Peyton Manning, the True Super Bowl MVP?
3 Others Deserved the Award More, but Sports Has a Bad Habit of Playing Up the Stars
In the 2007 NFL Super Bowl, Peyton Manning, the crowned MVP, never even made my short list.
Peyton Manning was not the true Super Bowl MVP. He should not have been chosen.
First, the stats: Manning completed 25 of 38 passes for 247 yards. That's 10 yards per completion and 3.8 yards per attempt. Far from impressive. Manning threw 1 touchdown, but also threw 1 interception. Manning also had a turnover on a fumble. His QB rating was 81.8. To give a comparison, Detroit's Jon Kitna had a QB rating of 79.9 this season. Those are not MVP numbers, those aren't even winning starting quarterback numbers. And I realize that sometimes players have a major impact in a game that doesn't show through stats, but Manning didn't an impressive impact on the game. If that were the criterion used for Manning, then Kelvin Hayden would have a major gripe. But we'll talk more about that in a bit. So we're left with the question, how did Peyton Manning get the MVP award?
I'm starting to sense a trend in sports were super stars are played up at all costs. In this case, the super star Peyton Manning is given the MVP despite having a less than MVP game. But Peyton Manning is the super star. We have to give it to him anyways. I see this trend a lot in the NBA also, where super stars seem to get fouled on every play, regardless of whether the replay shows a foul. Also, the super stars need to commit a terribly bad foul to get a call against them.
So who should have won the MVP award? Here's my short list. I believe all three of these players deserved the MVP more than Peyton Manning.
First, running back Joseph Addai. Addai carried the ball 19 times for 77 yards, and caught 10 passes for 66 yards. Addai was the team's leading receiver, which tells us a bit more about Peyton Manning's stats. Addai had a huge impact in the game with his 29 touches and 143 yards. The biggest knock on Addai is that he never found the endzone. That kept him from getting my MVP.
Next, defensive back Kelvin Hayden. Hayden gets the nod for having the largest impact that doesn't show in the stats. Chicago was down by 5 points in the 4th quarter and driving into Colts territory. The Bears were ready to take the lead. Then Hayden intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown, turning a potential deficit into a commanding lead. Hayden also had 3 tackles, 1 assist, and 1 pass deflection. Average stats. With more impressive defense stats the entire game, he would have earned my MVP award. But Hayden still deserved the award more than Peyton Manning!
And finally, my Super Bowl MVP, running back Dominic Rhodes. Rhodes rushed the ball 21 times for 113 yards (5.4 yards per carry!) and scored a touchdown. The TD turned a 14-9 Bears lead into a 16-14 Colts lead. Rhodes led the running game, had more impressive stats than Peyton Manning, and scored the touchdown that turned the game around.
Congratulation to Dominic Rhodes, the true Super Bowl MVP. Sorry Peyton Manning, but you can only fool some of us.
Published by Scott Schlimmer
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- QB Peyton Manning - 25 for 38 for 247 yards. 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 lost fumble. QB Rating 81.8
- RB Joseph Addai - 19 carries for 77 yards, 10 catches for 66 yards. But no touchdowns
- RB Dominic Rhodes - 21 carries for 113 yards. 1 TD.
14 Comments
Post a Comment@ Jared are you serious below Avg what happened last year when he lost all his weapons, and brought in guys from the Practice squad? Oh he threw for 4700 Yds and 33 TD's yes he threw 17 INTs but he threw the ball over 600 times. You just sound like a Manning hater. What is this Defense that you speak of because he has had a horrible Defense most of his career, not to mention he has never really had an O-line. Those Hall Of Fame WR that you talk about yea he made them that status Harrison never had a season over 1,000 Yds before Manning came along.
I'm curious to see if he earns it on Sunday. I personally am a big Peyton Manning fan, but I rooted for the Jets b/c the Colts threw away perfection against the Jets. Would have been wonderfully ironic if the Jets would have knocked them out of the playoffs. Poor Peyton, he should have been given the chance to be even more legendary. He earned it, but the coaches took it away. I'll be rooting for the Saints in this one though.
This article couldn't have been more right! The colts are a well balanced team and manning is a below average QB without his hall of fame receivers, defense, o-line and kicker. It's nice to see more and more people noticing how overrated he is!
shut up you idoit who wrote this gay article. the colts wouldnt have won without manning. no chance in hell!!!
a yard gained is a yard gained, they still count for the same amount of distance. passing is a more effective way to get yards, heck it's an easier way to get yards. so although rushiing is a lot harder of a way to get yards and because of that it is more impressive physically a yard gained is a yard gained. a passing yard is just as valuable as a rushing yard. i gotta go, talk to ya later
Rushing yards are more valuable than passing yards. Generally 300 yards passing is considered a good game, while 100 rushing yards is also. So rushing yards are 3 times more valuable.
btw, addai had some desent numbers but he didn't score, not even once. the only guy who could have possibly deserved it more was rhodes. and even then it's close. unless you think a rushing yard is more important then a passing yard, manning was much more efective. he more than doubbled rhodes' yardage, he scored the same amount of points{1 touchdown}, and he averaged almost ten yards per completion. so over all manning's stats are better if you're going by actual yardage and points.
hey man what's up? anyway, the bears didn't blitz because they were covering the run? everybody knows that history suggests that when you blitz manning he throws touchdowns. when ever anyone stops manning, it's not because they blitz. they've stopped him by doubble covering his wideouts, in turn it's up to the linebackers to cover his tightends #3 reciever undernieth. with that being said, who are they going to blitz with? if you don't cover harrison and wayne with safeties and corners then manning will throw for at least 300 yards and two touchdowns. if you choose to blitz with your line backers then dallas clark, bryan fletcher,and ben utecht will eat you up. and whats wrong with dumping it off to your back? when you don't have a man open or your line starts to fold what should he do? launch it to know where like rex did.
I look at game performance, plain and simple. Did the Bears defense focus on the pass because Peyton's great? Probably. They played a lot of deep zone coverages, which suggests yes, but they also never blitzed, which suggests a run focus. I go by game performance, and his included Jon Kitna numbers with most of those passes going to the running backs. Nothing about his game suggested MVP to me, and I still put him #3 or #4 on the MVP list that game.
the simple fact of the matter is that if you combine all of the above said, and the fact that peyton's presence alone made the bears defense forget about the run it's easy to say that he deserved the mvp as much as any of the guys you mentioned. as far as his star status goes, it did give him an atvantage but, it is an over statement to say that was the sole reason he was named mvp. btw if the bears had planned for the run more there is no doubt that manning would have had a great statistical game as well. i also will be checking this foreum and hope you reply to my comments in the future. btw, i'm not dogging your knoledge of the game, it's nice to have a freindly debate about football with someone who takes the time to break things down and learn the game as you obviously have. so i hope to here what you think, later.