He Said / He Said - Who is the NFL MVP?

Peyton Manning. Adrian Peterson. We have two legitimate candidates not only for Comeback Player of the Year, but also for NFL Most Valuable Player. How can we differentiate between the two enough to give one the award and not the other?

That's what our experts try to decipher. Who deserves the MVP more? Who should win the NFL MVP? Dot and Dellav debate!


Dellav: Peyton Manning should win the MVP.

This is a very tough decision for me. Both Adrian Peterson and Peyton Manning would make a good NFL MVP.

That being said, I think I am going to give the edge to Peyton Manning. The Broncos went 8-8 last year and needed "Tebow Time" to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in OT. The Broncos were able to get Peyton Manning in the off-season and trade Tebow to the Jets. This year the Broncos went 13-3, earned the AFC top seed in the playoffs, and Peyton Manning threw for 4,355 yards, 34 touchdowns with only 11 interceptions. This will be his fifth NFL MVP award if he beats out Adrian Peterson.

If the Broncos would have went like 9-7 and just made the wildcard, I probably wouldn't have voted for Manning, but its hard to go against the guy who leads your team to the top seed in the playoffs and goes on a 10 game win streak. I'm really a big fan of Adrian Peterson and I have NO PROBLEM if he wins, but if the Vikings would have gotten a first round bye in the playoffs and if A.P could have gotten only 9 more yards, then I may feel better voting for him over Manning. Oh and another interesting tidbit: The Denver Broncos ranked 31st in passing in 2011, and 26th in efficiency (passer rating). WITH MANNING this year, they ranked fifth in passing in 2012, and second in efficiency (passer rating).

Dot: Adrian Peterson should win the MVP.

I agree with Dellav that if either of these two were to win the MVP, I'd be completely fine with it. However, numbers never lie, and it's because of those numbers that Adrian Peterson definitely deserves the award ahead of Peyton Manning.

Nine yards. Peterson finished just nine yards short of breaking the all-time record for rushing yards in a season. 2,097 rushing yards, plus another 217 yards through the air. That accounts for 41.5% of the Vikings offense, by far the largest percentage of yardage by a skill position player. There was a four-game stretch where Peterson actually ran for more yards than his QB Christian Ponder threw for! That's unheard of, especially in the current pass-happy NFL. And defenses knew it was coming! Over 50% of his rushes came against defenses with eight men in the box. Yet he still nearly broke the all-time record! (30 more seconds on Sunday, and he would have. No doubt.)

The award is for "most valuable player" in the NFL. When the team relies on you, and you gain more yards than your QB does for a good chunk of the season, I think it's quite obvious how valuable you are. Without Adrian Peterson, the Vikings may have a top five draft pick. Instead, they're in the playoffs. That's the difference for me. No Peterson = No playoffs. The Broncos made the playoffs last year WITHOUT Peyton Manning and with a QB who did next to nothing statistically (much like Ponder this year). There is no doubt in my mind who has been more valuable for his team this year.

If Peterson doesn't win it, we might as well rename the award to "MVQ."