The 2013 NFL MVP race turned into a two-man race down the stretch, as Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson and Denver Broncos QB Peyton Manning received the most press for the league's most coveted individual accolade.

In the end, Peterson emerged as the more deserving of the two in the eyes of the voters.

Will Brinson of CBS Sports helped break the news on Twitter:

Here's the voting breakdown from the MVP award:

 

Player MVP Votes
Adrian Peterson 30.5
Peyton Manning 19.5

 

Peterson won the award with 30.5-of-50 first-place votes, winning his first MVP award after a remarkable 2012 regular season.

In a truly remarkable display of talent and determination, Peterson helped lead the Vikings to the 2012 postseason after rushing for 2,097 yards, 12 TDs and doing so after coming off of surgery to repair his torn ACL, suffered in the final game of 2011.

He finished just nine yards away from breaking Eric Dickerson's long-standing single-season NFL rushing record.

Manning and Peterson both had comeback seasons, and Peyton was rewarded with the 2012 Comeback Player of the Year award prior to the MVP announcement.

The Denver QB had himself a great season too, but fell victim to the "wow" factor that Peterson provided on a weekly basis, while carrying a team that likely wouldn't have won more than three games without him.

With a young team and evolving defense, Peterson was the only constant on a team that was never projected to win 10 games, nor sniff the playoffs. He helped pick up the slack from a learning Christian Ponder and his offensive line, often times doing it himself en route to big gains and highlight-reel plays.

Now that the voting is final and the winner has been announced, opinions are certainly going to fly off the shelves. Here's a look at some Twitter reaction from the announcement of Peterson's first MVP award on Saturday night.

 

Twitter Reaction

ESPN's Stats and Information will get the ball rolling with this tweet, putting Peterson in elite company when it comes to Minnesota legends:

NFL Memes provided a new nickname that might follow the Vikings RB around for the foreseeable future:

Pete Prisco of CBS Sports revealed his voting ballot, and it turns out he was in the minority for MVP:

Although Manning did not win the award, this tweet from Denver public relations coordinator Patrick Smyth reveals a remarkable consistency from his NFL career:

This tweet from ESPN's Numbers Never Lie will take us home, giving us some insight into the stats voters looked at when filling in a ballot:

 

Ethan Grant is a featured columnist for B/R's Breaking News Team.