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Jonah: Anyone that knows me or has at least talked to me for more than 5 minutes during football season knows about my giant man-crush on Peyton Manning. I love the guy like ESPN loves Tim Tebow (evidence of Tebow love coming soon). So I don't think there's a lot of question as to who I think should be MVP. But, let's see if I can give reasoning other than the fact that I would let my girlfriend take the guy home.
When I think of an MVP, I think of someone that completely makes his team. When we posted about the baseball MVPs, we talked about Pujols and Mauer and it's unquestionable that their respective teams would not be anywhere near where they are if it weren't for those two guys. In looking for a football MVP, I want the same thing and I think that's what you have in Peyton Manning. If you take him off that team, I think they maybe win half their games. I mean, we are talking about a team that is DEAD LAST in rushing yards per game (87.7). You look at the receiving core and you see a star in Reggie Wayne, a stud in Dallas Clark (gotta love them Iowa boys) and then a bunch of nobodies. I think if you put Drew Brees on that team, he is still a top 10 quarterback, but I don't think he's in the discussion for MVP. On the flip side, I think if you look at New Orleans, you see Marques Colston (freak) and the likes of Devery Henderson, Lance Moore, and Robert Meachem, all of which are lighting quick. Throw in Reggie Bush (another freak) and the number 5 rushing offense in the league (142.6 yards per game) and I think it takes a lot of pressure off of Brees. I think if you put Manning on that team, he goes 16-0 for a couple years straight and is heralded as the best player of all time (again, crazy man-crush).
All-in-all, it comes down to this for me: the two have very comparable numbers, but Manning is doing it with fewer weapons. When the Colts take the field, the defense knows the pass is coming because they can't run. When the Saints take the field, the defense has to think because they are facing the #5 rushing offense. Throw in the consistency factor (Manning has thrown for over 250 yards in all but one game - 244 vs. the Texans in week 12; Brees has thrown for less than 250 four times, including three games under 200 yards) and I think it's case closed. We will have to wait and see how the rest of the year shakes out, but at this rate, I think Manning is hands down the MVP of this season. Jerry?
Jerry: You have to look at this from a headline story perspective. What is more spectacular? What are reporters talking about more? Peyton Manning leading his team to perfection again (with a better defense, and a tremendous offensive line), or Drew Brees at his six foot stature leading a Saints team to perfection? I say it's Drew Brees! He's taken a down and out New Orleans Saints team and revived them. Drew Brees leads the league in touchdown passes, as well as Passer rating (for all starters) with 111.3.
The Saints have four receivers over 500 yards, and seven receivers with 20 or more catches. Speaking of no-name receivers, Brees has made stars out of guys that weren't even heard of in college. Marques Colston (7th round pick out of Hofstra), Lance Moore (unsigned free agent out of Toledo), and Devery Henderson (2nd round out of Lousiana State) have become NFL super stars. He has revitalized Jeremey Shockey's career, and has made Reggie Bush relevant again. Sure they have a better run game, but why is their run game so good? Because they open it up with Drew Brees' passing game. He can slice and dice the best defenses, so when they start putting out more defensive backs, that offensive line creates big holes for Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell, and Reggie Bush. Hell I could run through some of those holes.
Drew Brees is the leader of that team (I mean who doesn't love his pre game speech), he makes the offense better, and the defense is usually well rested during the game. The Saints were average at best last year, but Sean Payton and Brees have had insane numbers on offense (defense was the problem).
Since Sean Payton has taken over the Saints his offense with Drew Brees at the helm has looked like this:
2006 - Scored 413 points (25.8/g), 5th of 32 in the NFL. 1st in yards (391.5/g)
2007 - Scored 379 points (23.7/g), 12th of 32 in the NFL. 4th in yards (361.2/g)
2008 - Scored 463 points (28.9/g), 1st of 32 in the NFL. 1st in yards (410.7yg)
2009 - Scored 407 points (37/g), 1st of 32 in the NFL. 1st in yards (425.9/g) * through 11 weeks
Sure he has had a few bad games, but those bad games were against some of the top pass defenses in the NFL. He had 172 yards against a Bills defense that is 4th in the league, 190 yards against the number one passing defense in the Jets, as well as 187 yards against a Tampa Bay Bucs team who is 11th in the league. Drew Brees has played six Top 10 passing defenses (it would be seven if I counted Tampa). Peyton "I throw for 307 yards a game" Manning hasn't played one yet (he will play three in the next four weeks, so let’s see what happens then). In these games Brees has 10 touchdown passes, and 3 interceptions (if we count the 11th ranked Tampa Bay Bucs it would be 13 touchdown passes and 3 interceptions). Those are MVP type numbers right there. Peyton Manning, WHO DAT?
1 comments:
I've got to go with Peyton Manning without a doubt. The reason being I can see New Orleans going undefeated without Brees. A lot of the times when the Saints had to come back it more about the other team blowing the game (redskins) than Brees bringing them back from a huge loss. Manning on the other hand brings his team back.
Let's look at the Colts recent victories. The beat the Titans by ten, the Titans who had won 5 in a row remember, two wins against possible playoff bound Houston Texans, a victory against the tough Ravens, and an unbelievable victory against the Patriots which I hope everyone saw.
The Saints are a different story. Except the recent game with the Patriots the Saints have played terrible teams who do nothing but give the game away at the end. Examples... the redskins, I've never seen a team with so many chances to win the game and repeatedly turning the ball over to the saints. They beat the one win Rams by five points, a MVP quarterback beats the Rams by more than five points. They beat the pathetic panthers by ten points. The panthers have five wins, but if you look to see the teams the panthers have beat like I have then you can see why the panthers are lucky enough to have five wins. The colts do more against better teams than the saints do.
The last point I'd like to make is the Saints also have a really good running game. They have Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell, and the overrated reggie bush. With a running game like that for the defense to respect that gives Brees all the time he needs to make himself look like a surgeon. Manning doesn't have that good of a running game. Addai is good, but the only yards he gets is because the defense is scared to hell about this years MVP... PEYTON MANNING.
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