This season many of those involved with the national media are talking about giving the award to Tom Brady of the Patriots or Michael Vick of the Eagles. Brady has thrown for 31 TDs and 4 interceptions in all 14 of the Patriot's games this season. Vick's Eagles have gone 10-1 in games which Vick has started and played through to the end of the game and Vick's has thrown for 20 TDs and 5 interceptions in addition to rushing for 8 TDs. Both Quarterbacks for their respective squads have done an incredible job. If I were to choose between the two I would choose Vick, maybe its because I'm a Colts fan which means I cannot stand Tom Brady and the Patriots, but I truly believe what Vick has done is remarkable. I watched Vick play a fair number of games, one of which was the game when he beat the Colts back on November 7th in Philadelphia, and he impressed the heck out of me. Prior to the game I told a friend of mine, who was an Eagle's fan, that I wanted us to shut down the run so that we could force Vick to pass, because I thought that was the weakest part of his game. I found out that Vick's accuracy has increased, and he does not miss open, or even semi-open receivers anymore like he used to. On top of his passing ability Vick has the threat to tuck it and run it, so just when you've shut a play down for most pocket passers, Vick takes off and gains 15 yards for a first down. I judge a lot of players and teams based on how the Colts handled the game vs that team. When the Colts played New England they essentially had the game wrapped, and had Brady under control in the second half. If it wasn't for Manning's arm getting hit on the final pass play that resulted in an interception I believe the Colts would have walked out of Foxboro with a 'W.' The Eagles game however the Colts really had no answer for Vick, we just hoped that we got the ball back with enough time to score. I would then give the award to Vick, if I had to choose between Brady and Vick.
My answer, of course, without having to choose between Vick or Brady, is Peyton Manning. The MVP award usually goes to a member of a winning team, a player with good solid stats, and has overall done a good job leading his team to a couple solid wins. I don't think that this necessarily makes a player the most valuable, I think that is the BPA (Best Player Award). That hasn't been created yet, maybe I can submit a request and get it named after me, like the Heisman, the Clason.
Manning has fallen out of consideration for a couple of reasons, the first I think is the team's overall performance and number of wins, they are sitting at 8-6 and will not win 12 games for the first time in 7 years, just as an aside, I was 14 when that happened. The second reason is Manning's interception count. Manning is sitting at 15 interceptions through 14 games, and 28 touchdowns.
Losses- Looking back at the season there are so many "could have been" games., that if one or two plays would have gone the other way, the Colts could have won, and that would have helped Manning's Colts with the wins.
1. Jacksonville- Starting off with Jacksonville both Reggie Wayne and Brodie Eldridge has drops/fumbles in the Red Zone that resulted in turn overs and not in points. Kelvin Hayden had a sure interception in his arms only a few plays before Scobee kicked the game winning Field Goal from 59 yards away. Multiple missed opportunities allowed the first game against the Jags slip away.
2. New England- The New England game resulted in Manning throwing 3 interceptions, this was the first game of the 3 game stretch of Manning's 3+ interception performances. The Colts could not stop NE in the first half, but shut them down in the second, and had a chance to score in the final minutes of the game to take a lead. Manning's arm getting hit resulted in the interception that iced the game for New England.3. San Diego- This game ended up as Peyton Manning's worst home loss ever, but it was not all bad. I had the privileged of attending this game and seeing everything happen first hand, maybe the lack of commentary on Al and Chris' part has kept my optimism up, but I think this game was closer than the score indicated. The Colts were still in it in the 3rd quarter, the Defense had not allowed an Offensive touchdown yet, and then the refs refused to throw a flag on a pass interference call on Reggie Wayne across the middle of the field. This changed the game as the deficit went from 5 points to 12.
4. Dallas- Aside from some bad interceptions the offense played well enough to win. The Colts actually had Dallas stopped and forced them to a Field Goal attempt to go up only 2 points. Eric Foster got called for "leveragee" which is a good call, but a bonehead move, and instead of Dallas being up only 2 points, they scored in a couple plays and went up by 7. The Colts then marched right down the field to put points on the board and force overtime. Had Foster not gotten called for the penalty the march to tie would have actually been the march to win. The ensuing kickoff Taj Smith forced a fumble that bounced back into the Cowboys arms. Had the Colts jumped on the ball they would have already been in place for Vinatieri to kick a game winner. In OT Manning hit Wayne between the 8 and the 7 and Wayne left the ball on the turf, that was on 3rd down and the Colts were forced to punt.
A few of these plays go the other way the Colts easily could have had four more wins and be sitting at 12-2, 13-1, or 14-0. I left out the Philly and Houston losses, but they both had moments as well, just not as obvious.
Interceptions
Manning had that 3 game stretch of bad interceptions, but not all of them were his fault.
1. New England- Manning threw one bad ball, that was on the first series in the first half. The second and third interceptions were intended for Pierre Garcon. Garcon broke off a route in the 3rd quarter when Manning thought he was going to go long, one of the two players was wrong, I'm not pointing fingers but on a clear miscommunication the defender is of course going to intercept it. The third INT happened to close out the game, and Manning's arm was hit as he threw it intending it to go to Garcon in the end zone for 6 points and the lead.
2. San Diego- Manning threw 4 interceptions in this game. One of the interceptions was probably his fault, but one was to Wayne and the call was not made for pass interference (the league since came out and admitted they got the call wrong). One of the interceptions was batted up in the air and a San Diego player came down with it. The last interception was during garbage time on a long bomb to Brandon James. James was cut by the team the following day.
3.Dallas- Manning threw four in this game. The final one is one that I remember the most, Peyton had Tamme on an out route, and Mike Jenkins, who was guarding Reggie Wayne, broke off his coverage and tipped the ball right to the linebacker David Lee. Manning read it perfectly, Jenkins just made a smart play.
I make all of these arguments to say that Manning could have way less interceptions and the Colts could have way more wins. Which we determined early on that those were some of the criteria for an MVP. The fact of the matter is that the Colts are still in playoff contention, and have a very good chance to, yet again, make the playoffs. With 16 regular season starters on Injured Reserve, Manning has been playing with many guys who simply have been forced to learn on the fly, that of course will lead to interceptions due to miscommunication, and losses because of those mental errors. Mannings stats are comparable or even better to last year's stats when the team started 14-0.
In 2009: 4,500 Yards. 33 TD 16 INT 99.9 Rating.
In 2010 (thru 14 games): 4,257 Yards. 28 TD 15 INT 92.1 Rating.
Manning has willed this team to 8 wins. I would argue that this is his most impressive year. It may not look that way, especially Patriots, Chargers, and Cowboys games, but Manning has actually thrown less interceptions, he just chose to spread them out last year. He continues to lead the NFL's #1 ranked pass attack with injuries at some point to all of the play makers (HB, WR, TE) except for Reggie Wayne. You may think that the team has limped him through the season, but you probably just didn't have the privileged of sitting through the most agonizing game of the season when the Colts faced the Bengals. The offense wasn't clicking at all and I noticed that the Colts roster would have a tough time pulling out even 4 wins if number 18 wasn't under center. My vote is for Peyton Manning.