FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                      CONTACT:
NFL-174                 12/16/03                                                      Brendan Moynihan, NFL, 212-450-2246
                                                                                                Moynihanb@nfl.com

Howard Clabo, FedEx, 901-434-7786
            Howard.Clabo@fedex.com

SAINTS QB AARON BROOKS, CHIEFS QB TRENT GREEN

& COLTS QB PEYTON MANNING;

CHIEFS RB PRIEST HOLMES, BENGALS RB RUDI JOHNSON

& BRONCOS RB CLINTON PORTIS CANDIDATES FOR

FEDEX AIR & GROUND NFL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK HONORS

Fans To Vote For Winners On NFL.com

Quarterbacks AARON BROOKS of the New Orleans Saints, TRENT GREEN of the Kansas City Chiefs, and PEYTON MANNING of the Indianapolis Colts are the finalists for FedEx Express NFL Player of the Week honors for games played on December 14-15, while running backs PRIEST HOLMES of the Kansas City Chiefs, RUDI JOHNSON of the Cincinnati Bengals and CLINTON PORTIS of the Denver Broncos are the finalists for FedEx Ground NFL Player of the Week honors, the NFL announced today.

Fans can vote for one player in each category on NFL.com from Tuesday morning through noon on Thursday to determine the FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week.  The FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week will be announced Thursday on NFL.com and Friday in USA Today.

A closer look at the FedEx Express NFL Player of the Week finalists:

  • New Orleans’ Aaron Brooks completed 26 of 35 attempts for 296 yards and five touchdowns for a 138.8 passer rating in the Saints’ 45-7 win over the New York Giants.
     
  • Kansas City’s Trent Green completed 20 of 25 attempts for 341 yards and three touchdowns for a perfect passer rating of 158.3 in the Chiefs’ 45-17 win over Detroit.     
     
  • Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning completed 25 of 30 attempts for 290 yards and five touchdowns for a 146.5 passer rating in the Colts’ 38-7 win over Atlanta.     

A closer look at the FedEx Ground NFL Player of the Week finalists:

  • Kansas City’s Priest Holmes rushed for 94 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries in the Chiefs’ 45-17 win over Detroit.  Holmes, who also caught five passes for 42 yards, leads the NFL with 22 rushing touchdowns and needs four scores over his last two games to break Emmitt Smith’s NFL record of 25 rushing touchdowns in one season.   
     
  • Cincinnati’s Rudi Johnson rushed for 174 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries in the Bengals’ 41-38 win over San Francisco.  Johnson has rushed for 875 yards despite only starting five games.
     
  • Denver’s Clinton Portis rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns on 38 carries in the Broncos’ 23-20 overtime win over Cleveland.  Portis, who has rushed for 909 yards in his last six games, ranks second in the NFL with 1,591 yards rushing and leads the NFL with a 5.5 yard per carry average. 

FedEx, the premier global provider of transportation, e-commerce and supply-chain management services, is the Official Delivery Service Sponsor of the NFL, Super Bowl and Pro Bowl.  Through the weekly FedEx Air and Ground Awards, FedEx recognizes those NFL players who represent the same speed, precision and teamwork that their customers have come to expect from the full range of FedEx air, ground, freight and international shipping services.

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