When you have a team, no one person is responsible for a victory or loss.
That is common sense, there are too many factors involved, even in the NBA where one great player can will his team to victory if you surround him with a bunch of scrubs doesn’t matter how good he is.
Ask Lebron, Jordan or Kobe how they did before they got All-Star level help, but fair or not when you are the leader of a team you will get the credit when you win and you have to bear the burden of the failures.
Peyton Manning is a 1st ballot Hall of Fame lock. There isn’t even a question, they might as well start making his bust in Canton right now.
He has been considered one of the best if not the best quarterback in the NFL for the last decade, not even a debate, anyone who says otherwise is just dumb or doesn’t like Manning.
His career isn’t over, he has a couple of years left and there are more chapters to be written in his book, but as of right now his playoff failures looms large over his legacy.
Here is the raw data.
His regular season record is 154-70
His post season record is 9-11
His teams have been eliminated 8 times in the 1st rd of the playoffs, with five of those games at home.
His teams have scored 20 points or less in 9 of the 11 post season losses.
When he won the Super Bowl in 2006 he had threw 3 TDs and 7 Ints
He holds a NFL regular season record of 45 fourth quarter comebacks, but only has one in the playoffs.
He has been on three 13-3 teams, three 12-4 teams and one 14-2 team that lost in playoffs.
7 of the 11 losses came when the Colts/Broncos were favorite.
The defense only gave up over 24 points in four of the 11 losses (if you eliminate overtime against San Diego and Super Bowl Pick 6 that would be two game the D give up over 24 points in regulation).
Men lie, women lie, Peyton Manning continued failures in the playoffs don’t.
You will hear the following excuses from Manning apologists:
- Bad Defense
- Running Game
- Bill Belichick
- Team wasn’t that good
- Kicker
The bad defense one is the one that is most laughable. The Colts never had the greatest of defenses, but ironically there defensive numbers are better in the playoffs. The Colts team has been constructed around the premise that Manning will put points on the board so their quick defensive lines can attack the quarterback.
I don’t care how good your defense is if you team scores less than 20 points in 9 out of 11 games, you are probably going to lose.
The running game is the reason Peyton Manning has his one Super Bowl ring and even without stars has been effective when called upon.
Can’t fault Bill Belichick for having a better game plan and the thought that Manning is like Lebron on the Cavs is ludicrous. He has had stacked teams for a decaded.
Manning liquored up kicker did miss game tying FG against Steelers in 05, but go watch the actual game and see how it was a miracle he even got that chance and it had nothing to do with Manning.
Similar to how for many years people had blinders on in regards to Brett Favre constant playoff failures, the same can be said for Peyton Manning.
Manning doesn’t have many peers in the NFL when it comes to the best quarterback in the league, it is him and Tom Brady. If you were starting a team from scratch to build your franchise around for the next decade and you could take a prime Peyton Manning or a prime Tom Brady many would take Manning. There was even a poll where the majority of people choose Manning.
But if you had to bet your life on one game to be played in the playoffs and you took that same poll it would be Brady in a landslide.
Big difference in leading a franchise and starting a dynasty.
I have followed Peyton Manning’s career from high school. The only knock on him was that he couldn’t win the big game. Not in high school, not in college and not early in his career in the pros.
The joke use to be this:
If you want to win a championship on team lead by Peyton Manning what do you do?
Sign Tee Martin.
Manning got his Super Bowl ring, but his signature game wasn’t the Super Bowl it was the comeback win against the Patriots in the AFC Championship game.
I give him full credit for that Super Bowl. I don’t care if it was against Rex Grossman or that Dominick Rhodes should have been the MVP. I don’t care the defense bailed him out in games against the Chiefs and Ravens. Doesn’t matter how you win as long as you win.
Manning will always be ahead of say Dan Marino or Jim Kelly because he figured out a way to get his ring.
That took him out of that group, but put him in another.
When you are as great as Manning it is about how far can your legacy go. Look at it like Kobe Bryant killing himself to get that ring without Shaq because he knew even with three rings the shadow will be there.
Manning has a shadow and each year he fails in the playoffs that shadow gets larger and larger. While the championship he won will seem further and further away.
Brett Favre won a ring and then lost a Super Bowl he was favored to win in, when he couldn’t lead a game tying drive. He never got back to the Super Bowl and even with all of his records and accolades you felt like he should have more rings.
Manning won a ring and then lost a Super Bowl he was favored to win when he couldn’t lead a game tying drive. He will hold a lot of the records that Favre holds now but when it is all said and done the question begs will we feel the same about Manning than we do about Favre (minus the off the field drama just strictly in regards to their career)?
Favre’s playoff record is 13-11 and he was only knocked out in the first round three times.
Fair or not legacy are made in the playoff especially if you talking about legendary players. I am not talking about good quarterbacks like Drew Brees, Phil Simms or Ben Roethlisberger. I am talking about legends.
Manning is going down in the books as a LEGEND, but there will be a lot of hesitation to put him ahead of Joe Montana or John Elway with this dark cloud following him. Brady is staring at a possible fourth ring in six tries that will further widen the gap between him and Manning.
This isn’t about what happened against the Jets, no one wins every year, but this is about a trend that has developed over more than decade.
When Peyton Manning got the ball back in the Super Bowl against the Saints in the 4th quarter. I tweeted that this was his “Joe Montana Moment”.
That was going to be the moment he shed the dark cloud and put himself in the discussion as THE GREATEST QUARTERBACK OF ALL TIME.
In that moment I ignored the facts and went with my gut, that told me regardless of the history, this was Manning’s time to prove me and everyone wrong.
Then he threw the ball right into Tracy Porter’s gut.
I asked Peyton Manning at that Super Bowl this question.
“Do you feel you need another Super Bowl win to validate your legacy?”
His answer was short and simple:
“The only goal is to win Super Bowls that is all we play for.”
When the Broncos went into Overtime with the Ravens, I didn’t ignore my gut, because history let me know what was going to happen.
Manning understands what needs to be done and in his final years the only question is will he be able to fight through the dark clouds to once again find the ring in the light.