The Quarterback is the most important player on the field.
Football is the ultimate team game. It is unique in that, more so than any other sport, no one player can single-handedly win a game. Lineman must block, RB’s must hit open holes, receivers run routes and make catches, defensive linemen and linebackers must play their gaps and make tackles and defensive backs need to cover receivers.None of that happens or matters, however, without the QB. The ball is in his hands on every play. He is the catalyst for everything. No other player can affect the game in both an explosive way, and a negative way, like the QB. One well placed pass can change a game. One poor read, costs the whole team a win.
The adage in the NFL, which I agree with, is “Defense wins Championships.” In the greatest TEAM game, I agree with this. I would add however, that QB’s also win championships.
Sound like a contradiction? Well, let’s take a look at what history tells us.
Let’s look at the past say… 25 Super Bowl Champions, and who their QB was (in reverse chronological order):
49ers – Joe Montana
Bears – Jim McMahon
Giants – Phil Simms
Redskins – Doug Williams
49ers – Joe Montana
49ers – Joe Montana
Giants – Phil Simms
Redskins – Mark Rypien
Cowboys – Troy Aikman
Cowboys – Troy Aikman
49ers – Steve Young
Cowboys – Troy Aikman
Packers – Brett Favre
Broncos – John Elway
Broncos – John Elway
Rams – Kurt Warner
Ravens – Trent Dilfer
Patriots – Tom Brady
Buccaneers – Brad Johnson
Patriots – Tom Brady
Patriots – Tom Brady
Steelers – Ben Roethlisberger
Colts – Peyton Manning
Giants – Eli Manning
Steelers – Ben Roethlisberger
So that’s 16 different QB’s in the past 25 years.
7 of them are either already in the Hall of Fame, (Montana, Aikman, Young, Elway), or already virtually guaranteed 1st ballot enshrinement, (Favre, Brady, Peyton).
Roethlisberger is well on his way.
Warner is a constant debate in terms of his Hall chances, but he will likely make it, (maybe not first ballot, but a short wait still counts). If not, he would be a very narrow omission. There is no doubt that at the very least, he was playing excellent football in his Super Bowl year, leading the league in Touchdowns (41) and QB Rating (109.2) on his way to being named both League MVP and Super Bowl MVP.
That leaves us with 7, (McMahon, Simms, Williams, Rypien, Dilfer, Johnson, Eli).
Jim McMahon won his with what was, at the time, the 3rd stingiest defense the NFL had ever seen in a 16 game season (now 6th). Many would argue this to be the greatest defense in league history.
Phil Simms won his two rings with the defense allowing the 2nd fewest points, (1986, Lawrence Taylor became the only defensive player to ever win a League MVP however), and 1st fewest points, (1991), in the league for their respective Super Bowl seasons. Trent Dilfer won his with THE stingiest defense ever to play a 16 game season. Many who would not argue in favor of McMahon's '85 Bears as the greatest defense ever, would choose this Ravens team instead.
Then, Brad Johnson won his with the 6th fewest points allowed in a 16 game season as well as the highest scoring defense in league history (9 defensive touchdowns, not including the playoffs in which they added 4 more and created 13 turnovers in 3 playoff games). Overall, this may not be the best defense the league has seen. For 3 playoff games however, they were as good as anyone who's ever done it.
That leaves us with Williams, Rypien, and Eli Manning.
Those are the 3 who are left who weren’t either Hall of Fame material, or playing with a truly historic defense on the other side of the ball.
Rypien, who was a solid NFL QB during his NFL career, which included 2 Pro Bowls, was playing his best ball, hands down, in that Super Bowl year. He finished the regular season 4th in passing yards, 2nd in touchdowns and 2nd in QB Rating. In the playoffs he had 4 touchdowns to 2 interceptions. He played great in the last 2 of their 3 playoff games. The first game, in which he played sub-par, was a 24-7 victory which was never in doubt.
The last two, Eli and Williams, you could argue, are the two exceptions, of the last 25 years.
Doug Williams’ Redskins team was an excellent, well balanced team. Williams played very well in those playoffs and played a truly great game in the Super Bowl. However, his season does not support the rule.
