It would be almost impossible to argue that Aaron Rodgers isn’t the front-runner for the 2011 NFL MVP award. As both Tom Brady and Kurt Warner expressed, Rodgers could be having the greatest season by any quarterback ever — including Brady’s 2007 campaign. Arguments have been made for Tim Tebow because of his uncanny ability to win under any circumstances, but Joe Theismann and others would laugh at that notion. Then, there is the Peyton Manning debate. With Manning, the Colts reached the postseason in each of the last nine seasons. Without him, they are a whopping 0-12. Does that make Manning an MVP candidate without playing?
As NFL.com shared with us, Dwight Freeney thinks putting his teammate in that discussion is absurd.
“It is disrespectful and it’s ridiculous across the board, to all of the guys who are actually playing the game,” Freeney said. “To the guys who are playing hard, it’s unfortunate that they’re doing something like that. They will and they do look ridiculous doing that.”
Freeney is right about it being ridiculous. The MVP award is reserved for the player who was most valuable to his team this season. If anything, the Colts 0-12 stink-fest proves that Manning was most valuable to his team in each of the last 10 seasons — not this year considering he didn’t play. It’s a nice compliment and a testament to the type of player Manning is, but the fact that people are seriously debating whether or not he deserves the 2011 MVP award is — for lack of a better word — lame.
