In just the third tie since the award began in 1957, the premier passers each received 16 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL. "This is such a tremendous honor," Manning said. "Obviously you look at all the former winners, it really is an honor to be on that same list, and to have such great teammates and a coaching staff that allowed me to go out and make plays. "And to be sharing it with Steve, a player I have the most respect for and who has had a tremendous year, and to be ahead of guys like Tom Brady, who's a friend of mine, and Jamal Lewis, a former teammate of mine at Tennessee who easily could have been there, as well, it's tremendous." Added McNair: "It is great, my words can't express how I feel being co-MVP with another great quarterback like Peyton. It's very emotional right now for me that people look at me as being one of the top quarterbacks of the NFL, one of the top players, and a co-MVP." New England quarterback Brady finished third with eight votes, followed by Baltimore running back Lewis, the AP Offensive Player of the Year, with five. Kansas City running back Priest Holmes got three votes, and Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis, the AP Defensive Player of the Year, received two. Unlike the seemingly indestructible Manning, who's never missed a start in his six pro seasons, McNair has played hurt for much of his career. This season, he missed the last month of practice with a strained right calf and sprained left ankle that also has a cracked bone spur. Those injuries also sidelined him for two games. But the NFL has learned how tough the nine-year veteran is. And how dangerous he is, even though McNair no longer is the running threat he was early in his career. Now, he is a superb pocket passer, accurate and strong-armed. His 100.4 rating in 2003 edged Manning's 99.0 atop the league rankings. McNair certainly is impressed by Manning's achievements, which include leading the league this season with 4,267 yards passing and topping the AFC with 29 TD passes. He has thrown 25 or more TD passes in each of the past six seasons -- the only player to accomplish the feat. "It's just his knowledge of the game," McNair said. "When Peyton came in, there were very few guys who came in and started, and Peyton did a good job learning from his mistakes his first year. He came back and had a magnificent career, a student of the game, extra film work, learning the game mentally." Manning and McNair make it three straight years a quarterback has been selected most valuable player. Oakland's Rich Gannon won last year and Kurt Warner was the 2001 MVP. The other ties came in 1997 (Brett Favre and Barry Sanders) and in 1960 (Norm Van Brocklin and Joe Schmidt). Even though I'm the biggest Titans fan in the world, I think the NFL sold out on this one, just like with Favre/Sanders back in the day. I love McNair more than any man should, but I'd rather have Manning win it all out rather than sharing the award. It takes away from its prestige, in my opinion.
I don't see how the NFL "sold out" on this one. The votes came in and they were tied. You can't force someone to change their mind about who they think should win MVP and if you have the NFL decide, what's the point of having sportswriters voting in the first place? This year was easily the closest in a long time and one could make a case for at least five players. Not really surprising that the vote would end up close or in a tie.
I too, hate shared awards. But if its the tallying up of independent votes...can't really call it a sell-out.
OK, perhaps "sell-out" was a poor choice of terms. I just feel the NFL should have a back-up plan installed to remove the possibilities of an award being shared my multiple players. It cheapens the honor, in my opinion. Its "Most Valuable Player" not "Most Valuable Players" Perhaps a secondary, executive committee of longtime and highly decorated sports journalists could be created to handle ties (not just for the MVP, but all awards in the NFL) Either way, I'm still proud of my boy McNair. Can't wait for tomorrow!
No votes for MCNabb??? I am not Iggles fan but that guy meant the most to his team. With McNabb they finished with home field advantage in the playoffs, without McNabb they make a run at a top 5 draft pick. It is weird when you look at the Iggles, there defense front seven are very weak and I think their opponents outgained them. The key for them is McNabb wins a lot of games by making clutch improvasional 3rd and 4th down plays they otherwise have no business making based on the 21 other guys on the field. McNabb would have had my vote, but I would like nothing better than to see some team stuff him and his overrated and unduly cocky teamates in front of those Philly pigs as what happened last year via the Bucs.
Glad to see McNair win the award. He has been putting up a lot of good numbers of the last few YEARS yet it was only at the tail end of last season and the the first half of this season in which he finally got some publicity on his play. If McNair was in a bigger market like McNabb he would be get TONS of pub. McNair deserves the award, the guy flat out plays and lays it all out on the line each week. What more can you ask for?
Major had a good idea. They vote for second and third place, correct? Why not use those votes as a tiebreaker?
I think the fact that McNabb had such a horrible start to the year hurt him. Also, the Eagles did a lot last year to prove that McNabb wasn't quite as important as everyone thought when Koy Detmer and A.J. Feeley were able to lead the Eagles to some success without McNabb there. I'm definitely a McNabb guy, but I think they are the NFC's answer to the Pats- a team in all sense of the words, greater than the sum of its parts. McNabb is a dynamic superstar that the Pats don't have, but when you look at the Eagles WR's, RB's, TE's, etc., you can tell that they rely on a system as much as anything else, with an intelligent decision-maker at QB to facilitate that, be it McNabb or someone else.
Buck Turgidson - You were almost right. The Colts are gonna lose but not the Titans!!! Deuce - Agree with your assessement. Steve McNair is well deserving of the award/honor. Props to Peyton as well. I am so glad that he is getting the recognition he finally deserves. It is hard to believe that this will be his first voted trip to the Pro-Bowl. Now there is another MVP award that I want McNair to win that is even more important than the one he was honored with today. Superbowl MVP.... Time to slaughter some Ravens!!!! Counting down the hours till tomorrow afternoons kickoff.... Bring on the playoffs!!!
Buck didn't say they were going to lose in the first round to the Titans. Titans will lose to the Ravens and the Colts will lose to the Broncos. So it is written...or typed.
I think there are some good points above. However, last year Phily's D was much better, 2nd or 3rd best in the NFC, which is why they won some w/o McNabb. This year their front 7 is much inferior, and the one good thing left about their secondary (the 1 good thing about their defense) has been banged up all year. Again the Iggles got outgained by their opponentsd, really weird for a "playoff bye" team. There are some comparisons to the Pats, but a major difference is the Pats are excellent in all phases of their defense (DL, LB and DB). The Pats have among the 3 most talented and dominanting overall defenses (along with TB and the Ravens) and the single most consistent defense in the league this year. Finally I think Brady is probably underrated as well. While not McNabb, the guy is also clutch and makes plays most QBs can't by having a great pocket feel and just enough nibleness to by time for a throw. Without Brady the Pats would be much worse, it didn't show before because they had Bledsoe (top 15 QB) to beat Pittsburgh. In summary, the Pats w/o Brady are above 500 just because of their defense, the Iggles without McNabb are the Washington Redskins. McNabb's draw of 2-3 opponents players himself is what allows mediocre to completely ordinary players like Westbook, Staley, slow ex Nebraska runner (name is slipping), Pinkston, Lewis, and Thrash to make plays. Call it the "Scrubs Getting Accolades", or "Tim Duncan", factor if you will.
Not that Rush needed any more proof of being an idoit, but what McNabb showed ths season pretty much shows what he knows about football is pretty consistent with his knowledge about other matters.