Eli Manning’s Giants, who were huge underdogs against the 18-0 New England Patriots, had an up and down season that ended with them having a stingy defense that was one of the best at rushing the passer, as well as a balanced offense. Eli is a former #1 overall draft pick, who has, by all accounts, lived up to that draft position. However, his season also, does not support the rule.
So there you have it. 23 out of the last 25 Super Bowl Champions have had either an all-time defense, or an excellent QB (I'm counting Rypien because he was excellent that year). Thus, the adage that “Defense wins Championships” as well as the theory that "the Quarterback is the single most important player" both seem to hold a good amount of water.
Therefore, I feel confident saying that more often than not, to win a Championship, you need either:
A. An all-time level of dominant play from your defense.
or
B. An excellent Quarterback.
That, to me, makes the Quarterback the single most important player on a football team and the single player who is most responsible for winning or losing.
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For the sake of context, if you haven't read Peyton Manning Part 1, you probably should take a moment to do so before continuing on...
In football, the quarterback, unlike other positions, is judged by one thing above all else. Winning. The stats give us a great starting off point for judging a QB's success, but they definitely don't tell the whole story.
In the NFL, winning, means Super Bowls. It means getting it done at the highest level. When the stage is the biggest, who shines the brightest?
The rule, as always, "You playyyy, to winnnnn, the gaaaaaaaammmee."
(Thank you soooo much Herm!)
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The Questions:
Peyton Manning, barring injury, should finish with every conceivable career passing record to his credit. Yet, there is an ugly truth that has haunted his career.
7-8
That's Manning's record, to date, in the playoffs. Admittedly it's not the worst record ever. However, it's definitely not the stuff legends are made of. Of that, we can be sure. And when you look at the fact that 4 of those 7 wins came in that one Super Bowl run, it really makes you wonder...
How could this be?
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There can be a few different reasons to explain a great player, specifically a Quarterback, underachieving in the playoffs. I think the main ones would be:
1. Porous Defense
2. Weak Supporting Cast
3. Bad Coaching
So let's look at the possibilities for why Peyton hasn't been more successful.
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1. Weak Defense?:
In the regular season, Peyton has had some truly terrible defenses to work with. 6 of his 11 years with the Colts, (not including this year in which, through 10 games, they are ranked #1), featured a defense that was in the bottom half of the league in points allowed. In spite of that, he has routinely carried this Colts team to the playoffs in all but 2 of his 11 years in Indy. Those 2 years the defense ranked 29th and 31st in points allowed. So 4 of their 9 playoff years they finished in the bottom half of league in points allowed during the regular season.
However, once the playoffs start has it been the same story? We don't question Peyton's greatness in the regular season. What we're aiming for is determining what is going wrong in the playoffs. So what have those defenses played like in the playoffs?
I suppose first we need to have an understanding of what an average playoff defense should look like. So, let's establish some statistics so that we have a concrete starting point. No guessing. No assumptions. Just the facts.
Going back to 1999, (Peyton's first playoff year), the average points allowed per game, per team, in the playoffs is: 21.773
In Peyton's 15 career playoff games, his Colts have allowed: 21.934 ppg
So that's good for a difference of: 0.161 ppg
Less than .2 points per game. I'm not in a rush to label that as an atrocious defense. I would call that average.
However, let's give Peyton the full benefit of the doubt and acknowledge that as a slightly below average defense.
0.161 points per game below average.
So the defense was not stellar. Decent in the playoffs, but still left a little desired. So why didn't the organization get some help on that side of the ball?
I believe that answer is simple. Look no further than the main cogs in the offense itself...
2. Offensive Weapons?:
Let's start by taking a look at the way the Colts have acquired Peyton's supporting cast...
