After the post-game BCS National Championship game wore off, it seemed as if the biggest story in the sports world this past week was with regard to Denver Broncos starting quarterback Peyton Manning and his alleged struggles (or choke jobs as some claimed) in the playoffs. With the Broncos beating the San Diego Chargers today, that improves Manning's overall playoff record to 10-11. While Manning started his career 3-6 in the playoffs, he's 7-5 since then. Tom Brady - the press' favorite quarterback, it seems - started his career 14-3 in the playoffs and is 3-4 since that time. While I think it's understandable that the press gives Tom Brady such high praise, I think they're being quite unfair to Peyton Manning.
While it's true Manning's playoff numbers were inconsistent in the early part of his career, he's been quite steady over the past 5-6 years. Since 2008, his lowest quarterback rating was 88.3, when he posted that in a 38-35 loss to Baltimore a year ago. Since '08, he's thrown 13 touchdowns compared to 5 interceptions in the playoffs. Before today's game, Manning had a career playoff quarterback rating of 88.4, as he completed 63.2% of his passes, threw for 32 touchdowns (compared to 21 interceptions), and almost 5,700 yards. While, overall, these numbers may not be as gaudy as Brady's, they're still fairly solid and undeserving of such ridicule by sports-writers and analysts.
Let's get another thing straight here. The teams Manning has led have typically been void of a great defense. In baseball, it's quite common to see the teams with the best pitching staffs advance to the playoffs. This is also true in football, where it's common to see the teams with the best defenses advance to the post-season. This year, 9 of the top 11 teams in scoring defense moved on to the playoffs, with the only three exceptions being: Philadelphia (#17), Denver (#22), and Green Bay (#24). In the 13 years Manning was with Indianapolis, the Colts defense ranked in the bottom half of the league in either points or yards allowed nine times. In his two years with Denver, the Broncos have finished in the bottom half of the league in defense once. So, in 10 of 15 years as a starting quarterback, Manning has observed his defense rank in the bottom half of the league in points and/or yards allowed. Due to this, extra pressure has been mounted on Manning's back, because not only has he had to compete against the opponents' defenses, but also compensate for his teams' sub-par defenses.
Football is the epitome of a team sport. While quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning may wind up on most of the teams' posters and receive more publicity than their teammates, that doesn't negate the fact that they can't win without solid coaching and solid play around them. In Denver's loss to Baltimore last year, the Broncos scored 35 points. That should be enough to win a playoff game. Peyton Manning doesn't play on both sides of the ball. He didn't allow that deep pass from Joe Flacco to Jacoby Jones which won the game for the Ravens in a miraculous fashion. He did enough to lead the Broncos to a victory, yet the defense let he and his teammates down in the end. Peyton Manning has already won a Super Bowl, is on his way to another MVP award, and regardless of how many Super Bowls he winds up winning, he should go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/clt/
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/den/
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MannPe00.htm
While it's true Manning's playoff numbers were inconsistent in the early part of his career, he's been quite steady over the past 5-6 years. Since 2008, his lowest quarterback rating was 88.3, when he posted that in a 38-35 loss to Baltimore a year ago. Since '08, he's thrown 13 touchdowns compared to 5 interceptions in the playoffs. Before today's game, Manning had a career playoff quarterback rating of 88.4, as he completed 63.2% of his passes, threw for 32 touchdowns (compared to 21 interceptions), and almost 5,700 yards. While, overall, these numbers may not be as gaudy as Brady's, they're still fairly solid and undeserving of such ridicule by sports-writers and analysts.
Let's get another thing straight here. The teams Manning has led have typically been void of a great defense. In baseball, it's quite common to see the teams with the best pitching staffs advance to the playoffs. This is also true in football, where it's common to see the teams with the best defenses advance to the post-season. This year, 9 of the top 11 teams in scoring defense moved on to the playoffs, with the only three exceptions being: Philadelphia (#17), Denver (#22), and Green Bay (#24). In the 13 years Manning was with Indianapolis, the Colts defense ranked in the bottom half of the league in either points or yards allowed nine times. In his two years with Denver, the Broncos have finished in the bottom half of the league in defense once. So, in 10 of 15 years as a starting quarterback, Manning has observed his defense rank in the bottom half of the league in points and/or yards allowed. Due to this, extra pressure has been mounted on Manning's back, because not only has he had to compete against the opponents' defenses, but also compensate for his teams' sub-par defenses.
Football is the epitome of a team sport. While quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning may wind up on most of the teams' posters and receive more publicity than their teammates, that doesn't negate the fact that they can't win without solid coaching and solid play around them. In Denver's loss to Baltimore last year, the Broncos scored 35 points. That should be enough to win a playoff game. Peyton Manning doesn't play on both sides of the ball. He didn't allow that deep pass from Joe Flacco to Jacoby Jones which won the game for the Ravens in a miraculous fashion. He did enough to lead the Broncos to a victory, yet the defense let he and his teammates down in the end. Peyton Manning has already won a Super Bowl, is on his way to another MVP award, and regardless of how many Super Bowls he winds up winning, he should go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/clt/
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/den/
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MannPe00.htm
Comments
Post a Comment