Manning finds the last empty spot on his trophy case.
What do you give to the man who already has everything? How about a Comeback Player of the Year Award?
Right now, the choice for AP Comeback Player of the Year is a two-horse race between Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson. If Manning wins the award, it will put him in pretty rare territory: he’d be just the fourth player to, over the course of a career, be named by the Associated Press as the Most Valuable Player of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, and Super Bowl MVP. Can you name the first three?
Below is one hint for each of the three players who have won all three awards.
In between winning a Super Bowl MVP and the MVP award, this player suffered a ruptured disk in his back that was supposed to end his season and perhaps his career; he came back two months later and played well enough to win the AP Comeback Player of the Year award.
Joe Montana was a Super Bowl MVP in ’81, ’84, and ’89, and he was named the game’s Most Valuable Player in 1989. But in the middle of his career, he pulled off one of his greatest tricks, winning Comeback Player of the Year award in the same year he was injured.
This guy is the king of hardware. He has an MVP, a Super Bowl MVP, a Comeback Player of the Year…. and an AP Offensive Player of the Year award, an AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award, and a Heisman Trophy. That’s one full trophy case.
Marcus Allen may not have been the best player of all time but it’s hard to find a more decorated one. He became the first collegiate player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season and won the Heisman Trophy in 1981 at USC. The next year he won the Rookie of the Year award, and two years later he picked up a Super Bowl MVP award. Two years after that he was named the AP’s MVP, and then eight years later — in his first year out of Al Davis’ grasp — he was named the AP Comeback Player of the Year while playing with the Chiefs and leading the NFL in rushing touchdowns.