Ken Dilger - #48 overall pick (2nd round)- 1995 - 2001
Marvin Harrison - #19 overall pick (1st round)- 1996 - 2008
Tarik Glenn - #17 overall pick (1st round)- 1997 - 2006
Adam Meadows - #48 overall pick (2nd round)- 1997 - 2003
Peyton Manning - #1 overall draft pick (1st round)- 1998 - present
Jerome Pathon - #32 overall draft pick (2nd round)- 1998 - 2001
Edgerrin James - #4 overall pick (1st round)- 1999 - 2005
Jeff Saturday - undrafted - 1999 - present
Reggie Wayne - #30 overall pick (1st round)- 2001 - present
Dallas Clark - #24 overall pick (1st round)- 2003 - present
Joseph Addai - #30 overall pick (1st round)- 2006 - present
I don't know about you, but I feel like it's safe to say that the Colts strategy in the draft is to focus on keeping a well stocked offense (9 of the last 13 1st round picks used on offense).
They have drafted well, (I have maintained for years that, for my money, Bill Polian is the best General Manager in football in terms of scouting and philosophy). All of the aforementioned players went on start at least 30 games for the Colts, the fewest of which was Pathon, by a large margin. There have been a combined total of 28 Pro Bowl selections between the players listed above. The Colts have also been extremely lucky in terms of injuries. Peyton's 3 biggest supporting weapons, Edge, Harrison and Wayne, had missed a combined total of 22 games due to injury until 2007. 16 of those were by Edge. Leaving 6 missed games to injury by Harrison and Wayne. In a timing and precision based passing offense, that consistency has been extremely good fortune. So since there has clearly been such a focus on offense from an organizational standpoint, and there is only so much space under the salary cap, the defense has gotten the short end of the stick.
We will revisit this a little further on, however, for now we will leave this potential reason with the simple conclusion:
The Offensive weapons certainly have not been an issue during Peyton's tenure with the Colts.
3. Coaching?:
Peyton's Offensive Coordinator, Tom Moore, arrived in Indianapolis in 1998. The year before drafting Manning.
In 10 of his previous 16 years as Offensive Coordinator (Steelers, Vikings, Lions), Moore's offenses finished in the top half of the league in points scored.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time going into the numbers of what his offenses achieved under him (I will just mention that Scott Mitchell did throw for 4,338 Yards, 32 Touchdowns and only 12 Interceptions for a 92.3 QB Rating his 2nd year under Moore, just because it kind of blew my mind). But, for the most part they were solid, nothing too spectacular. Let's not waste time.
The relevant thing here is that he was a proven, capable coordinator, and has been there Manning's entire career. It's very impressive work by the Colts to maintain Moore's services. While, yes, he is one of the highest paid assistants in the leauge, it is still impressive that he has never moved on.
Again, on to the conclusion:
It is safe to say that coaching has been steady enough that it is also not at fault for the Colts playoff blunders. If anything, I personally feel that this has been a big benefit to Manning.
So having answered those 3 questions, let's look at the big picture and see what exactly has gone on?
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The Curse:
Remember, we're talking about the playoffs here. That's what matters. No one can question Manning's regular season legacy. What is in question is, if he's great, why doesn't he get it done when it matters, in the playoffs?
We're talking about the guy who has led downright legendary offenses throughout his career. Those offenses have, allegedly, been let down by the aforementioned defense in the playoffs. So now let's take a look at this Colts team as a whole. Why exactly was that defense so "bad". Why didn't the organization get him some help?
Guess who gets paid the most money? 1st round draft picks.
The higher the pick, the more expensive they are. And if they produce? It costs a lot to resign them.
Manning's offense was loaded with #1 picks. The most expensive of the group would be Manning himself. The fact of the matter is simple:
This team spent the majority of their money on offense.
They had a very above average offense. And they produced. We have all lauded Payton for his otherworldly offensive production. He has been put into discussions of the greatest QB's of all time because of the things we've seen him do in the regular season. Manning supporters have excused the playoff shortcomings by pointing the finger at the defense.
My question is this:
If you're Peyton Manning, and your organization is going to spend all that money on your offensive weapons, and you're going to put up all those numbers and take all that praise for those regular season numbers, (if we're being honest, that's basically ALL his legacy is built on at this point), then don't you sort of have to accept the fact that they are going to need above average production from your offense in the playoffs?
I mean, that's assumed right?
They clearly decided somewhere along the way...
"Look we're just going to use all our first round draft picks on offensive weapons, and if we give Peyton enough to work with, we'll just outscore everyone by more than our putrid defenses will give up."
