Sunset for the Sheriff: A Peyton Manning Tale

As expected, Peyton Manning (the Sheriff) is officially retiring. It is the most logical decision because he has the perfect, fairy tale ending that few get to have: leaving the sport after winning a Super Bowl.  His boss, John Elway, famously road away into the sunset in 1999 after winning back to back Super Bowls. He promised to do everything in his power to provide Manning a similar ending and fulfilled it by assembling an all-time great defense that carried the Denver Broncos to the Super Bowl 50 win. In 1998, Michael Jordan hit the championship clinching shot against the Utah Jazz and had the perfect happy ending to a historic career as the greatest NBA player of all-time. Unfortunately, he made a forgettable return with the Washington Wizards and did not even make the playoffs during his two seasons there. In terms of Manning, he is clearly no longer the great player he once was. Father time finally caught up to him this past season. At least Michael Jordan was still playing at an All-Star level with the Wizards. The Broncos are definitely moving on to their talented, young quarterback Brock Osweiler. Manning would be forced into playing with a mediocre team (e.g. Los Angeles Rams) if he wanted to continue his career. During this past season, it looked like he may not even get the chance to go out as a Super Bowl winning, starting quarterback. He was playing terribly and then got hurt. Osweiler came in and the Broncos continued to roll. If Osweiler did not struggle near the end of the season, it is debatable whether Manning would have got his starting job back. Consequently, winning the Super Bowl exceeded all expectations Manning could have had by the end of the regular season. It is definitely time for him to retire and I am ecstatic he got the fairy tale ending.

Manning career statistics are mind boggling. He retires as the all-time leader in career passing yards (71,940 yards), career touchdown passes (539), most career playoff and regular season wins (200), and shares the most regular season career wins with Brett Favre (186). He is a NFL record 5X MVP. He is also a 14 time Pro Bowler, 7 time first-team All-Pro, and 3 time second-team All-Pro. He also broke the record for touchdown passes in a season twice, 49 in 2004 and 55 in 2013. Of course, the two Super Bowl wins tops it all off. As gaudy as his numbers are, it does not fully capture his greatness. No one has ever played the quarterback position at the level Manning did during the peak of his career. Another player may play the position as well but it is impossible to play it any better. He controlled football games the same way a maestro conducts an orchestra. He was a basically an offensive coordinator on the field. His former offensive coordinator on the Indianapolis Colts, Tom Moore, noted that he did not even call in plays for Manning. Instead, he only sent him concepts. Manning figured out the rest. His ability to recognize the opponent’s play call and adjust his offense with an audible to counter the defense is unmatched. Opponents have spoken about how Manning recognized the blitz package in terms of the defender who is blitzing and which direction he would be coming from. He would point directly at those pass rushers so his blockers could engage. It must have felt helpless for defenders that the opposing quarterback knew exactly what was coming. Manning’s preparation is also second to none. Rex Ryan raved about how unbelievable it was that Manning went back to game film of Ryan’s father’s [the great defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan] 85 Bears team to prepare for Rex. Manning is far from the best athletes at the quarterback position (e.g. Roger Staubach, John Elway, Aaron Rogers, Cam Newton, etc.). However, his mind is unmatched. It allowed him to be a top quarterback in Denver after significant neck surgeries led to his departure from the Indianapolis Colts. Despite his loss of arm strength that caused him to throw wobbly passes, his wit and anticipation compensated so that he could throw wobbly touchdowns. It is the ultimate testament to his football intelligence that he set the single season record for passing touchdowns at 55 in 2013 after his physical skills were compromised.

Of course, there is also Manning’s nickname: the Sheriff. It was given to him by former Super Bowl winning head coach and current broadcaster, Jon Gruden, who noted that Manning “lays down the law” in opposing stadiums with his ability to manipulate and control the game with his audibles at the line of scrimmage. Gruden made the analogy during a 2009 Monday Night football game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Miami Dolphins. In my opinion, it is a signature game that demonstrates how great Manning’s career truly is. The Dolphins absolutely dominated the game and executed the perfect game plan to run the ball to keep the football away from Manning. The Colts offense had the ball for less than 15 minutes. They ran 35 plays compared to the 84 by the Dolphins. Nevertheless, Manning was masterful in the time he did have with the ball and led the Colts to a 27-23 win which included a 48 yard touchdown pass with 3:18 left in the game for the game winning score. Against any other quarterback, the Dolphins win that game. While that Monday Night Football game is the most memorable regular season game I have of Manning, the AFC Championship Game in 2007 is the signature postseason game I will remember most about Manning. Going into that game, Manning and the Colts could not get past Tom Brady and his Patriots dynasty in the early 2000s. They were 0-2 against the Patriots in the postseason. During the game, the Colts fell behind big early. When Asante Samuel intercepted Manning for a touchdown to put the Patriots up 21-3, the outlook looked bleak. It felt like déjà vu all over again. I was watching the game with friends at college. The Patriots fan in our group fell asleep and took a nap because the game was boring. Instead of the Patriots cruising to another Super Bowl, Manning led the Colts to the biggest Conference Championship game comeback in NFL history. It was capped off when Joseph Addai rushed through the end zone with 1:03 left in the game to put the Colts up 38-34. In the ensuing drive, I will always remember Manning keeping his head down because he could not bear the stress of watching his defense try to stop Brady to end the game. When the Colts made the interception to end the game, Manning let out a giant sigh of relief as he finally overcame the Patriots in the playoffs. His Colts would go on to win his first Super Bowl to end the narrative that Manning could not win the big one… only for a little while.

