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EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- A few reporters caught up with Minnesota tailback Adrian Peterson on Friday afternoon, a few hours after he finished fourth in the balloting for the NFL's MVP award. Here's the applicable Q&A:

Peterson

Were you surprised you only got three votes?

Adrian Peterson: Surprised? No. I don't know. I know [Indianapolis quarterback Peyton] Manning is definitely worthy of that award. He's an outstanding player and I take my hat off to him.

Is the MVP something you had your eyes set on?

AP: Yeah. When I come into the season, I always set goals for myself and hopefully it'll come along the journey through the season. If not, then hey, just continue to focus on what's in front of us. God willing, I'll have the opportunity to try to get that again.

What more can you do? Can you have a better season that what you did this year?

AP: I don't know. Evidently, I've got to. I just got to sharpen my game up, and most importantly to be able to help my team. Just sharpen my game. I know it's a lot that I have to work on. If it's God's will, I'll have another opportunity to get it.

Will you use this for motivation?

AP: No. If you're not motivated going into this weekend? If it takes something like not winning the MVP to motivate you, then you're in the wrong sport.

Minnesota tailback Adrian Peterson won the NFL rushing title and played on a division-winning team. Nevertheless, I couldn't possibly make an argument for Peterson winning the league MVP award over Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning.

	Leon Halip/US Presswire
	Adrian Peterson led the NFL in rushing with 1,760 yards.

Manning plays the more important position of the two, and he was the Colts player most responsible for the team ending the season on a nine-game winning streak.

But Peterson didn't finish second, either. He tied for fourth in the MVP voting. Were there really three players who deserved the award more than he did?

I'm sure some voters looked at the Vikings' season and wondered whether backup quarterback Gus Frerotte had a bigger impact on the team's division title than Peterson. (Frerotte started eight of the Vikings' 10 victories). It's clear that at least a few voters thought Atlanta tailback Michael Turner (four votes) and Miami quarterback Chad Pennington (four) played a bigger role in their teams' success than Peterson.

You can make that argument in choosing Manning over Peterson. Otherwise, it seems Peterson's consistent performance had a mind-numbing effect on voters. Peterson, after all, led the league with 10 100-yard games. He also had 20 runs of at least 20 yards, five more than the next-best performer. Is that type of production simply assumed for him?

Again, I can't advocate Peterson as the MVP. But it's a little surprising to see him finish behind three other players and tied with a fourth (Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison) in the voting.

DAVIE, Fla. -- This isn't an egregious error like the one committed for the Pro Bowl.

Whereas Brett Favre didn't warrant a trip to Honolulu ahead of Chad Pennington, it's difficult to argue Peyton Manning didn't deserve the MVP award.

Pennington

Manning won in a landslide. The Indianapolis Colts quarterback received 32 votes, way ahead of Pennington and Atlanta Falcons running back Michael Turner, who finished tied for second with four votes apiece.

The Miami Dolphins would not have won 11 games or qualified for the playoffs if Pennington hadn't come aboard in training camp. The New York Jets released Pennington to make room for Favre, and the Dolphins couldn't have been more thrilled.

"He's vital to this team. He really is," Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. "With Chad coming in here and doing what he's done right now, he [has brought] a bunch of people together."

Players knew Pennington would be their captain before his first practice was over. He was that sharp, that smart, that charismatic.

Had Pennington not been available, the Dolphins would've used journeyman Josh McCown or rookie Chad Henne. Neither was dazzling in early practices. Henne might have had the edge.

"I love Chad, and I love the Jets for deciding to get rid of him," Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder said.

(Read full post)

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

Peyton Manning certainly would have received my MVP vote based on his efforts during the recently concluded season.

Warner

We had Kurt Warner leading in a poll of ESPN.com's divisional bloggers, but that was several weeks ago. Manning and the Colts had yet to clinch a playoff berth, while Warner and the Cardinals were only beginning their slide after clinching the team's first division title since 1975.

The subject generated quite a bit of discussion here (as well as here and here). Warner still enjoyed an outstanding season. He finished among the NFL's top five in pass attempts, pass completions, completion percentage, passing yards, passing touchdowns, passer rating and completions of 25 yards or longer.

Thanks largely to Warner, the Cardinals finished with three 1,000-yard receivers. Warner also set single-season franchise records for passer rating, touchdown passes and completion percentage. He set a franchise record with at least one touchdown pass in 22 consecutive games. Warner also owns the three highest single-season completion percentages in franchise history.

Peyton Manning is deserving of his third MVP award after a regular season during which he helped the Colts, long regarded as a finesse team, add a large portion of grit to their recipe.

	Andy Lyons/Getty Images
	Peyton Manning won his third MVP award on Friday.

The MVP debate lasted longer than usual this year, and for a good stretch there was no clear-cut favorite. Manning probably convinced many voters for good in Week 16, when he was nearly perfect in a Thursday night win at Jacksonville when the run game offered him no real help and he threw every imaginable variety of pass with great accuracy, willing the Colts to the win that sealed their playoff spot. I think it was the best quarterbacked game I have ever attended.

For a time, I thought voters could weigh one factor against Manning. He did wonderful work helping his team climb out of its early-season hole, but he helped dig that hole. Two knee surgeries that forced him to miss training camp and the preseason were a big part of why the team was so out of rhythm early. You can't blame him for having been hurt, of course, but the bad start was part of the season that's now been rewarded.

I don't maintain a hard and fast formula for how I'd decide where to cast a vote, and I didn't have one here. I know I would have struggled to write in anyone else's name.

For those who go by the where-would-the-team-be-without-him approach, he was a clear-cut choice. I do think that line of thinking can help reward a guy for his team's deficiencies -- the Colts without Manning would be terrible, in large part because they have been unable to run the ball effectively even with him.

But yes, take Manning off the 2008 Colts and they are nowhere -- New England would be getting ready for a first-round playoff game. Instead, the clutch Manning helped hold a team together through an unfamiliar tough stretch. He takes the field in San Diego Saturday night as a three-time MVP.

Would it mean nearly as much if the flight home is for a locker cleanout instead of to get ready for a trip to Nashville or Pittsburgh?

I don't think so either.