Doesn't it seem like that had to be the thought process? I'm not saying Payton lobbied for that. At least not at first, (although, when it came time to start re-signing guys he's certainly never hid his desire for the franchise to do what it takes to keep his weapons around him). However, I think the situation is obvious. The Colts simply surrounded with with a plethora of talent and kept that offensive talent well stocked his entire career.
(This year, 2009, is by far the worst supporting cast Peyton has played with since his rookie year. Peyton is also playing as well as, if not better, than ever. A phenomena we will discuss a little bit further down.)
So, since we can pretty easily determine that the onus was clearly placed on Peyton and his offense to overcome their defensive deficiencies in the playoffs, (which, again, turned out to be barely off from average, which was much better than was logical to expect), let's see how they responded.
(Beware, this is where it starts getting ugly)
We'll start with the same approach of looking at average points scored per game (playoffs) since 1999: 21.773
Now let's look at what the Colts offense has scored per game in games they were eliminated from the playoffs: 13.625
(We're only looking at the games they lost because we're addressing the belief that they lost in the playoffs because of the defense, which assumes that the offense showed up. And since we just determined that the Colts clearly spent their money on the Offensive side of the ball, thus neglecting the defense to an extent, they expected the offense to be above average, not simply average. Because it would also be safe to assume the defense would be below average.)
8.148 points per game below average! What's even worse, is that in 15 total games, (now we're including all the wins), the offense still only averages 22.8 ppg. That's 1.03 points per game more than the NFL average in the post-season. I would go as far as to say that these numbers are downright abhorrently underwhelming.
If we go even deeper, we see that in back to back years the Colts had the good fortune of playing the defenseless Denver Broncos at home in the first round. The first of those two years, a win over Denver (Peyton's first career playoff win) was followed up with getting the even more defenseless Kansas City Chiefs the next game.
In those 3 games the Colts put up 128 points (42.67ppg), and Manning put up 1,139 passing yards, 12 TD's, 1 INT.
Both years the two games to follow were losses. A 14-24 loss to New England in 2003 and a 3-20 loss in 2004, also to New England.
If you take away those 3 early round offensive explosions of Peyton's 15 career playoff games, his offense is left averaging 17.83 ppg (3.94 ppg fewer than the league playoff average), and Peyton himself is throwing for a very pedestrian 255.75 yards per game, 10 TD's, 16 INT's.
Actually, forget pedestrian! Those numbers are straight up, way below average. Not average. Not simply, "off his game." Those numbers are well below league averages. And the average offense is not even as talented as the one Peyton works with. Yet the average QB puts up better numbers than that. Plain and simple.
If you were to tell me those would be the numbers of my QB in the playoffs, I would have serious doubts about how comfortable I would be going into the playoffs with him as my backup. I would be holding my breath every time my starter got touched. You cannot win with those numbers.
I know I just threw out a lot of numbers, and I hope it was clear enough to follow, but can we safely say that the whole, "Peyton lost because he didn't have a defense" argument holds about as much water as a screen door on a submarine?
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Now let's take a look at what Peyton did in each of those loses on a game by game basis so we can better understand whether or not he's just getting a bad rap.
(This article is pretty old, 2005, but the guys at ColdHardFootballFacts.com did a great job breaking down Manning's playoff games from '99 -'05 and I'm about to reference a lot of their work. I recommend taking a quick peek at this article. Or at the least, know that a lot of the statistical heavy lifting coming up was done by those guys.)
1999. Peyton's first career playoff game, first career playoff loss. Manning posted a 60.9 passer rating. His worst game of the season.
2000. 2nd career playoff game. Overtime loss. Manning's passer rating of 82.0 was the fifth worst of the season (The best performance in a playoff loss in his first 5 years in the league).
2001. Missed playoffs. Peyton's 4 INT's in a mid-season "must win", result in a 3rd straight loss, dropping the Colts to 4-6 and sparking a skid which saw the Colts end the season on a 2-7 run and, most importantly, leads to this legendary meltdown by Jim Mora.
