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The Real MVP

By Dalton Del Don – Senior Writer

3. LaDainian Tomlinson

It’s impossible to argue with LT’s numbers: he broke the NFL record with 31 TDs, got 5.2 YPC, totaled 2,323 yards and carried countless fantasy teams to titles. Still, he simply wasn’t as important to his team as two other quarterbacks were. Consider Michael Turner, who got 6.3 YPC behind Tomlinson on 80 carries, a decent enough sample size. How many more games would San Diego have lost with Turner instead of Tomlinson in the backfield, one? None?

2. Drew Brees

Drew Brees, on the other hand, led a team that went 3-13 last season to the NFC’s No. 2 seed this year. While New Orleans wasn’t completely void of talent, the team won with offense, and Brees made the likes of Devery Henderson, Terrence Copper and Marques Colston all noteworthy. Brees got 8.0 YPA, led the league with 4,418 passing yards and threw 26 TDs in just 15 games played. Something tells me Jamie Martin wouldn’t have fared so well.

1. Peyton Manning

And then there’s Peyton Manning, who apparently gets overlooked due to continued greatness. Manning got 7.9 YPA and led the league with 31 TD passes. When you factor in his four rushing scores, which was the second most by a QB this year, he accounted for 35 touchdowns this season. He also sported the best TD/INT ratio (3.4/1). He did all of this while facing a difficult pass defense schedule and hampered by one of the worst run defenses in memory, which allowed opponents to dominate time of possession; in fact, the Colts had the fewest number of possessions than any team in the league this year, so Manning had to make the most of his opportunities. On third down passing situations, Manning converted a ridiculous 55.6 percent into first downs, easily leading the league. In comparison, Donovan McNabb and Marc Bulger each had a 38.9 percent conversion rate. If you replaced Manning with Jim Sorgi, Indianapolis would have won somewhere around 3-6 games. Peyton Manning is easily the NFL’s most valuable player.

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9 responses to “The Real MVP”

  1. Cole Avatar
    Cole

    I might go Brees over Manning, but I totally agree both QB’s were more valuable than LT.

  2. Ron Avatar
    Ron

    The AP doesn’t have a clue.

  3. Joey Avatar
    Joey

    So according to your argument, would Manning and Brees be less deserving of the MVP if they had better backups (and LT more deserving if he had a worse backup) even though their on the field performance wouldn’t change one bit?

    PS – Wouldn’t Rivers be more deserving of the MVP than Brees considering that w/ pretty much the same team he led them to a far better record?

  4. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    With SD’s run game and D, I could have led them to the playoffs. I always view MVP’s as difference makers…kind of looking at them in terms of max VORP (value over replacement player, for those non-Moneyballers out there), but more in terms of leading the team to victories. I believe an average NFL back (let alone Turner) would have still put up very good numbers on San Diego, and they would have still been a very above-average team. If you put a league-average QB in Indy, they’re making a top-5 pick in the draft.

    By the way, not only did Indy have the fewest possessions in the league this year, I think it was actually an all-time record, which makes Peyton’s numbers even more absurd. I think 3rd down conversion rate is one of the most underrated stats out there (along with YPA), and 55% is just nuts.

  5. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Joey – The biggest problem with my argument was that it appeared I was overemphasizing their replacements, I hear you. It’s true, I don’t think P. Manning would be as valuable to the Bengals as he would be to the Colts, but I understand the flaw you are pointing out.

    Still, I think his on field performance merits it just as much, and one of the reasons I kept pointing to backups is to emphasize position importance. Running back might very well be the most fungible position in football, and while QB isn’t the be all and end all, it is the most important.

    Keith pretty much argues (and does it well) everything else I had to say, but bottom line, Manning/Brees directly affected wins/losses more than LT did this year.

  6. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    The whole MVP thing is kind of flawed, as the easiest way to have more value to your team, is by the rest of your team being terrible. That’s why more focused awards (like offensive player of the year) make more sense (though you could still argue that Peyton did more with less, but you couldn’t vote against LT’s season for the ages). I just think MVP awards are silly, as so many are inclined to go with the “best player on the best team” mentality. Can an MVP come from a losing team? Can an MVP come from a team with 2 superstars? With the season LT had, it’s difficult to criticize the selection too much, but with Morneau getting it in baseball, I just need to stop caring about these meaningless awards as there is clearly not enough rhyme or reason to the selection process, and unfortunately, that’s bound to be the case with an award that’s amorphous by nature.

  7. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    Amen.

  8. Reginaldo Avatar
    Reginaldo

    I? don’t know why I keep buying Madden it’s the only flbotaol game out there I guess. Anyway, Moody I completely agree with you on almost all your issues. Keep up the good work, maybe one day you’ll make a real difference beyond the internet. EA needs to respect the consumers, but unfortunately most of the consumers are happy with a poor simulation of flbotaol. Once again thanks for shedding light, keep it up ^_^ !

  9. insurance auto quotes Avatar
    insurance auto quotes

    None can doubt the veracity of this article.

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