3. LaDainian Tomlinson

It's impossible to argue with LT's numbers: he broke the NFL record with 31 TDs, got 5.2 YPC, totaled 2,323 yards and carried countless fantasy teams to titles. Still, he simply wasn't as important to his team as two other quarterbacks were. Consider Michael Turner, who got 6.3 YPC behind Tomlinson on 80 carries, a decent enough sample size. How many more games would San Diego have lost with Turner instead of Tomlinson in the backfield, one? None?

2. Drew Brees

Drew Brees, on the other hand, led a team that went 3-13 last season to the NFC's No. 2 seed this year. While New Orleans wasn't completely void of talent, the team won with offense, and Brees made the likes of Devery Henderson, Terrence Copper and Marques Colston all noteworthy. Brees got 8.0 YPA, led the league with 4,418 passing yards and threw 26 TDs in just 15 games played. Something tells me Jamie Martin wouldn't have fared so well.

1. Peyton Manning

And then there's Peyton Manning, who apparently gets overlooked due to continued greatness. Manning got 7.9 YPA and led the league with 31 TD passes. When you factor in his four rushing scores, which was the second most by a QB this year, he accounted for 35 touchdowns this season. He also sported the best TD/INT ratio (3.4/1). He did all of this while facing a difficult pass defense schedule and hampered by one of the worst run defenses in memory, which allowed opponents to dominate time of possession; in fact, the Colts had the fewest number of possessions than any team in the league this year, so Manning had to make the most of his opportunities. On third down passing situations, Manning converted a ridiculous 55.6 percent into first downs, easily leading the league. In comparison, Donovan McNabb and Marc Bulger each had a 38.9 percent conversion rate. If you replaced Manning with Jim Sorgi, Indianapolis would have won somewhere around 3-6 games. Peyton Manning is easily the NFL's most valuable player.