2002. 3rd career playoff game. Manning posted a passer rating of 31.2 – the single worst game of his career. They get shutout by the Dolphins.2003. After high scoring, back-to-back drubbings of Denver and Kansas City the Colts lose to New England. Manning posted a passer rating of 35.5 – his worst game of the season and third worst of his career.
2004. After dropping 49 points on Denver in the first round, Manning, who set an NFL record for TD's that year with 49 and was named MVP of the league, was supposed to have his best team ever. The Colts bowed out of the playoffs with a 20-3 loss to New England. Manning posted a passer rating of 69.3 – his worst game of the season.
(This was the first NFL game I ever got to attend live. Unbelievable experience. This was the "Cut That Meat!" game. Peyton looked visibly shook. There was never a doubt to me or anyone around me that he would not hurt us on that day. Just a surreal thing to witness.)
2005. The Colts lose to the 6th seeded Steelers in their first game of the playoffs, 18-21. Leading to this postgame press conference.
(Wild side-tangent: This press conference drove me particularly nuts. If there was ever one minor microcosm of a reason as to why I have never cared much for Peyton Manning and would never call myself a "fan" of his, it's this moment (or this one). My logic here is that you cannot suck up to all the praise and adoration for all those regular season numbers, which would be unattainable if the organization spent more money on defense and let Edge and/or Marvin Harrison walk when they were free agents, and then turn around and play up to the idea that you lose because you don't have a defense. And in the same token, the amount of pre-snap theatrics that Peyton does are absolutely over the top and unnecessary. No other QB in the NFL goes through that much theatrics, yet there are several who make just as many pre-snap adjustments. Heck, you don't see the same level of chaos and arm flapping from a QB running the no huddle that you see from Peyton on an average play. And what does the media, and the announcers, and his coaches do? They praise him for it. They praise him for adjusting all the coverages and blitz pickups at the line and for how cerebral he is. Which is fine with me. If you want to do that, maybe argue that it confuses the defense, whatever, it is totally fine with me. Just like spending all your money and draft picks and cap space on offense is fine with me. HOWEVER, to go into a press conference after a game in which you did about as much pre-snap theatrics as ever, and blame your offensive line and your teammates for the "protection problems"?? When I thought it was YOU who was calling out those blitz pickups and coverages in the first place??? Right? Isn't that what you've lead us to believe all this time? This felt like a slap in the face. Let's just move on.)
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Ok, so I'm not sure that this has been my clearest and most concise breakdown ever. So let's get a quick recap:
Defense in the playoffs: .161 more points per game allowed than league average.
Offense in the playoffs in losses: 8.148 points per game below league average.
Franchise drafting/spending: Heavily on offensive weapons.
Expectation/Gameplan: Our offense will make up for our defense.
Peyton individually in playoff loses: Some of his worst individual performances of his career.
Overall playoff success: 3-6 to this point, with that glaring omission, "No Super Bowls".
Okay, I think we're all caught up!
Which brings us to...
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The Super Bowl:
The knock on Manning was clearly that he can't get it done in the playoffs. The question was, what do we do with all those stats if he never gets a ring?
Then 2006 happened.
The offense wasn't quite as good as in years past. Still one of the best in the league, but not like 2004. And the defense? Putrid as "always". Except for real this time. The 2006 regular season defense for the Colts was one of the worst defenses the league has seen in history for a playoff team. They were giving up a whopping 173 rushing yards per game during the regular season!
Something happened right before the playoffs however. Something that didn't seem like it would make that much of a difference. It was a small thing. 5'8" to be exact. His name was Bob Sanders. Bob was injured for the majority of the regular season and the impact he made when he came back was truly the stuff legends are made of.
The Colts did not have a first round bye in 2006, which meant that to win a Super Bowl would mean a 4 game post-season. Certainly this would not be the year for the Colts. That was the story. The defense was at an all time low, and if they were going to do anything it would require a superhuman effort from Peyton Manning. Especially since their inability to stop the run was about to be magnified with a matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs who boasted the league's second most dominant running game. Spearheaded by Larry Johnoson who racked up 1789 yards on the regular season and scored 17 TD's. So how would Peyton respond? Would this be the year that he and his offense would show up in the playoffs?
Umm... not so much.
In that first game Peyton threw for 278 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT's, 71.9 QB rating. Season over. Right?
