Rewriting the Peyton Manning Story

As most of you know, the Super Bowl is now two days behind and the parade already happened for the New Orleans Saints although I feel it's still necessary to talk about most of the Super Bowl.   So we will start with the Colts and one quarterback known as Peyton Manning.

After Manning won this first Super Bowl, the monkey was off his back and people would shut up in terms of comparing Manning to Dan Marino as a stats guy instead of a winner like Joe Montana.   All of these things seemed to wash away when Manning won the big game.  But when everything seemed like everything pointed to Manning winning another Super Bowl putting him into a brand new category of quarterbacks, Tracy Porter changed everything. 

Once again, Manning choked away a big game. My homeboy Bill Simmons got to rejoice because he got to see the "Peyton Manning Face" and if you don't know what that is, it's the dumbfounded look of 'is this really happening to me?'   Now, people would like to put the blame on Reggie Wayne for not making his cut quick enough and he shoulders the blame for the interception. I call complete bullshit because I have seen Brett Favre's receivers in Green Bay in his famous three interception games tip balls causing the pick, yet Favre gets the blame for what happens.  It is always the quarterback's fault no matter what.

Some writers said that this one game destroys Manning's legacy and he will never be looked at the same due to this one game. I would disagree somewhat, I think Manning is a great quarterback probably the best regular season quarterback we have ever seen.  But he is nowhere near Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Big Ben, or Kurt Warner.  It's basically the same argument that people have about Brett Favre and his personal legacy because he only has one Super Bowl win.  In my opinion, nothing can be said about Manning's legacy until he retires because there is a good chance he might get back to the Super Bowl. 

Finally, I think to call the Colts the team of the decade because they won the most games is asinine because the other teams of the prior decades won more than one Super Bowl.  The San Francisco 49ers won four from 1980-1990, the Dallas Cowboys won three from 1990-2000, and the New England Patriots won three from 2000-2010. You cannot say that the Colts are deserving of the honor of team of the decade because they have the most wins. If anything, it shows how badly they have performed in the playoffs in the past ten years.  

-Charlie.

Peyton Manning Shows Why He's the Man

I am not a big Peyton Manning fan, I believe I have made it clear on the blog a couple times I believe.  I really cannot explain why, the only reason I can think of is because he played for Tennessee and I never have liked the Volunteers.  Anyways, he proved why he got his fourth MVP yesterday in a rousing 30-17 win against the New York Jets.

Revis Island?  Not a problem for Manning who basically ignored Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne for most of the game, and exposed the Jets other cornerbacks/secondary with going to Austin Collie/Pierre Garcon consistently.  Manning ended up throwing 377 yards and three touchdowns against the best defense in football... incredible. 

I thought watching the first half that the Jets may actually do this thing by forcing turnovers and actually getting to Manning, which is something that rarely happens and when it does usually spells trouble for the Colt offense. But then, when he drove down the field, down eleven points and hit Collie with a long pass, then the touchdown shortly thereafter, the Colts never looked back.  

I thought Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan put too much faith in his kicker Jay Feely in the third quarter up four points going for a 50+ Field Goal in a loud dome ont he road. I said when that happened, this was a complete repeat of the Cowboys-Vikings game.  Just like Wade Phillips, Ryan should have punted the ball giving Manning a longer field and possibly getting the ball back in good possession.

Once again, Manning played one of the greatest games of his career and the Who Dat Nation should be very afraid.

-Charlie.