A twirl around the NFL while wondering if the college bowl season will ever end ...
. The paying customers saw it in today's kill-a-tree edition or over on the premium site, but we published my Associated Press All-Pro/Awards ballot, hereby exposing me to nasty emails and comments from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in work cubicles across America.
Peyton Manning was my MVP. And like I described, it wasn't a vote against Brett Favre, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers or Chris Johnson. They're all deserving, but I'm not a big fan of co-MVPs, so I went with the guy I thought is the best player and the most valuable in the NFL.
When the Colts tried to win, Manning carried an otherwise slightly-above-average team to a 14-0 record. No other player in the league can make that claim. When the Colts let up and stopped trying, they went 0-2.
When the Dolphins designed the perfect blueprint to defeat Manning -- hogging the ball for over 45 minutes earlier this season -- Manning won the game with only 14:53 of clock time. That was the lowest possession time by a winning team since 1977.
When Bill Belichick was faced with a fourth-and-two from his own 28 with 2:08 left and leading the Colts by six, he went for it instead of willingly handing Manning the ball. If the greatest coach of his generation does that, well, if that's not respect for the best player in the league, then I don't know what is. As we know, the Pats were stopped short of the first down and Manning won the game.
It didn't matter if the Colts had injuries, Manning won the game. When the Colts started two rookie corners, Manning won the game. When Marvin Harrison grew old and disappeared, Manning threw to someone else. When Anthony Gonzalez got hurt and disappeared, Mannning threw to someone else and made stars out of guys we'd never heard of before.
He's the best and the most valuable.