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Just before the Super Bowl it’s time for the NFL to hand out its awards for the 2013 season, with Peyton Manning standing out above the rest of the competition by winning his fifth MVP award and his second offensive player of the year accolade.

MVP & Offensive Player of the Year, Peyton Manning (Denver Broncos) – There wasn’t a lot of doubt about Manning getting the MVP award, winning it for the fifth time in his career. He also picked his second offensive player of the year award from breaking pretty much every record in the book for quarterbacks while leading the Broncos to the number one spot in the AFC with a 13-3 record. He threw for 5477 yards and 55 touchdowns, both NFL records, while leading the NFL yards gained per pass attempt and also the lowest rating for sacks among starting quarterbacks.

Defensive Player of the Year, Luke Kuechly (Carolina Panthers) – Kuechly is the first player from the Panthers to win the award, as the second-year linebacker out of Boston College followed up his Defensive rookie of the year award with this one. He finished with 2 sacks and 4 interceptions on the season, ranked 4th in the NFL by Pro-Football-Reference in Approximate Value.

Offensive Rookie of the Year, Eddie Lacy (Green Bay Packers) – The running back out of Alabama helped the Packers finally get a running game going. He is the first Packers player to win the award since John Brockington in 1971. He ran for 1178 yards (4.1 per carry), scoring 11 touchdowns. He also caught 35 passes for 257 yards.

Defensive Rookie of the Year, Sheldon Richardson (New York Jets) – This award isn’t new to Jets players, with Richardson being the fourth in Franchise history to win it. The defensive tackle had 3.5 sacks but made an impression by his offensive use, scoring two rushing touchdowns.

Comeback Player of the Year, Philip Rivers (San Diego Chargers) – It took some changes at head coach, the front office and the offensive line to get Rivers back on track, becoming the second quarterback to win the award in the last decade as a Chargers players, with the previous one being Drew Brees, who was replaced by Rivers at the position. Rivers led the Chargers to the postseason, leading the NFL by completing 69.5% of his passes while throwing for 4478 yards and 32 touchdown passes.

Pepsi Rookie of the Year, Keenan Allen (San Diego Chargers) – One of the things Rivers enjoyed getting back was a vertical threat to take advantage of. Allen had no problem standing out during his rookie season, catching 71 passes for 1046 yards and 8 touchdowns.

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