Peyton Manning Still on Top of MVP Race Despite Loss to Colts

The Denver Broncos may have suffered their first loss of the year to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday Night Football, but Peyton Manning is still the front-runner for the MVP award this season.

The Colts just seemed to be more tuned-in offensively in the game, winning 39-33 over the Broncos.  Manning had his struggles throughout the game, getting sacked four times, throwing a critical interception and fumbling a ball that came out of the end zone for a safety.

Despite all of that, Manning still led his team and put points on the board. He threw for 386 yards and three touchdowns that went to Eric Decker, Demaryius Thomas and Julius Thomas.

The loss hurts, but looking at how good Manning and the Broncos have been through seven weeks, it's quite clear that he's still the top guy in the MVP race.

The loss was a tough one, but the Broncos are still one of the best teams in the league at 6-1. In fact, the Kansas City Chiefs are the only remaining unbeaten team now at 7-0, and the Broncos will have a chance to take them down on two separate occasions this season.

Scoring 33 points would be huge for most teams, but it was actually the fewest points scored by the Broncos all season. They've had four games this year with at least 40 points and two games with at least 50 already this year.

The season stats are still incredible for Peyton. He's thrown for 2,565 yards, 25 touchdowns and just three interceptions all year. Those are great numbers for an entire season when it comes to some quarterbacks, but Peyton isn't even halfway through his season.

At this rate, the older Manning brother is on pace to throw for approximately 5,862 yards and 57 touchdowns while completing 71.6 percent of his passes. In case you didn't know, all of those would be single-season records.

Player	Rec	Yds	TD
Wes Welker	44	474	8
Eric Decker	42	627	3
Demaryius Thomas	41	610	5
Julius Thomas	36	422	8

Even when the Broncos will have to go up against tougher defenses, they will likely be in pretty good shape. Demaryius and Julius Thomas, Decker and Wes Welker are all incredible weapons, and few defenses can cover three top-tier targets, let alone four.

Right now, there really isn't another player out there who's stepped up at the same level as Manning. He's not only putting up insane numbers, his team is also winning, and that's exactly what people look for in an MVP award-winner.

Expect Manning to make history in 2013 by taking home his fifth MVP trophy at the end of the 2013 season, officially cementing himself as the greatest quarterback ever.