Peyton Manning Named Finalist for FedEx Air
Player-of-the-Year Honor
INDIANAPOLIS – Colts Quarterback Peyton Manning has been named one of three finalists for FedEx Air NFL Player-of-the-Year honors, the NFL announced on Monday. Manning joins Drew Brees of New Orleans and Brett Favre of Minnesota as finalists.
Nominated for FedEx Ground NFL Player-of-the-Year were Tennessee's Chris Johnson, Jacksonville's Maurice Jones-Drew and Minnesota's Adrian Peterson.
The FedEx Air and Ground NFL Players-of-the-Year will be announced on Wednesday, February 3 at a press conference during the week of Super Bowl XLIV in South Florida. Fans can vote for winners on NFL.com/FedEx until 6 p.m. (ET) on Friday, January 29.
Manning helped the Colts to a 14-2 record and the number one AFC seed while passing for 4,500 yards in 2009, and reaching 50,128 career yards. He became the fastest quarterback in NFL history to reach the 50,000-yard mark, accomplishing the feat in 191 career games. Manning threw 33 touchdowns this season and has 366 career touchdowns (third on the all-time passing touchdowns list). He became the first player all-time to pass for at least 3,500 yards in 12 consecutive seasons and to throw at least 25 touchdown passes in 12 seasons in a row. Starting all 16 games, Manning had nine games passing for more than 300-yards, while becoming the third player in NFL history to start a season with five consecutive 300-yard passing games. Manning also was named the Associated Press Most Valuable Player for an NFL-record fourth time last Saturday. Manning was nominated for five FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week awards in 2009, winning twice.
Fans will be voting for more than their favorite player. As part of the Air & Ground program, FedEx continues its support of Safe Kids USA – a national non-profit organization that works to prevent accidental injury among children – by making weekly $1,000 donations in the winning players' names. The funding, allocated to local Safe Kids coalitions in that team's city, is used for pedestrian safety improvements throughout the year, from upgraded crosswalks and street signage to countdown timers and educational events.
To complement the weekly program, FedEx hosted pedestrian safety clinics in San Francisco, Chicago and Atlanta, providing additional funding for each of the local Safe Kids coalitions for community improvements, in the form of three $10,000 donations.
This year prior to Super Bowl, FedEx will donate an additional $25,000 to the FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Year winners' local Safe Kids coalitions.
