Adrian Peterson Wins Most Valuable Player Award

By - Jaquan Murphy

Take your pick. A quarterback who threw for over 4,600 yards and 37 touchdowns, or a running back who ran for just under 2,100 yards and 12 scores. Tough call.

That was the choice last night for the 50-man committee selected to pick the National Football League's Most Valuable Player. The two finalists; Broncos signal caller Peyton Manning and Vikings back Adrian Peterson.

After a tough deliberation, Peterson walked away with the hardware, receiving 30.5 of the votes to earn his first career MVP Award.

Photo by: Wesley Hitt

Despite coming off reconstructive knee surgery, Peterson ran for 2,097 yards; falling a mere 9 yards short of breaking the NFL single-season rushing record. He carried an offensively deprived Vikings squad to a 10-6 record and a wild card berth in the postseason.

"All Day" showed that his knee only got stronger as the season progressed, accumulating over 100 yards in 7 out of his last 8 games. All season long AD displayed he was a big play waiting to happen, as he averaged 6.0 yards per carry and led the league with 27 runs of over 20 yards; more than twice as many as the next closest guy.

Peterson's near record-setting campaign also won him the Offensive Player of the Year Award. His 2,097 rushing mark was nearly 400 yards more than the No. 2 finisher. Overall, Peterson finished with 2,330 all-purpose yards.

While Manning finished second in the MVP voting, a case could certainly be made that he deserved to win it. He led Denver to a 13-3 regular season record and finished in the top-5 in completion percentage, touchdowns, and passer rating. It just so happens that Peyton was also coming off a potential career-ending injury this season, with multiple neck surgeries that sidelined him for all of last year.

Other individual award winners included Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, who won the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award, Texans linebacker J.J. Watt, who took home the Defensive Player of the Year Award, and Colts interim head coach Bruce Arians, who was named Coach of the Year.