Sports
Sports column:MVP 2012: Manning vs. Peterson (for now)
Tyler Ohmann
11/20/2012
There is a strong race shaping up in the National Football League, but it’s not for MVP, the playoffs or rookie of the year. It’s for Comeback Player of the Year, and the two phenomenal players vying for it are none other than Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson.
Both players have interesting cases as to why they deserve the award.
First, Manning returned after missing the entire 2011 season with a neck injury, which took three surgeries to fix. After he was declared healthy, he was then shipped to Denver to learn a new system and work with a new coaching staff, players, etc.
Oh yeah, and he’s 36.
He may be creeping ever closer to 40, but like Favre before him he is putting up numbers that speak for themselves: 106.2 QB rating, 2,975 yards 24 touchdowns only seven picks.
The quarterback rating is second to Aaron Rodgers in the league and the Manning-led Broncos are 7-3 and atop the AFC West (thought that’s not saying much) and have won five straight.
Peterson has an equally impressive resume this season. Some could say that Peterson’s story isn’t really a comeback, he injured his knee in December and missed only the final game of the Vikings season, so he didn’t miss a lot like Manning did. However, that is what makes AP’s tale that much more impressive.
The man defied science and not only came back in one of the quickest turnarounds for a torn ACL, but he came back with staggering numbers and no side effects from the injury.
Peterson, through 10 weeks of NFL play is only getting better. The tailback is leading the NFL in rushing with 1,128 yards and a 5.8 yards per carry average. That’s more than 100 more yards than the next closest rusher, Marshawn Lynch (1,005), whom Peterson embarrassed personally in Seattle on Nov. 4. Peterson tore for 182 yards on 17 carries and two scores, while Lynch managed to get 124 yards rushing, but on 26 carries.
Lynch’s team got the win, but Peterson has been nearly the sole reason that the Vikings are currently 6-4.
To think he was on the operating table less than a year ago is unbelievable.
Both Manning and Peterson are deserving of being Comeback Player of the Year, but this could just as easily be an MVP column.
Think about it, both players are the most important to their teams, both are having incredible seasons after returning from injuries, both are at the top at their position.
What defines an MVP? They are winners. They have the utmost importance to their teams and they are the best at their respective position.
I would say that pretty much defines both Manning and Peterson.
I think the edge has to go with Peterson, because while he and Manning both have commanding arguments, Peterson is heads above any other rushers in the league both statistically and visually.
And while Manning’s numbers are near the top of the league’s passers, their are still plenty of statistically impressive and gutsy quarterback’s in the league (Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan, Eli Manning).
However, Manning’s Broncos are a much better team than the Vikings (though I hate to admit it) and at 7-3 they are likely the third or fourth best team in the AFC and arguably top-five in all of the NFL. Whereas the Vikings aren’t even in the playoff question yet.
So, while I have to admit that I’m a Vikings fan, and that maybe the homer in me thinks this way, logically I feel that what Peterson has done and the level he is playing at after a destructive knee injury is just far too compelling to not give him both awards at this point.
Then again, if the Vikings lose five or six games (not out of the question) it hampers his ability for the argument. Guess we’ll just have to stay glued to the games until the season ends on Dec. 30.