The only criticism of Manning’s playing career is his failures in the postseason. Some of it is fair. His teams suffered some inexplicable, brutal losses in the playoffs as heavy favorites at home and were often eliminated in their first game in the postseason. In his first postseason game, his 13-3 Colts were beat 19-16 by a Titans team that lost in the Super Bowl. The Colts would lose in overtime to the Dolphins the following year then 41-0 to the New York Jets the year after. However, it is not unusual for a young player and team to have growing pains. They finally started winning playoff games the next two years but were eliminated by the Patriots dynasty each year. In my opinion, the AFC Divisional Game loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Indianapolis in 2006 is the first of the type of playoff losses that became an issue in his career. The Steelers eventually won the Super Bowl that season but the Colts were a heavy favorite against them. What happened in the game is symbolic of what went wrong in Manning’s postseason career. Like the Patriots, the Steelers featured a 3-4 defense that put a lot of pressure on him. For whatever reason, Manning had trouble reading to those defenses. While no quarterback enjoys pressure, Manning has not handled it well in the rare instances he faced significant pass rush. You could see it in his body language. His nerves show in the form of happy feet. His demeanor under stress is in sharp contrast with the usual confidence and command he exudes in the pocket. Another great quarterback in his era, Ben Roethlisberger, thrives in making plays when the pocket collapses. Even when Tom Brady got pulverized by the New York Giants’ ferocious pass rush in his two Super Bowl losses, he found a way to compete and give his team leads late in the game. Even Peyton’s brother, Eli, found ways to make big plays under extreme duress. In the NFC Championship Game in 2012 against the San Francisco 49ers, Eli faced a great defense that pounded him all game. He took one of the biggest beatings I have ever seen a quarterback take in a game. Nevertheless, he found the will to make enough plays for the Giants to pull out the win. Consequently, I have to concede it is fair to criticize Peyton for falling apart whenever he faced similar situations even though he was so good at adjusting most of the time that facing pass rush was rare.

On the other hand, the postseason is a much smaller sample size in a player’s career. For this reason, it is a modern day trend to discount great regular season play because of playoff setbacks. One needs to look at and evaluate the full body of work. Football is the ultimate team game. While a quarterback should get a disproportionate amount of the credit or blame because he has the most impact in the outcome of a game, you still need to consider the teams he played on when evaluating his legacy. For example, Manning and his Broncos offense scored 35 points and put their team in position to win in the AFC Divisional Game against the Baltimore Ravens in 2013. Is it Manning’s fault that his defense blew a pass coverage when Joe Flacco threw a Hail Mary Pass in the final minute of the fourth quarter to tie the game? Of course not. When you look back at history, every NFL dynasty has two things in common: a top defense and a top coach. When the top defense has met the top offense in the Super Bowl, the defense almost always wins. It is demonstrated in Manning’s Broncos career. When they had the top offense and Manning threw for 55 touchdowns two seasons ago, they met the top defense of the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl and got destroyed. During this past season, they brought the top defense against the top offense of the Carolina Panthers and won this time with the top defense. It was the only season in Manning’s career that he played with a top defense. As we know, he won the Super Bowl despite being a shell of himself. It is not a coincidence. In terms of head coaches, he has never played for an all-time great head coach. The best head coach he played for is Tony Dungy who was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because of his inability to win big games. While he is a very good head coach who made the Hall of Fame and I respect him for being a great human being, he does not measure up to the all-time greats (e.g. Vince Lombardi, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, Bill Belichick, etc.). From my perspective, it is a testament to Manning’s greatness that he went to four Super Bowls with four different head coaches: Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, John Fox, and Gary Kubak.

