Manning MVP? Maybe...,Maybe Not

As most of you know, Colts QB Payton Manning has been named both the regular season MVP and the Pro Bowl MVP. A tremendous accomplishment. But, was he the MVP in your league?

To answer this question, we went back and looked at the 12 leagues that we tracked during the regular season. We took only the first 15 games since a lot of players saw limited action in week 16. Based on total points scored for the season, here is wat we discovered:

• Manning, Culpepper, and McNabb finished 1-2-3 in 9 of the 12 leagues. The closest race was in the ESPN LM Standard where Manning finished only 1 point ahead of Culpepper, winning 369 to 368. In three other ESPN leagues, Manning won by only 5 points.
• Manning and Culpepper also finished 1-2 under the Best Buy scoring system. However, Shaun Alexander beat our Mr. McNabb for third place.
• In the AOL Leagues, Culpepper beat out Manning by one point (409 - 408) with McNabb finishing third with 340 points.
• The biggest surprise was the ESPN yardage where Manning tied for fourth with Tiki Barber. Manning and Barber each had 184 points placing them behind Culpepper (211 pts), Edgerrin James (194 pts), Dante Hall (also 194 pts). Dante Hall?.....Yes, Dante Hall. Why Dante Hall you ask? Simple, the ESPN yardage scoring system gives equal value to rushing, receiving, kickoff and punt return yards and we all know about Hall and those return yards.
  

So you see, based on your league's specific Fantasy Football Scoring System, your MVP may not be who you thought it was.

Tomorrow, we'll look at things in a slightly different manner by checking average points per game. This will give us an interesting look at who might have been an MVP had they played the entire season.