following the final snap of super bowl xli sunday night, in the commerical break between the end of the game and the trophy presentation, my friends and i discussed who should be named the mvp of the game.
"has to be rhodes or addai. almost 200 yards between them and addai led the team in catches," i said.
"could be bob sanders...he forced a fumble and had an interception," a friend added.
after a long, contemplative pause, we all looked at each other and knew what we should have all along...it's gonna be peyton.
in that moment, we all felt pretty foolish for even considering the possibilities. short of an otherworldly effort by another colt, all peyton needed to do was basically not lose the game singlehandedly, and he was assured the rozelle trophy, car, and immortality that accompanies those tangible items.
this game was all about him. from the onslaught of commercials, to the legacy of his surname, to the well-documented failures in the past, he had to win this game and had to bring home the mvp for validation. just as the red sox had to beat the cards two years ago after overturning the curse of the bambino, peyton had to overcome his nemesis (pats/brady/belichick) and then go on to win the super bowl.
what no one will remember from this event is how close the mvp consideration was (or should have been). we will look back on his peyton's career, this season, and even this game as being terrific for him, and forget the real reasons the colts came out the victors: running game and defense. the defense forced 5 turnovers, and held the bears to 11 first downs and 30% on 3rd down conversions. the running game piled up almost 200 yards on over 40 carries, controlled the clock, and wore down the bears' vaunted defense.
as for manning - take away the 53 yard bomb (on a badly blown coverage) to wayne for the first colts touchdown, and his numbers are hardly extraordinary: 24/37 for 194 yards and 1 interception. add to that fact that 40% of his completions (and 35% of his yards) went to addai on dumpoffs, checkdowns, and screens, and you will see that he hardly shredded the bears' defense with his laser, rocket arm. instead, the rookie running back made urlacher, briggs, etc. miss on the wet surface with a variety of moves, jukes, and spins after the catch.
this is not to say that peyton isn't an excellent quarterback. he is certainly the best of our generation and any fan would love to have him lead his/her favorite team each week. in an age of brashness, egotism, and laziness, he prepares tirelessly, cares so much about the integrity of the game, and is undeniably a great spokesperson for the league. he may be remembered as the best quarterback of all time when his career is over.
however, he needed this win and this mvp trophy to solify his legacy, just as the league needed him to win it to solidify their place as the biggest and best among the 4 major sports. for him, it means not only that he can win the big one, but that he can be the "most valuable" member of his team in that pursuit. for the league, it means that doing things "the right way" (without performance-enhancing drugs or hidden caches of weapons, but instead with hours of preparation and a goofy "everyman" persona) will get you to the pinnacle of your desires and dreams.
its just too bad that this partnership works out well enough to blind the media and fans during their voting process.
Excellent call here. Addai should have been the guy though I would not have been upset if it where Rhodes. Third should have been the Colts line, followed by Sanders, then Peyton. I know there wasn't really one bar raising, above the norm performance - but that is how I saw it. It was predictable though that Manning got it. The voting for this needs to be revealed or explained.
I tried to give a satisfactory answer to your comments on my blog. Thanks for coming over.
It's really a subjective award anyway, but I think Addai or Rhodes were probably more deserving.
However...
I really believe this was kind of a sentimental award. Maybe for all the criticism Peyton has had to deal with over the past few years, who knows? Or perhaps they just threw out the stats, and chose him because they felt he managed the game so well.
He is the MVP of his team. But I think you're right...if they are just looking at this one game, it should have been Addai or Rhodes. I was extremely impressed by both. They made strong runs, and made conscious effort to protect the football with both hands.
I think something gets lost by even having a Super Bowl MVP award. It takes an entire team to win in this sport, I truly believe they should just abandon it. Of course, that will never happen.
I'm a huge Colts fan (and Peyton Manning fan), and I mostly agree with you. None of the Colts stood out with a phenomenal performance. And when that happens, most of the time the MVP goes to the QB.
I figured that Addai, Rhodes, Sanders, and Kelvin Hayden had shots at the MVP, but none of them really just blew anyone else out of the water.
I am not upset that Peyton got MVP, but on the other hand, if anyone else would have gotten it, I wouldn't be mad either. It would have been just as well justified.
And you say that no one will remember what really contributed to the win. I say only the media and oblivious fans (or people who did not pay attention to the game) will not see why the Colts won.
I will always remember this game as an ENTIRE team effort. They all worked together almost perfectly. The defense really stepped up and snuffed the Bears for the last 50 minutes of the game. Rhodes and Addai absolutely dominated the Bears, and the Colts O-line put on a clinic for the Bears D-line. And Peyton? He managed the game exactly the way he needed to. He took the short passes in front of the Bears secondary, instead of being selfish and trying to go for the long bomb. He went long a couple times, just to keep the Bears honest. Then he picked them apart for the rest of the game.
Colts MVP? There are really only two options.
1. The entire Colts team, or
2. Rex Grossman
You decide.
Props for the very good post though.
Last edited by rlynn22 on February 6th at 10:08 PM.
thanks for all the comments...i try to respond them individually if i can.
burger - i agree that the voting needs to be explained. from what i understand, the media (perhaps the same people as are on the HOF voting committee) has a 80% say, and the fans have the other 20% in the form of text message and online voting after the game. in any case, whomever votes should take a longer time to decide, rather than "peyton finally got his ring! let's add a car to his haul!" mindset.
shooter - i agree that the super bowl mvp is primarily a sentimental award, going to the leader of the team and fan favorite. however, i am a huge steelers and hines ward fan, and although i was happy he got it last year, randle el deserved it much more. hines is the heart and soul of the team, so the fans/media rewarded his daily performance, not his body of work on that day (which included 3 drops).
i don't know if the mvp award should be abandoned, but its an interesting debate because all the other major sports have series to decide their championships. even the MOP of ncaa basketball is the best during the final four (2 games). in the case of the super bowl, it is hard to make so much of an impact in such a short amount of time. even taking the playoffs into account, peyton still had more than double the ints as he did tds. i agree that its a team effort moreso than other sports, but the nfl needs a super bowl mvp award. thanks for the comment.
csestito - read your blog today...excellent way to approach it.
rlynn - unfortunately, you can't award an mvp to an entire team, but i know what you mean. as i said above, this is much more of a team effort, as it is only one game to decide the championship, and involves more people (22 players), than is basketball or hockey (5/6 players), or baseball (11 players, but only one at bat and pitching at a time)...not to mention the number of coaches and front office personnel.
being a steelers' fan, i thought the whole team should have gotten it last year, or at least a whole unit (i.e. o-line or d-line). when hines won it (much like peyton this year), the true fans know that it went to a great guy and the heart of the team...but not the player whose play on that day mattered the most. thanks for the comment.
i am an avid steelers, timberwolves, and tarheels fan, as well as KG, Griffey, Tiger, and Hines Ward fanatic. i am a recent college grad who has entered the real world, but who has not completely forgotten my dream of being an owner, superagent, or sports beat writer. although my life path will most probably not lead me to one of these destinations, i do have the undying itch to write about and debate both past and current sports topics. this arena affords me the ability to scratch.
