Peyton Manning lands MVP; Drew Brees comes in second
 

Drew Brees was in contention for the National Football League's award of Most Valuable Player (MVP) throughout the season, but he lost out when it came down to the voting.
Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts won his fourth MVP award becoming the first player to ever do it that number of time. Manning broke Brett Favre's record of three times after achieving the honor now in 2009, 2008, 2004, and 2003.
Fifty sports writers and broadcasters that cover the NFL gave their votes and the tally was announced on Saturday morning as Manning won easily. Brees only got 7.5 of the votes while Manning hauled in 39.5
San Diego's Philip Rivers got two votes and the Vikings' Favre received one.
Manning brought the Colts to a 14-0 record before two straight losses ended their season in games where he played sparingly. A similar story saw Brees lead his Saints' squad to a 13-0 record before three straight losses ended their season. However in Brees' case, he played in every game but the finale against the Carolina Panthers.
"I'm very humbled and grateful to be honored with this award and I really feel like it is a reflection of our team," said Manning. "I have to believe that starting 14-0 and having seven comeback wins has a lot to do with this award coming our way, and I'm very grateful to all the players and the coaches and our fans, who were a big part of it. There were a number of other extremely deserving candidates."
The Colts achieved a first round bye, home field advantage, and the AFC's number one seed by their play in the regular season. Also by their record in the regular season, the Saints achieved a first round bye, home field advantage, and the NFC's number one seed. Manning and Brees' seasons mirrored each other in many ways as the top tier quarterbacks put on near record seasons yet again.
Manning threw for 4,500 yards and 33 touchdowns this season with 16 interceptions for a quarterback rating of 99.9. Brees threw for 4,388 yards with 34 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions for a rating of 109.6. The leader of the black and gold also set a league record for completion percentage by finishing the season with a percentage of 70.6.
I'm not entirely sure that I'm surprised by this, but Brees was in the lead for this award pretty much the entire season. Those three losses to finish the season really hurt his chances because as soon as the Saints lost to the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers; the sports writers of the world started to completely rip the team to shreds. It was almost as if the start of thirteen straight wins meant nothing and appeared to them as a fluke.
Congratulations to Peyton Manning though because I can't say that he isn't deserving of the award, but Drew Brees is nowhere near done competing for the MVP each year.
Credit: Associated Press