Naturally, Manning will always be compared to Tom Brady because they are the best two quarterbacks in their generation. Even Brady’s career proves the need for both an all-time great head coach and top defense to perform at a dynasty rate in the postseason. Brady has played his entire career for Bill Belichick. There is a case to be made that he is the best head coach ever after Vince Lombardi. I would definitely agree that he is the best defensive mind in NFL history. When they had a top defense in the early 2000s, they were 9-0 in the postseason with three Super Bowl wins. Since their defensive personnel has regressed after the third Super Bowl win, they are only 13-9 with one Super Bowl win and two Super Bowl losses in the postseason. In addition, they were able to assemble a great defense when they won the Super Bowl in 2015 against the Seahawks. As such, the Patriots are 10-9 in the playoffs when they do not field a top defense. They also suffered a couple of puzzling losses as heavy favorites at home in Foxboro (e.g. Baltimore Ravens in 2010 and New York Jets in 2011). My point is not to detract from the Patriots. They are the best NFL franchise in the last 16 years. Nevertheless, they also prove the point that a team needs a top defense to win a championship even if it does have Brady and Belichick to keep them in the mix. Accordingly, Manning’s 14-13 record in the playoffs is consistent with his greatest rival [when he does not have a top defense] who also has the advantage of playing for one of the best head coaches ever. However, the final Super Bowl run to push Manning’s career playoff record above .500 and a second Super Bowl win is extremely important in stamping his legacy. Moreover, he finishes his career winning three straight AFC Championship games against Brady and Belichick (3-2 against the Patriots in the playoffs). In addition, he has the misfortune of being compared to his impossibly high standard set by his impeccable regular season performance which is matched by none. While his postseason performance certainly does not live up to his “Sunday at 1” dominance, it is also not as bad as it is sometimes portrayed.

On top of his on field performance, he has also been a great ambassador for the NFL. He has conducted himself with professionalism and class. There have been a couple of hiccups. One quasi misstep was when he called out his “liquored up” kicker Mike Vanderjagt who criticized Manning after the Jets beat them 41-0 in the playoffs. However, Vanderjagt is a jerk and kind of deserved it so I do not blame Manning. The only real hiccup I remember is after the AFC Divisional Game loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the postgame press conference, he blamed his offensive line for protection issues. It is understandable that he was frustrated because it was a brutal loss. As a positive, he learned how to deal with failure much better. After the Super Bowl loss to the Seattle Seahawks, he showed the utmost class. He stood in and answered all the questions from the press and took responsibility without scapegoating his teammates. Moreover, he even sought out Richard Sherman to check that he was doing well because he was injured during the game. Accordingly, his class is the reason Manning is so revered in the NFL. In addition to having an all-time great defense, the Seahawks were also known to be all-time great trash talkers (e.g. Richard Sherman’s mediocre wide receiver rant). After that Super Bowl, they went out of their way to defend Manning. Over the years, Manning has also shown a great sense of humor as seen in many hilarious commercials. In order to be fair and objective, I also need to comment on the recent reports that Manning had a sexual assault incident during his time playing college football at Tennessee. He has settled the case three times. Based on the information we know, he grazed a female trainer’s face with his genitalia. Obviously, there is no excuse for the behavior. It is disgusting and inappropriate. However, he was 19 year old teenager at the time. He was definitely immature and needed to grow up. He is lucky that social media and the 24/7 news cycle was not around at the time. However, he appears to have paid a penance with the settlements with the trainer. There has not been a known incident since then so I have to assume he learned from that incident. We are a forgiving people so I believe we can forgive him for a mistake twenty years ago if he has been clean since then.

Where does Peyton Manning stand in the ranking of quarterbacks? If he had a great postseason career, I would unequivocally put him as the greatest of all-time. However, he does not. Without a doubt, he is still the greatest regular season football player I have ever watched. On the other hand, there is no real way to compare all-time greats in other eras. The game is so different from the rules on the field to the salary cap and free agency structure that is meant to prevent building sustained dynasties. Is there any way to really say Brady or Manning are better than Johnny Unitas or Joe Montana and vice versa? I do not think so. I am comfortable saying Peyton Manning is as good as any quarterback that has ever played. If you want to say another quarterback is better, I will not argue. If you asked me to pick a quarterback I want leading my team from this era, I would ask you what the situation is. If I am given a team that is not very good, I would take Manning without a doubt. In my opinion, he elevated a few mediocre Colts teams into championship contenders. It is proven by the season he missed in 2011. The Colts went from losing the Super Bowl as a 14-2 team and a 10-6 team in 2009 and 2010 to the worst record in the NFL at 2-14. If I have one game to win, I am taking Brady without a hesitation. I may even take Eli over Peyton if I know my quarterback will face significant pass rush. In choosing between Manning and Brady, I would also just take whoever has Bill Belichick on his side. As good as Brady is, Belichick still found a way to guide the Patriots to an 11-5 season with Matt Cassel when Brady got injured the first game of the season. Of course, Brady and Belichick will go down as one of the best QB/ head coach duos ever. Nevertheless, Manning also has his place in history. He played the position at a level no other human being has played it and has at least a partial claim as the greatest quarterback ever.

Thank you for the memories Sheriff. Ride into the sunset proud.