Denver Broncos: The fading legacy of Peyton Manning
By Daniel Tran
Are these playoff losses tarnishing Manning’s sterling legacy?
The greatest regular season quarterback: that is the moniker that has become increasingly synonymous with Denver Broncos’ quarterback Peyton Manning. For most quarterbacks, it is a title of prestige; for Manning, it is a backhanded compliment that will cast a shadow over his Hall of Fame career.
Manning once again fell short in the NFL playoffs when the Indianapolis Colts, Manning’s former team, dominated his Denver Broncos on Sunday. His successor, Andrew Luck, enjoyed the taste of victory with a 265-yard, two touchdown game while Manning, who finished the game with 211 yards and one touchdown on 56.5 percent passing, watched helplessly from the sideline.
Manning, with his underrated toughness, was fighting through a quadricep injury that he suffered against the San Diego Chargers in Week 15 that could have limited his effectiveness, but if he was healthy enough to help the Denver Broncos to a 1-1 record to finish the season, he was healthy enough to help the team win against the Colts after a week of rest.
Winning in the NFL, especially in the playoffs, is a team effort, so no one player should shoulder all the blame, but for a player that has been as offensively prolific as Manning to disappear and have another bad performance in a postseason loss is not helping the perception that he folds in January; a continually validated perception that should knock him out of the discussion regarding the greatest quarterback of all time.
Manning, for all of his regular season brilliance, has lost in his first game of the NFL playoffs nine out of the fourteen years he has reached the NFL’s prestigious one-and-done tournament. It is not as if he has been the sole reason his teams have lost in the postseason (ahem…Rahim Moore), but his lack of consistent production, which is so dependable in the regular season, has hurt his teams.
Peyton Manning has seen a consistent drop in his numbers once the playoffs roll around. Sporting a 97.5 passer rating in the regular season for his career, Manning inexplicably has an 88.5 career passer rating during the NFL playoffs. He also has an adjusted yards per attempt of 6.9 yards in the playoffs, which is nearly a yard short of his regular season mark of 7.7 yards.
Manning is still producing at an effective rate in the playoffs; it just has not been enough to pull his teams deep into the postseason consistently. In the regular season, Manning earns 2.26 touchdowns for every interception he throws. In the playoffs, that number drops significantly to 1.6 touchdowns for every interception.
Much like every play made during the playoffs, every pass is magnified and dissected. With such a significant drop in touchdown-to-interception ratio in the most critical games of the season, there is a lot of pressure that Manning faces to perform at a high level and though he is known for his late game heroics in the regular season, he has yet to confirm that reputation in the post season.
In his storied 17-year career, Manning has pulled off 41 fourth quarter comebacks in 256 career games. Manning has played in 24 playoff games and only led his team to a fourth quarter comeback in one of those games. So many times, Manning led his team to wins in the regular season when trailing in the fourth quarter, but when the team needed him most in the playoffs, the numbers show his inability to overcome adversity in the postseason.
There is no denying that Manning is great. For all the criticism he receives, he does have one championship and took his team to two more Super Bowls. That coupled with his gaudy offensive numbers during the regular season have earned him enough awards and accolades that would make this internet meme proud.
Unfortunately, the old NFL cliché is that greatness is measured through postseason success. Manning has won one championship, but he has 13 other playoff tries that have ended in disappointment and a losing record in the postseason. Not only is overshadowed by his longtime rival Tom Brady, who has three rings; he does not even have the most championships within his own family (Eli Manning has two).
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Does this mean that Eli Manning is greater than Peyton Manning? Absolutely not, because Peyton’s regular season genius over 17 seasons is still remarkable and will assuredly put him in the Hall of Fame. He is currently second all-time in career passing yards and first all-time in total touchdowns.
His passing records and knowledge of the defenses he faces every week put him in the conversation of the greatest quarterback to ever play the game. However, with his erratic postseason performances, Manning should no longer be considered for the “greatest ever” mantle.
That is the burden of being great in the NFL. Greatness is measured against greatness and though Manning may have unworldly numbers during the regular season, his lack of consistent postseason success puts him a step below other great quarterbacks such as Joe Montana or even Tom Brady.
When Manning is elected into the Hall of Fame on his first appearance on the ballot (which should happen), all the plaques and inscriptions will read “Peyton Manning: Hall of Fame Quarterback.” Unfortunately for Manning, there will be an unwritten asterisk that will only be spoken amongst fans and experts when discussing his legacy: Greatest Regular Season Quarterback of All Time.