Actually, no. The Colts Defense absolutely shut down the Chiefs and their vaunted running game, holding them to a mere 44 yards on the ground and forcing 3 turnovers in what somehow ended up being something of a slug fest. It was absolutely inexplicable. Peyton was downright horrible. The first 3 scores for Indy were all Vinatieri field goals. The next was a rushing touchdown by Joseph Addai. It wasn't until the 4th qtr that Manning finally threw his lone touchdown to somewhat salvage his statistical day. Yet, they got the win.
"Ok, we survived the jitters, now Peyton would take this second chance at life and explode in the next game. Right?"
Umm... not exactly.
Peyton came out in this game and put up a whopping 170 Yards, 0 TD's, 2 INT's, 39.6 QB rating (ironically the same exact rating you get if you take the ball one time and fire it directly into the ground to no one). Surely they were done now.
The defenses of the 1985 Bears, 2000 Ravens and 2002 Buccaneers all mashed into one couldn't overcome a performance like that from an offense based on it's QB play.
Wrong again! Somehow the Colts defense overcame Peyton's 2 interceptions, caused 4 of their own, and held the Ravens 12th ranked offense to 244 total yards. The Colts won again 15-6 in a game featuring zero touchdowns.
Then they faced a depleted New England defense and Manning, (to his credit), finally showed up. It took the entire first half, (that's 10 quarters of playoff football, if you're scoring at home), for him to finally break out of his post-season daze, but he did. In the 3rd qtr, down 21-6 to a New England team featuring such offensive stars as Reche Caldwell and Jabar Gaffney, Peyton finally punched in a 1 yard touchdown on a QB sneak to make it 13-21. Against a Patriots defense that was so injury riddled that we saw Erick Alexander go from backup, to number 1 LB on the depth chart by the second half, an all out shootout ensued between the two future Hall of Fame QB's.
In the end it came down to 4th down and as we saw Troy Brown run an "in" when Brady was throwing an "out", the showdown came to an end.
Peyton and the Colts had finally made it to the Super Bowl, (not to mention beat New England), with Peyton throwing for 262 yards/game, 2 TD's, 6 INT's, thanks to a defense that allowed a stingy 16 ppg and 73 rushing yards through 3 games.
I'm not trying to be a pessimist. Really, I'm not. But, this is the thing that validates him??? Really?? We're gonna give him this one?
Am I crazy here, or was this the biggest gift/fluke/lucky turn of events possibly in sports history!?
Okay, maybe that's hyperbole, I have no idea. I just know that Peyton Manning is not the reason the Colts were in the Super Bowl. Or the AFC Championship. Or even out of the first round!
In the Super Bowl game the defense and running game led the way yet again. After Devin Hester's opening kickoff return for a TD, the Bears went on to score a total of 10 points and commit 5 turnovers the rest of the way, (the last of which was an INT returned for a game icing touchdown when the game was still close at 22-17). As for the Colts offense, Peyton went for what was, by his playoff standards, a solid performance. 247 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. Thrilling Peyton. Thrilling.
We mentioned Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Jeff Saturday (and the rest of an extremely consistent offensive line) are all on this offense right?!?! I just want to make sure no one got confused about what team we're talking about with all these bland stats.
Meanwhile, mainstay Domenic Rhodes ran for 113 yards on 21 carries with on of the Colts 2 offensive TD's, and 1st round pick Joseph Addai chipped in another 77 yards on 19 carries to go along with his 10 catches for 66 yards.
Of course, Petyon was named Super Bowl MVP. (Thanks for the balls media)
And that, my friends, is how Peyton Manning "broke" his playoff curse.
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Since then, the Colts are 0-2 in the playoffs. Bringing Peyton's overall playoff record back below .500 at 7-8.
Which brings us full circle to the original question.
What is Peyton Manning's legacy?
Each person must decide for themselves and will rank him wherever they will.
For me, we have a guy who, in my opinion, is the greatest regular season Quarterback of all time.
Has he done that with the best supporting offense of anyone else in the discussion?
Yes.
