Manning, whose Colts were eliminated by New England in the second round of the playoffs, didn't have the award clinched until the AFC defense finally slowed down Vick, who nearly rallied his club in his first appearance at the Pro Bowl. If Manning is at the peak of his game, Vick clearly is on an incredible climb.

"I'm not going to say I wasn't holding my breath over there once Vick started to roll around, but our defense did a great job of stopping him," Manning said. "It was good we got the game this year after we let the lead slip away last year."

The sting of another playoff loss has faded a bit for Manning, but it's never far from his mind as motivation. He was at ease in the face of the NFC's best pass rushers, and his precision staked the AFC to a lead it never lost.

"You could win a lot of playoff games with all the weapons we had out here," Manning said. "It's almost too tough to pick where to throw sometimes."