brady was out the majority of the season, yet the Pats still went 11-5. Few other teams in NFL history have suffered such a dramatic swing from losing one player as the 2011 Indianapolis Colts.
Good Luck to the Colts next year, and I hope Peyton wins the MVP.