Near-perfect season for the Mannings

INDIANAPOLIS -- For the Mannings, this has been a near-perfect season.\nPeyton was chosen as the NFL's co-MVP, while younger brother Eli blossomed into a Heisman Trophy finalist as Mississippi's quarterback.\nNext month, the Mannings hope to be in Houston watching Peyton's Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl, and by April, they could have another No. 1 draft pick in the family.\nIt's almost too good to be true.\n"I've always said the most fun fall we had was in '91, when Peyton was a sophomore in high school and Cooper was a senior and they played together," patriarch Archie Manning said about his two oldest sons. "Both had great years, they went to the state semifinals, it was just fun to watch. But this one has certainly rivaled that."\nThe Mannings seem to have football running through their veins, but they've always put family first.\nArchie Manning, a former quarterback with the New Orleans Saints, Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings, spent this season traveling long distances to watch two of his sons.\nHe made the 5 1/2-hour drive from his New Orleans home to Oxford, Miss., six times, in addition to traveling to places such as Auburn, Ala., Gainesville, Fla., Cleveland and Indianapolis.\nIn all, he's attended 22 games -- all 13 of Mississippi's and nine of the Colts' 17 games -- logged more miles than he can count and cheered more than he can remember.\n"It's been a busy fall," he said with a chuckle.\nThe brothers, including Cooper, are nearly inseparable, too.\nCooper, 29, was in Dallas for the Cotton Bowl, then flew to Indianapolis for the Colts' playoff game against Denver. In between, there were phone calls to Peyton.\nPeyton, meanwhile, cut short his MVP news conference so he could hurry home to watch Eli's bowl game. In high school, he switched from No. 14 to No. 18 as a tribute to Cooper, who was forced out of football with a congenital narrowing of the spinal canal.\nAnd when Eli and Peyton aren't poring over game film, they're sometimes on the phone discussing X's and O's.\nTo Cooper Manning, the level of success has been a surprise.\n"When I was a senior in high school, I didn't think Peyton would go to the level he has," he said. "Eli, after the Auburn and LSU games, I remember waking up and being a little more in awe of what he had become."\nBut this year's script seems more like that of a fantasy.\nPeyton, the middle son at 27, produced the best season in his six-year NFL career.\nHe extended his league record to five straight 4,000-yard seasons, broke his own franchise record for completion percentage (67.0) and had the fewest interceptions of his career (10). He became the first player since 1970 to throw five touchdowns in a game three times in a season and won his first playoff game Sunday.\n"My goal has been to get better every single year. I feel I've done that," Peyton Manning said. "I feel I've used what I learned in previous years to make this year, really, uncharted for me."\nEli Manning's success has almost mirrored his brother's.\nHe celebrated his 22nd birthday last week by beating Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl. That gave Mississippi its first 10-win season since 1971 and its first January bowl victory since 1970, when his father was the quarterback.\nHe set 45 school records, more than half of which belonged to his father.\nAnd in February at the Maxwell Award ceremonies, there will be another family reunion as the two quarterbacks become the first brothers to pick up the college and pro player of the year awards in the same season.\nAfter all these falls filled with football, Cooper Manning is convinced nothing comes close to what he's witnessed this year from his brothers -- the wins, the statistics, the awards and the recognition.\n"Unfortunately when you're in a football family, the fall is dictated more by wins and losses," he said. "So this has been the best one ever"