Peyton Manning, Madison Avenue poster boy

Maybe cause he was 24 years old and in his first Super Bowl? And, I can't believe I'm saying this, but as Two-Bit says, the guy had three great games before that. When has Peyton put together three GOOD playoff games? Yeah, he was balls out in those first two playoff games in 2004. And then Belichick's Pats, working with a duct tape secondary, absolutely manhandled him in the title game.

 

Doesn't matter. And you know it.

If he puts together three good ones, then pulls a Roethlisberger in the Super Bowl and the Colts lose (because their defense will NEVER hold a playoff opponent to 10 points) . . . he'll still be the overrated loser/fraud who can't win the big one.

 

For the record, I like Peyton, and I think he sort of underperforms in big moments, but I think the whole "I'm trying to be a good teammate here" thing was kind of a horseshit move by the media in that situation.

It was obvious the offensive line sucked that day. Every single person who watched that game can tell you that. So in the post game presser, the media is just begging Peyton to say that, egging him on with question after question, trying to goad him into saying what we all know is true, that the offensive line sucked.

So what happens when he finally says, in the most polite way possible, the offensive line had trouble blocking?

The greek chorus jumps down his throat immediately, calling him a phony and a crybaby and a sack of shit who is blaming everyone else for the loss.

C'mon. That's bullshit. I hate that aspect of sports journalism, where we beg athletes to throw their teammates under the bus, then, even if the teammates deserve it, we unload on the teammate who we begged to point fingers. But I guess without that mentality, there would be a lot of sports talk radio hosts collecting unemployment.

 

Mainly because of two plays, being smart enough to stay behind the line of scrimmage after scrambling around making something happen, then converting a long third down play, and making a crucial block on the reverse pass from el to hines ward, a pass that likely wouldn't have gotten thrown had it not been for the block.

Even as a Steelers fan, I would never, ever say that Roethlisberger would ever be considered better than Peyton Manning statistically, but even when he is having a bad game, he still makes the plays it takes to win the game. Peyton hangs his head in disgust and throws the ball away. Peyton just doesn't have the intangibles that Ben does, but they are immesurable, so it's hard to base an argument on that.

The criticism Ben just "managing" the Pittsburgh offense and only succeeding because of the team around him is just as obsurd as Peyton's criticism of him being a "choking dog," yet there will always be those in sports media who feel that way. Fact is, the guy has been in the league two years, and has an AFC title game loss and a Super Bowl win under his belt. Indy would like to have that.

 

I was sitting in the second row of that press conference after the Steelers game. Manning's quote came on the FIRST QUESTION. The excuse of "they wore him down with their mean questions" is bullshit and was concocted by Archie during one of his 4,000 talk radio appearances. The Indy media treats Manning with kid gloves. And contrary to what's been posted here earlier in this thread, Manning is not always straightforward unless it's a topic he wants to talk about. He will mealymouth questions he doesn't like. And there's a major sense in that locker room that he's far from a popular guy among his teammates.

And secondly, one of the reasons you're seeing so many Manning commercials is because you're not seeing any from Tom Brady, who was in every one of them last year but said it got to be a distraction.

 

Interesting. I was not aware it was after the first question. That does change the way I feel somewhat.

 

I'm far from a Colts fan (hense the username), but I certainly don;t remember that being the answer to the first question of the presser. Actually, I fell onto the side of the argument that what Manning said was blown WAY out of proportion by the media afterwards, even as a Colts hater currently residing in this state of bandwagon jumpers. I'd have to see it again, but at first glance, I'd have to say that was not at the beginngin of the interview session and the answer to the first question.

 

List of leading rushers for Elway during his Broncos career:

1983: Sammy Winder, 757 yds
1984: Winder, 1153 yds
1985: Winder, 714 yds
1986: Winder, 789 yds
1987: Winder, 741 yds
1988: Tony Dorsett, 703 yds
1989: Bobby Humphrey, 1151 yds
1990: Humphrey, 1202 yds***
1991: Gaston Green, 1037 yds***
1992: Green, 648 yds***
1993: Rod Bernstine, 816 yds
1994: Leonard Russell, 620 yds
1995: Terrell Davis, 1117 yds***
1996: Davis, 1538 yds***
1997: Davis, 1750 yds***
1998: Davis, 2008 yds***

***= averaged at least 4.0 YPC

You're right Two-Bit. Elway didn't ride Davis' coattails. It's just a coincidence that the first time he got a legit back behind him, he won the Super Bowl. I'm sure it's also a coincidence that he threw for the most TD passes of his career once defenses finally had to worry about the backfield. I should be shocked you didn't put two and two together there, but, well, I'm not.

God, you're a fool.

 

Players are allowed to receive up to $500 in gifts (I think that figure is right) from bowl games. There's a story about it every bowl season.

 

Don't mean to speak for the guy, but I think the point is that Elway had, for the most part, dogshit offensive players for much of his career. The fact that he carried them as far as he did is a testament to his greatness.

 

Or Beej could be saying that Elway wasn't really anything until he had a supporting cast. I think that's bull, but it's also a way to interpret what he said.

 

Um, I was somewhat agreeing with you.