This will have to serve as the final MVP Update. The voting is finished as of yesterday. We should know the results on Saturday. Here is one voter’s reasoning for casting his vote for Peyton Manning. Dave Goldberg an NFL writer for the AP voted for Pennington. Notice how he refers to the Manning candidacy as ‘a bit boring’. Marvez was conflicted, but went with Peyton. Good man.
I believe that John Clayton, Christ Mortensen, and Peter King all came out and said they were voting for Manning. Those five votes give Manning a good base of support. Pennington’s campaign came on so late that it will be very tough for him. Beating the Jets in a widely broadcast game was obviously huge. The writers loooove that storyline, but will they want to pick an MVP who might be embarrassed by a tough defense on wildcard weekend?
Here is how I predict the voting goes:
Peyton Manning – 16 votes. Chad Pennington – 12 votes. Adrian Peterson – 5 votes. Michael Turner – 4 votes. Philip Rivers – 4 votes. DeAngelo Williams – 4 votes. James Harrison – 2 votes. Matt Ryan – 2 votes. Drew Brees – 1 vote.
I am trying to be conservative here (in order to keep my #18 homerism in check). My gut says Manning should get around 20 votes while no one else gets more than 10. As far as I can tell it is a two man race. It is fitting that the man in second never even made my top 5 list until this week. It has been one of those strange years. I will be shocked and angry if Pennington pulls the upset. He has a chance because so many voters were undecided up until the last minute. Honestly, I thought Rivers would get more buzz for willing his team into the playoffs. I don’t see it turning out that way, though. It looks like Manning to me.
Links:
ESPN puts together some stupid list of coaches. Anyway, Dungy’s on it.
CHFF lists Indy as the “Team of the Year”
Brackett is out. I’ll give you some terrifying stats in Eyes tomorrow about why that is so very very bad.
NY Times preview of the game via FO. Cool play animation.
Here’s a DVOA based look at the weekend.
Bucky didn’t change his mind on 18. He says he’s the MVP.
Manning and Dungy talk about the possibility that 18 is MVP
The Football Scientist says the AFC South was strong
It’s a tad old, but Florio says the Colts are scary
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