Peyton Manning won the 2009 NFL MVP on Saturday, making it his fourth career NFL MVP. Manning wins these MVP awards like he it’s simply second nature, and now he is the first person to ever win four of the awards in his career. In a season where it seemed like Peyton Manning and his Indianapolis Colts might have the chance to go undefeated during the regular season, Manning put up his usually great statistics while playing with an offense that never seemed as good as Manning could make it look. In the end he led the Colts to a 14-2 record and a division title to secure the #1 seed heading into the 2010 AFC Playoffs.
To put the 2009 NFL MVP vote into perspective, Peyton Manning received 39 1/2 of the votes that The Associated Press gives out each year. The closest person in the voting only took home 7 1/2 total votes, and that was New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees. Following Brees were the only other two players to take home a single vote in the 2009 NFL MVP race, and that was San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers with two votes, and Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre with just one vote. This is the fourth NFL MVP that Peyton Manning has taken home, adding to wins he posted in 2003, 2004, and 2008, and passing Brett Favre’s three as the NFL player with the most career MVP’s.
During the season, Peyton Manning passed for an amazing 4,500 yards and 33 passing touchdowns. He accomplished it with a 68.8% completion percentage on his passes (393 for 571) and posted a quarterback rating of 99.9 for the year. Four times during the season he threw for four touchdowns in a single game, and nine times Manning threw for more than 300 yards in a single game. It was definitely a great season for Manning as a quarterback, and combining that with what he was able to achieve with the Indianapolis Colts offense ended up winning him quite a few voters.
For the 2009 regular season, Peyton Manning ended up second in the AFC in passing yards (Matt Schaub had 4,770), first in passing touchdowns (Matt Schaub second with 29), and had the third highest quarterback rating in the AFC (Ben Roethlisberger had 100.5 and Philip Rivers had 104.4). One other worthy candidate it has seemed could have been Brett Favre, who posted 4,202 passing yards, 33 touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 107.2 over in the NFC for Minnesota. The seven interceptions by Favre (Manning had 16) really showcased his talent in 2009, but the voters liked Peyton Manning much more this season. Now both quarterbacks can prove what they are made of in the 2010 Playoffs.
Sources:
Peyton Manning Wins MVP
Peyton Manning 2009 Stats