However, I'm still going to give it to him. He has been awesome. It's not a landslide, (Brady, Young, Montana, Marino, Favre, all in the discussion), but with the wins, the poor defensively play, and of course, the stats, I feel he's earned it.
And then on the other hand, we have one of the worst, (given his offensive weapons to work with), and most underachieving playoff Quarterbacks the game has ever seen.
Since the Quarterback is responsible, first and foremost, for winning, I don't see any possible conclusion except that Manning has been wildly overrated by a national media and adoring public that have repeatedly insinuated that he may be the greatest QB to ever play the game.
In fact, I think it's a little ignorant to even have him in that discussion.
Great? Sure.
Greatest? Please be serious.
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Does that mean he won't ever be in that discussion?
Absolutely not. In fact, this is where it gets very interesting. Since winning that Super Bowl, I feel like Peyton has been a different player.
Sure he followed up the SB by going 0-2 the last two years in the playoffs, but it must be pointed out that the last 2 years, (as well as this season), he was playing with the worst offenses of his career.
It's also worth pointing out that he actually played decent in those two loses. Not really quite his regular season level, no, but decent.
'07 - 24 points, 402 yards, 3 td's, 2 int's
'08 - 17 points, 310 yards, 1 td, 0 int's
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Here's the thing with Manning, he has been a choker. And it's not just his NFL career.
In High School he was a 3 year starter. He threw for 7,204 yards and 92 touchdowns in those 3 years. He was named New Orleans Quarterback Club Player of the Year, the Gatorade Circle of Champions National Player of the Year, and the Louisiana Class 2A MVP... twice. He led Isidore Newman to a 34-5 record in those 3 years.
Yet, the furthest they went in his time was the 2A Semifinals in his sophomore year, despite being favored over the team they lost to all 3 years.
In college, at the University of Tennessee, he re-wrote the school's record books for passing statistics in 3 and a half years as the starter. He broke the SEC record for career wins going 39-6 as a starter. He was runner-up for the Heisman his senior year.
Yet, despite being ranked as high as #2 Manning's Junior Year, and #3 going into the Orange Bowl against #2 Nebraska his senior year, (a game they only scored 17 points in and lost), it wasn't until the year after Manning left for the NFL that the Vols finally captured a National Championship. And possibly most important to some UT fans, Peyton was 0-3 as a starter against the Florida Gators.
Then he got to the NFL and it kept repeating. Year after year the season ended in the same agonizing way for Peyton and the Colts.
If you look at it, that is a lot of coming up short for one career. I can't help but feel that with each big game loss, that monkey on his back just got bigger and bigger. 3 years of HS ball, 4 years of college ball, that's 7 straight years of losing the big game! I believe it had a snowballing negative effect on his confidence.
That doesn't excuse it, but I think I understand it a little.
I think it was on his mind all the time. He had every accolade possible at every level, but never won a big game. In fact, seems to have lost almost all of them.
Then he got that ring in 2006. He made it. His career was now complete really. He was already considered the best QB in the game, (for whatever reason). Now he had accomplished everything.
And you know what?
I believe it changed him.
I believe he changed.
All of a sudden he actually played fairly decent in his next two playoff games. He actually was an assassin in the annual showdown against the Patriots in '08, for the first time in his career.
As a Patriots fan, I knew there was something different going on. For the first time in my life, he scared me. I had never been scared by him before. The old Peyton was just a big goof who I never had an inkling of doubt would turtle with the game on the line. But, this new Peyton... This new Peyton was different. This guy had a gleam in his eye. He almost seemed to get more composed the tighter the game got. He was an absolute killer. And for the first time I realized...
"Oh crap, he actually looks like he might be about to start playing as great as everyone has always said he is."
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So what will his legacy be when all is said and done?
I guess it's still too early to tell.
Sure, he'll have all the stats and most people will laud him as one of, if not THE greatest. But, where will he really end up? Well, it's a Quarterback's job to win. So I guess we'll have to wait for a few more playoffs to find out the answer to that.
As for now, he stands as possibly the most dominating offensive force the game has ever seen, (reg. season), and also a guy who can't lead his team to victory when it matters.One of the great paradoxes in the game's history, but not it's greatest Quarterback.
Not for now, at least.
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