Best Ever...Yeah Right!!!

I was drinking the Kool-aid on Peyton Manning. As much as I hate the Blueberry flavor, I had my big glass sitting next to me as I watched the Super Bowl on Sunday night (BTW...how did only 35% of the country watch the game, what is wrong with you people?). I was ready to come on here and say Peyton Manning was the greatest quarterback to ever play in the National Football League. His regular season speaks for itself, and now he would have 2 Super Bowl rings and probably 2 Super Bowl MVP's. He's the best, no doubt about it!!!

Please don't mistake what I am saying, I love watching Manning play during the regular season, he is the GREATEST QUARTERBACK TO EVER PLAY THE GAME, until January 1. These things did not come out because I like bashing Manning. I have said these things for years. In private conversations that all of you were just not ready to hear. So congratulations, today you all become grown ups and you get the truth. I just hope all of you are ready to for this...

However, on Sunday night instead of becoming Tom Brady or Joe Montana, Peyton Manning became, well Peyton Manning (it was hard not to put Brett Favre's name here). In a game everyone fully expected them to win (not me, but the rest of you did), with his team counting on him to drive them down and score a game tying touchdown, Manning with one terrible throw sealed the win for the Saints. That leads me to ask this question, how does someone so good with nothing on the line become so bad when it matters the most. Yes, I realize that he had a good game. I realize his numbers were better than Drew Brees, well except for number of interceptions and touchdowns (although that is not fair, he threw the same number of touchdowns, he just spread them around a little more evenly than Drew Brees). What is it about the post season that causes the best regular season qb to become mediocre at best. I can see the disgusted look on your faces now, "mediocre at best, no way". Today we will play a little game I like to call Inside the Numbers. Let's Play, shall we...

Peyton Manning is 9 - 9 in the postseason. By comparison Tom Brady is 14 - 4, Joe Montana was 14 - 4 during his 1st 18 playoff games, John Elway was 11 - 7, Brett Favre was 11 - 7, only Dan Marino's 8 - 10 record is worse than that of Peyton Manning.

Please spare me the Peyton Manning played on worse teams than these guys, HE HAS MORE REGULAR SEASON WINS DURING THIS DECADE THAN ANY OF THESE OTHER QUARTERBACKS HAD DURING ANY DECADE!!! This decade, 5 times the Colts had a better regular season record than the Patriots, compared to only 4 times for the Patriots (one year they tied with 12 wins). Patriots 3 Super Bowl rings, Colts one. Brady has an undefeated season, Manning does not. The one season Brady played with offensive talent like what Manning has played with his ENTIRE CAREER, Brady broke single season records, they were held by Manning if you are curious. You can only blame it on the team until you actually look at the numbers and so the research. This is becoming obvious, it's not a case of bad teams, IT IS bad play from the single most important position in sports.

Individual numbers don't help Manning's cause either. The only one of the quarterbacks mentioned who have less touchdowns during their 1st 18 playoff games is John Elway (Brady and Manning are tied with 28, but Manning has thrown more interceptions). If you take Denver away from Peyton Manning, he has just been downright terrible in the playoffs. He has 28 touchdowns and 19 interceptions, Denver has given up 9 of those touchdowns in 2 games while only picking Manning off once. That means in the 17 playoff games against opponents other than Denver, Manning's touchdowns to interceptions numbers are 19 - 18. This is from a guy who is the leader of his team. He is responsible for making that team go.

Let's call him what he is...Jim Kelly!

You remember Jim Kelly, the leader of all of those Bills teams. They lit it up against the weak AFC teams, but when the going got tough and they played elite opponents in the Super Bowl, they could not match up. I realize that Manning got his Super Bowl and so that puts him a notch above Jim Kelly, but please someone explain to me how a team that has won more regular season games in the last decade...MORE THAN BRADY, MORE THAN ROTHELISBURGER, MORE THAN ANY OTHER QB IN HISTORY, has only been able to get 1 ring. I will tell you why, the Colts are led by a guy, who when he is needed more than ever, can not come through. It started back an Tennessee (please don't tell me about how he was on bad teams, THEY WON A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP THE YEAR AFTER HE LEFT WITH TEE MARTIN!).
I was surprised at how the win loss numbers played out when it came to his playoff record. He has been equally mediocre through all of the playoff rounds. He is 2 - 2 in the wild card round, 3 - 4 in the divisional round, 2 - 1 in AFC championship games, and 1 - 1 in Super Bowls. Let's call these numbers what they are, the numbers of a very mediocre quarterback.

I am not saying I like it, but quarterbacks are judge on total team success. For Peyton Manning more than anyone else, because of the fact that team is built around and for him, this is fair. And when you look at it, everything other than his name and regular season numbers say he is a mediocre quarterback while the likes of Brady and Montana were coming through in clutch situations.

Please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions.

Until next time...