Why I (dis)like Peyton Manning

Not saying I agree or disagree with your take on the MVP, but since its awarded before the 1st playoff games are played, its impossible to factor in post season success. Its a regular season award, like it or not. I think part of the problem is the super bowl mvp isnt treated like other sports, hockey, for instance. The winner of the Conn Smythe is the playoffs MVP. Now, sure, the people that vote might weigh the performance in the finals heavily than other rounds, but you’ll rarely, if ever, see someone have 3 bad rounds, then play lights out in the finals and win the Conn Smythe. I’m surprised Baseball didn’t get some scorn for that this year, when Matsui, who was clearly the Game 6 MVP, probably wasn’t any higher than 4th on the NYY MVP for the playoffs (behind atleast ARod, CC, and Damon, and probably Jetah as well (sorry to bring up the yankees, just an easy point of comparison)).

Anyhow, I think Manning is the clear front runner for MVP at this point – 2 young WR, a crappy OL, an invisible running game, and still under 29min/g of TOP and only around 60 plays per game (which is still way higher than past years, but still lower than most teams in the league). I know that it gets tired for other teams fans to hear, but he carries this team, and yes, we colts fans are way over protective of him, but I think most of us know where we’d be without him, and it wouldn’t be 11-5 and fighting for a playoff spot in the last week of the year (not a dig at you, just the truth).

what I conclude from what you said is that the only way you can hate Manning (being objective) is because of his great talent and because he is kind of a “football nerd”. Brady, on the other hand, is the opposite. Before this year, I respected Tom Brady and admired his talent. Even thought he frustrated me when he played vs the Colts, I never, ever used the word “HATE” against him. When he injured his knee, I fell really sorry for him and wished he weren’t out for the season. This has changed this year. Brady has been arrogant, ridiculously selfish (Ex. the poor man who stole his garbage) and a moron. He looked like an idiot after what he said to Plaxico Burress prediction of the SB, but this year’s “celebrating the flag” won the prize. I still respect Brady and admire him as a player, but now I can’t say I like him, not at all (and I think I have excuses)

Peyton missed training camp and time with his recievers, Brady did not.

First, there were no real good alternatives last year. If Manning (or Brees) puts up similar numbers in the second half, they should get it.

Here’s the bigger one. Manning season last year was more impressive. Firstly, he had surgery literally two weeks before the season started. He was physically injured during the season. On the other hand, Brady’s most recent surgery was 10 months ago. Sure it is hard to recover from, but there are no physical ailments lingering when this year started. What Brady needed was time to shake off rust, to mentally get back into football shape. Manning had to overcome a injury that effected him that year. If anything, Brady’s is less impressive than what Carson Palmer did, because Brady had an extra 4.5 months to rehab.

Also, Manning saw massive inuries around him. His o-line was in taters all year. They had the second worst running game in teh league. He was the sole reason they put up those 9 straight wins to get into the playoffs. Too often, the MVP is given to the offensive player of the year, rather than the true most valuable player (LT over Brees ’06). Manning was the definition of valuable last year.

It’s either his goofy “aw-shucks” demeanor, his unusual for(teen)head, or both.

But he did have a great skit on SNL with the kids.

… and praise his skill, his ability to utterly burn a blitz, his ability to find an open receiver. But that’s old hat and quite obvious, so let me go somewhere else: There is one credit I can give to Brady that simply will never apply to Manning, and that’s that Manning was expected to be successful from the start. In contrast, Brady was drafted relatively low and languished as a backup for a while. While I’ll never, ever say that Manning didn’t earn his starting position or have to work to get where he’s at – on the contrary, he’s earned it many times over, and worked harder than anyone else I’ve witnessed in football; you have to go to Larry Bird in basketball for a comparable work ethic – Brady started out with a disadvantage that Peyton never had to experience. Who would’ve expected a 6th round QB to be a future Hall of Famer?

Again, I will argue until I’m blue in the face (hey, that’s the Colts color!) that Manning is the better quarterback. No one works harder, and so few in history have such an advanced understanding of the game. But, Brady ranks well up there too, and has gotten to that level from “farther down”, so to speak. And he’s done it without the same arm that Peyton has on top of that! That’s one thing I really, truly respect about Brady. It’s the same thing that I respect about Brackett (an undrafted free agent), Rhodes (who, when he was here rose from being an undrafted backup to being inches shy of the ‘06 Super Bowl MVP), and anyone else who has risen from low expectations. That’s a significant mountain to climb.

I’ll turn around and say that the pressure of super high expectations are their own sort of burden; look at what Alex Smith, Brady Quinn, and Vince Young have had to endure. And I’ll say that Tom Brady was spared that. But that doesn’t diminsh the achievement of either Manning or Brady. The point is that they both overcame burdens that are part and parcel of how they entered the NFL, and did so most admirably. That’s the point I’m trying to make here.