Kurt Warner, the Real 2008 NFL MVP

photo from azcardinals.com

As we all know by now the 2008 NFL MVP was awarded to Indianapolis Colts Quarterback Peyton Manning. It’s hard to argue that any player had a better regular season than Manning or was more valuable to his team. But what troubles me is that he wins the NFL MVP for the 2008 season before the playoffs are over. This is a controversy that’s been brought up in a lot of the major sports. I wonder if it will ever change? Regardless I ask the question…

Would Kurt Warner be the NFL MVP of the 2008 season if the voting was held at the end of the playoffs, not just the regular season? I think you can tell by the name of my blog that I’m going to say yes, Kurt should be the MVP of the league. But I think the majority of MVP voters would agree with me.

You have to look at the whole body of work at the end of the season…

Peyton Manning finished his regular season with 4002 passing yards, 27 TD, 12 INT, and a 95 QB rating

Kurt Warner finished his regular season with 4583 passing yards, 30 TD, 14 INT, and a 96.9 QB rating

So Warner was better in every statistical category than Manning other than interceptions thrown. But the reason why Peyton won and Kurt was left out of the discussion was because of their teams records. the Colts finished at 12-4 and the Cardinals 9-7. That makes sense except for if the voting was done today the Colts record would be 12-5 and the Cardinals 12-7 with another game to go. I should also mention that Kurt’s thrown another 8 TD passes, 770 yards, and has a 112.1 QB rating in the playoffs. That’s something that can only help his case.

We could also bring up the fact that Kurt Warner has led THE ARIZONA CARDINALS to the Super Bowl! That alone would have been enough to get him an MVP award. I know this is all in the past and nothing is going to change the decision. But I think it just goes against common sense that we continue to vote for season awards when the season isn’t even over yet. I mean even the Pro Bowl starts its voting half way through the season. For God sake Brett Favre made the Pro Bowl over Phillip Rivers somehow! That wouldn’t have happened had the voters gotten a chance to see the last two games where Favre cost the Jets a chance at the postseason.

It’s too late and I’m too tired to keep complaining right now. It’s a silly thing that needs to change but likely never will. The point of my post is that when you look at what he’s done as a whole, Kurt Warner is the most valuable player in the National Football League. I’m a little bitter about it so I felt the need to write. Hopefully he gets another Super Bowl MVP to ease some of my frustration.

Subscribe to your favorite Phoenix team or sport or Follow us on Twitter.