Report: Peyton Manning wins record fifth MVP, but at least one person didn’t vote for him

(USA Today Sports Images)

NEW YORK – Tom Brady still has one record Peyton Manning can't seem to break. Brady is still the only unanimous Associated Press NFL MVP winner.

Manning, to the surprise of nobody, will be given his record fifth NFL MVP award, according to the Denver Post. The NFL has its annual honors show on Saturday night. And Manning's MVP should have been unanimous after he broke records for passing yards and passing touchdowns in a season and led the Broncos to Super Bowl XLVIII. But it's hard to get 50 people to agree on anything.
The Post reported that Jim Miller, a former NFL quarterback and Sirius XM NFL Radio host, revealed he cast a vote for Brady. The 50 voters only vote for one person on the ballot. Brady or another player might have also received votes, but at very least Miller gave Brady his vote. So Brady's 2010 MVP award remains the only one in the AP's MVP history to be unanimous.

"It pains me because Peyton had such a historic season," Miller told the Post. "He is the offensive player of the year, no question. But having played the position, when I looked at who had the most value to his team, I thought Tom Brady carried that team the same way Adrian Peterson carried Minnesota last year."

Brady is a great player, but it's absurd that Manning didn't win unanimously. He had what is clearly one of the greatest NFL seasons of all time, and probably the best one ever. Denver had the better team this year, and beat the Patriots in the AFC championship game for good measure. Manning had 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns, compared to 4,343 yards and 25 touchdowns for Brady. Manning even threw one fewer interception, with his 10 to Brady's 11. There's no significant measure in which Brady was better, except that Manning had better teammates. That shouldn't be a reason to not vote for someone. And anyone who uses the strict "most valuable" definition as a reason to not vote for Manning obviously has paid no attention to what Manning does in a locker room and meeting rooms for a team. The Broncos are basically running his offense.

Manning's trophy won't be smaller because he didn't win unanimously, and he has bigger things on his mind this weekend. But he still should have been the second unanimous MVP.