NEW YORK — Peyton Manning took a different approach to earning a record-tying third Associated Press NFL MVP award.
The Indianapolis Colts quarterback got hurt, struggled when he came back, then lost a bunch of games. Hardly vintage Manning.
But when he rediscovered the touch that has made him one of football’s dominant players for a decade, Manning and the Colts were virtually unstoppable.
Now Manning can tell Brett Favre to move over and make room for him atop the roster of MVPs.
“I really feel like it’s a team award,” Manning said Friday. “Just what our team went through this year and the way we responded and bounced back to a little bit of football adversity at the beginning of the season, being 3-4.”
Manning received 32 votes in balloting by a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL. He also was the league MVP in 2003, when he shared it with Tennessee quarterback Steve McNair, and in 2004.
Favre, then with Green Bay, took MVP honors in 1995 and 1996 before sharing it with Detroit running back Barry Sanders in 1997.
