Oakland Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon has been named as the NFL's Most Valuable Player.

He edged out Green Bay QB Brett Favre for the award, receiving 19 votes from a panel of 48 sports writers and broadcasters.

Favre, the only three-time winner of the award, picked up 15 votes. Tennessee QB Steve McNair finished third with 11.

Kansas City running back Priest Holmes, Atlanta QB Michael Vick and Tampa Bay Linebacker Derrick Brooks, all had one vote.

Gannon, 37, in his 15th NFL campaign, set a league record with 418 completions this season and another record with 10 300-yard passing games.

He also led the league in passing yardage (4,689) as Oakland finished 11-5 with home-field advantage throughout the NFL play-offs.

In a win over Denver that ended a four-game losing streak and began a five-game winning run, Gannon completed 21 consecutive passes.

Gannon completed 67.65 of his passes and threw 26 touchdown passes with just 10 interceptions.

His QB rating of 97.3 was second in the league to Chad Pennington of the New York Jets.

Gannon is the third Raiders player to win MVP honours. QB Kenny Stabler won in 1974 and running back Marcus Allen won in 1985.