ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – After racking up nine FedEx Air Player of the week nominations and winning the award four times, quarterback Peyton Manning has been nominated for the FedEx Air Player of the Year Award.
Manning is a finalist for the award alongside New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees and fellow AFC West quarterback Philip Rivers. Brees was the only player to win the weekly award more than Manning this season as he won five times and also garnered nine nominations. Rivers won the weekly award once with three nominations.
Though Manning did not pick up the most weekly FedEx honors, he did pick up the most passing yards (5,477) and passing touchdowns (55) in NFL history – becoming the first quarterback since Dan Marino in 1984 to break both records in the same season.
But for Manning, the statistical records were not as important as the win-loss record.
"Passing yards, touchdowns, to me means it's helping your team win games," Manning said after setting the touchdown record in Houston. "To me, if we would have had a losing record and you break an individual record and you're just throwing a lot of yards and you don't have a chance to make the postseason that doesn't mean a whole lot. Touchdowns to me means that you're scoring points and helping your team win games. That's something I think means a little more."
FedEx will make a $25,000 donation in the name of the winner of both the Air and Ground Awards to the Junior Achievement chapters in their cities. FedEx has made weekly donations of $2,000 per winner and the end of season total for donations will reach $130,000.
Fans will have the final say in who wins the FedEx Air and Ground NFL Players of the Year honors and have until Jan. 24 to cast their ballot at www.NFL.com/fedex.
The winners will be announced at the 3rd Annual NFL Honors awards show in New York City on Feb. 1. The awards show will air on FOX the night before the Super Bowl.
