Stormin Norman Rumack

I never said Peyton wasn’t a great quarterback; he is a first ballot Hall of Famer and certainly deserved to win the MVP this year.

 

I just couldn’t swallow the belief that, at present, Peyton is the best that ever played the game. He isn’t, not yet. I’m sorry I can’t even put him in the Top-3. Now that is not a criticism. To be ranked behind Joe Montana, John Elway, Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre (Yes Favre) is not an insult. Now Peyton may go on to win at least one more Super Bowl and break every passing record, and if he can accomplish half of what people expect him to do, than yes he is worthy of Greatest Of All Time discussion.

 

But not right now.

 

You see people get blinded by Manning’s numbers and to be honest it’s hard not to. But as great as his passing statistics are, they do not tell the whole story. Peyton was blessed with once in a lifetime talent but his career numbers have benefited from a number of factors that had little to do with him:

 

(1) Location, location, location. Would he have all those yards and touchdowns if he didn’t play in a Dome for his entire career? Does anyone really think he would have compiled those gaudy statistics playing outside in a cold East Coast stadium? Of course not. Late season games in cities like New York, Cleveland and Buffalo always sees a drop in passing yards.

 

(2) Rule Changes: After Peyton was victimized for four interceptions in the 2003 AFC Championship game Colts General Manager and NFL Competition Committee member Bill Polian bitched and whined so much about the Patriots secondary physical play that the NFL soon changed pass interference rules. The NFL started to crack down harder on illegal contact and defensive holding, basically from that point on a defensive back would be flagged for even looking at a wide receiver funny. Is it a coincidence that Peyton broke the single season touchdown record the next year? Or that his four best QB Rating seasons have come since they changed the rules. Guys like Favre, Montana and Elway had to play in an era (especially Montana & Elway) where defenders were allowed to truly challenge wide-outs.

 

(3) Consistency and continuity: In his 12 seasons Peyton has had the good fortune of playing for a small number of coaches and coordinators. Offensive line coach Howard Mudd and Offensive Coordinator Tom Moore have been a part of Peyton’s life since he was a rookie. Manning has played for only three head coaches and the offensive philosophy has never wavered from his first year to this past season with Jim Caldwell.  Now Manning certainly made these guys look smarter than they are, all great quarterbacks do that, but Peyton has had the good fortune of not being forced to learn new offensive schemes or systems.

 

(4) Talent! I added this one to highlight why I believe that Favre should still (at this moment) be ranked higher than Manning. Go back and think of all the Hall of Famers that Brett has played for on offense during his Green Bay days. Listen Robert Brooks, Antonio Freeman and Donald Driver were/are all good players but none of them will be going to Canton unless they buy a ticket. Than there are the litany of mediocre running backs that Favre has played with. Beyond one good season (Dorsey Levens in 1997) Brett has never had the luxury of a great running game. Peyton had Marshall Faulk (Hall of Famer) for his rookie season and then Edgerrin James (Look at his numbers, he’ll eventually be voted in) for the next seven years. When Peyton Manning finally won a Super Bowl he wasn’t even the best Colt on the field that day. It was Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai. Again a great running back makes it easier for the play action game to work, meaning that Manning’s numbers were helped by who he had lining up behind him for more than Favre.

 

(5) Bad defenses: Indianapolis never had a dominant defence for the first part of Manning’s career. During his 49 touchdown season the Colts D was ranked 29^th overall. Now you may be asking what does this have to do with Peyton’s career statistics, well quite a bit really. Most quarterbacks don’t put up gaudy stats if they play for an elite defensive team, they don’t need to. Why put the ball up 50 times if your defense consistently holds the opposing team to under 20 points? Teams can simply run the ball, bleed the clock and win the game. Peyton needed to keep passing for the Colts to win.

 

So yes Peyton Manning’s numbers are unbelievable but he has also benefited from being in the right place at the right time.

 

Throw in the fact that he is now 9-9 in the playoffs, that his team has lost an alarming number of those games where the Colts were the favourite and I just can’t put him in the “Greatest Of All Time” list. I can’t help but remember the Colts losing to Billy Volek and the Chargers or at home, to an inferior Steelers team, getting blown out by the Jets 41-0, in overtime to a mediocre Miami Dolphins team … the list goes on and on. It may be unfair to put more of the blame on Manning, but in the NFL the quarterback is king and Manning couldn’t get it done late in so many playoff games. If we are going to heap so much praise on him for his control of the offense when he wins than we must place equal amounts of blame when they come up short.