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Author: BrentWarnken | Total views: 37 Comments: 0
Word Count: 718 Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 7:34 PM

Indianapolis Colts Tickets - Manning Named MVP

Move over, Brett Favre; there's a new superhero in football. He's a 6'5", 230-pound quarterback with a laser rocket arm who wears the number 18 blue and white jersey with a horseshoe on his helmet and goes by the name Peyton Manning. The Indianapolis Colts' star quarterback was recently named the NFL's Most Valuable Player for the 2008 regular season, placing him alongside New York Jets (and previous Green Bay) QB Brett Favre as the only two players to ever earn the distinguished title three times (Favre won the award in '95, '96 and '97 while Manning has taken it in '03, '04 and '08).

With Manning's MVP award a sigh of relief to Colts fans and a boost of confidence that the Indianapolis team is fully recovered from its follies in the first half of the NFL's regular season this year, it's hard to believe the Colts have made such a stunning comeback this season. After adjusting to their new home the Lucas Oil Stadium subsequent to parting with the RCA Dome at the beginning of the season, the Colts were off to a 3-4 start earlier this year, exhibiting less consistence than a coin toss. The Colts started the season coming off several injuries, yet here they stand nine straight wins later as a threat to the Super Bowl championship once again. In the wake of the Colts turnaround and the current momentum going into the playoffs, one key player stands out as the defining force behind Indianapolis' fierceness: Peyton Manning.

Manning overcame two operations on his left knee in the offseason to come back into this NFL season with a battered offensive line and a shaky defense, pulling his team together in the middle of the season to end with nine straight wins and a seventh consecutive playoff appearance. This miracle worker ended the regular season with 4,000 yards for the ninth year straight, making an MVP vote for the Indy QB an obvious choice.

He was in the running alongside NFL heavyweights such as Arizona QB Kurt Warner, Saints QB Drew Brees, Baltimore safety Ed Reed and Atlanta QB Matt Ryan, but it is the invincible Peyton Manning who has proven his worth as a standout team asset and over-the-top league superstar, receiving a landslide 32 votes of the 50 sports writers and NFL broadcasters to cast their picks for this year's MVP award.

The Colts started this season averaging just 79.6 yards per game running, standing at the very bottom of the league. After Week 7 of the NFL, however, Manning found his groove and it has most certainly shown. Since then, Manning has had a 72 percent completion rate (the best in the league) while ending the regular season with 27 touchdowns and 4,002 yards, letting backup quarterback Jim Sorgi finish the job in the Colts' final game of the regular season that resulted in a win against the Tennessee Titans. Manning has averaged 250 yards per game this season, making his offense one of the league's hottest entities thanks to the likes of Dominic Rhodes, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Marvin Harrison and Anthony Gonzalez.

Ever since Manning has been hot, his team has, too, and that says a lot about the magnitude of Peyton Manning for the Indianapolis Colts. Manning, a New Orleans native and brother of New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, first made waves as an All-American quarterback for the University of Tennessee before being drafted in the 1998 NFL Draft as the number one overall draft pick, signed by the Indianapolis Colts, which is where he remains today. Manning and the Colts have been Super Bowl contenders for most of the 2000s, and the star quarterback even led his strong blue-and-white colors to a Super Bowl Championship in 2007, when the Colts beat the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Manning was named Most Valuable Player of the Super Bowl in 2007, and his search for yet another Super Bowl trophy this season is on as the Indianapolis Colts look to dominate the post-season once again. Manning is a huge reason why Indianapolis Colts tickets are in high demand, so if you haven't made it out to Lucas Oil Stadium yet, look online for tickets to a big game (and don't forget to wear that number 18 jersey loud and proud).

About the Author

This article is sponsored by StubHub.com and was written by Jenna Jay. StubHub is a leader in the business of selling Indianapolis Colts tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.