Midseason Awards: It's Peyton -- period -- for MVP

Judge's Midseason Awards: This MVP pick is no Brees

Peyton Manning has done a lot of amazing things in his NFL career. What he hasn't done is hit 70 percent of his passes in a season.

He is this season.

For all Manning's prolific numbers, the highest completion percentage in his 10 previous seasons was 67.6 in 2004. So far this season, Manning is completing 70.6 percent of his passes.

That is amazing, especially when you consider the record is 70.55, set by Ken Anderson with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1982.

You would think with that high completion percentage, Manning's yards per attempt -- the number that tells the story on quarterbacks who take chances down the field -- might be down. But it's at 8.1, which is the third-best of Manning's career.

The man is dialed in.

The Colts are 8-0 despite a medic ward that has been full all season, and it's mostly due to No. 18.

He can cure a lot of ills with that right arm.

Manning has 2,545 passing yards, which puts him on a pace to break Dan Marino's single-season record of 5,084. Manning has 16 touchdown passes and a passer rating of 105.2.

And he's doing it with Marvin Harrison retired and Anthony Gonzalez, Harrison's replacement, knocked out of action in the first game with a knee injury.

Manning is the Halfway MVP.

Period.

A case could be made for Drew Brees or Brett Favre (yes, I wrote that) and some others. But Manning is the choice for now.

Coming Sunday, he'll be matched against Tom Brady of the New England Patriots in a game that we've come to love.

We will see arguably two of the top five or six quarterbacks of all time.

I can't wait.

They are 1 and 1A. So far this season, Manning has been 1.

Seventy percent? That's incredible.

Now on to the other Midseason Awards:

MVP

Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis. Does he get better with age? It sure seems like it.

Runners-up: Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans
Brett Favre, QB, Minnesota
Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Pittsburgh
Matt Schaub, QB, Houston.

Offensive MVP

Peyton Manning. Brees is close here.

Runners-up: Drew Brees, QB New Orleans
Matt Schaub, QB, Houston
Philip Rivers, QB, San Diego
Chris Johnson, RB, Tennessee
DeSean Jackson, WR, Philadelphia

Defensive MVP

Jared Allen, DE, Minnesota. He has been a force for a defense that has helped the Vikings to a 7-1 start.

Runners-up: Elvis Dumervil, LB, Denver
Darren Sharper, S, New Orleans
Darrelle Revis, CB, New York Jets

Coach of the Year

Josh McDaniels, Denver. Even though his team has tailed off some, he still has the Broncos atop their division at the halfway point.

Runners-up: Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati
Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis
Sean Payton, New Orleans.

Assistant coach

Dean Pees, defensive coordinator, New England. Bet you don't even know who he is, since Bill Belichick is a defensive-minded coach. But Pees calls the defenses. His unit is second in points given up at 14.4 per game.

Runners-up: Mike Nolan, defensive coordinator, Denver
Gregg Williams, defensive coordinator, New Orleans
Tom Moore, senior offensive coordinator, Indianapolis
Darrell Bevell, offensive coordinator, Minnesota
Paul Alexander, offensive line, Cincinnati

Offensive rookie

Percy Harvin, WR-KR, Minnesota. He has impacted the Vikings' fast start with his receiving skills and his kick-return ability. He is electrifying.

Runners-up: Austin Collie, WR, Indianapolis
Phil Loadholt, T, Vikings
Michael Oher, T, Baltimore
Mike Wallace, WR, Pittsburgh
Eben Britton, T, Jacksonville

Defensive rookie

Jairus Byrd, S, Buffalo.. The son of former NFL corner Gill Byrd has a found a home at safety and is tied for the NFL lead with seven interceptions.

Runners-up: Aaron Curry, LB, Seattle
Terrance Knighton, NT, Jaguars
James Laurinaitis LB, St. Louis
Brian Cushing LB, Houston
Louis Delmas S, Detroit

Best trend

So many passers on pace to throw for 4,000 yards. It's definitely a passing league now.

Runner-up: More big returns on defense.

Perplexing trend

Worst dead. Why? There are too many bad teams and it's hard to understand why, other than bad management.

Runner-up: The top sackers aren't getting big numbers. Most of these guys are having subpar seasons.

Best free-agent pickup

Brett Favre. I'm eating crow here. Can I put some hot sauce on it? He's been good for the Vikings. I'm shocked.

Runners-up: Darren Sharper, S, New Orleans
Andra Davis, LB, Denver
Bart Scott, LB, New York Jets
Jabari Greer, CB, New Orleans
Ronald Fields, NT, Denver

Biggest disappointment (team)

Tennessee. At 2-6, the Titans barely resemble the team that went 13-3 last season.

Runners-up: New York Giants, Seattle, Buffalo and Miami.

Biggest disappointment

Steve Slaton, RB, Houston. He led the AFC in yards from scrimmage last season and now he's not even starting. He's averaging 3.1 yards per rush and has had trouble holding onto the football.

Runners-up: Steve Smith, WR, Carolina
Albert Haynesworth, DT, Washington
Darren McFadden, RB, Oakland
JaMarcus Russell, QB, Oakland

Surprise team

Denver. If you say you thought they'd lead the division at the halfway point, I call liar. The Chargers looked to be the class of the AFC West.

Runner-up: Cincinnati.

Surprise player

Poll Who is your midseason MVP?   37% Drew Brees     27% Peyton Manning     15% Brett Favre     11% Cedric Benson     4% Chris Johnson     4% Jared Allen     2% Darren Sharper   Total Votes: 67462

Miles Austin, WR, Dallas. All he does is catch touchdown passes.

Runners-up: Jairus Byrd, S, Buffalo
Elvis Dumervil, LB, Denver
Rashard Mendenhall, RB, Pittsburgh
Jabari Greer, CB, New Orleans

Most improved player

Miles Austin, WR, Dallas. He's averaging 22.7 yards a catch and has seven touchdowns in just four starts. Roy who?

Runners-up: Vincent Jackson, WR, San Diego
Mike Sims-Walker, WR, Jacksonville
Max Starks, T, Pittsburgh
Kyle Cook, C, Cincinnati
Sidney Rice, WR, Minnesota

Best game

Minnesota 33, Baltimore 31 (Week 6). There were a bunch of lead changes and the Ravens missed a potential game-winning field-goal attempt in the final seconds. It was fun seeing Baltimore's Joe Flacco rally his team, only to see the Vikings win it.

Runners-up: Indianapolis 27, Miami 23 (Week 2)
New England 25, Buffalo 24 (Week 1)
New York 33, Dallas 31 (Week 2)
Minnesota 27, San Francisco 24 (Week 3)
Minnesota 30, Green Bay 23 (Week 4)

Best moment

(tie) Lions breaking their 19-game losing streak and the Rams breaking their 17-game skid.

Runner-up: It happened a long time ago in the first week, but it's Broncos receiver Brandon Stokley plucking a deflected pass out of the air and racing 87 yards for the winning touchdown in the final seconds of a Week 1 victory over the Bengals.

Worst moment: I still say it's when Plaxico Burress went to jail, reminding all NFL players that none of them are invincible.