OMBW (Ongoing Manning Ball Washing) by the 4th Estate

Hard to argue with the stats you cite. Except I don’t think it’s fair to say that Manning cost the Colts the Super Bowl. The pick six was a mistake, sure, but otherwise Manning played reasonably well. The rollout pass that he dropped over three defenders to Clark was a thing of beauty. Can’t ignore that the Saints “stole” one of his possessions with that onside kick. (It also looked like they stole the ball at the bottom of that scrum.) Other problems: the Colts totally dominated in yards and time of possession in the first quarter, but only put ten points on the board, overly conservative play calling at the end of the half, and a low percentage 51 yard field goal attempt rather than going for a first down.

Annoying as the Manning-loving media can be, instead of scapegoating Manning, I credit the Saints. They played inspired football. They, like their young kicker and Drew Brees, rose to the occasion. There is a fine line between confidence and complacency, and I think the Colts may have crossed it. The Saints, on the other hand, got their asses kicked by Dallas at the end of the season. They had to scramble a bit after that to regain their edge, which they obviously did.

funny, the game I remember well is when he was with KC, playing at Denver on Monday night….think he went 80 yards in one minute, no timeouts, for the winning TD

take a look at the defensive ranking of the 49ers teams during Montana’s tenure vs. the Colts defensive ranking during Manning’s years. I don’t understand this notion of blaming a single person for losing a game, especially a game like football which is more of a team sport than any other.

All this talk about taking Big Ben over Manning because he’s won more rings is bogus. Would you really want the 2005 Ben leading your Super Bowl team? Wasn’t that the worst statistical game for a QB in SB history? And, despite 2 interceptions and only a 30% completion %, which team won? The Steelers. Why? Because a teams success is not based on the play of a single player.

IMO, Peyton is the best QB that has played the game. Compared to Montana, he has 10,000 more passing yards, 100 more TDs a better completion% and I can go on and on. Also consider Montana only threw more than 30 td passes in one season. In fact, in the 1988 SB year, he only threw 18 tds to 10 picks.

Seriously, put the haterade down and ask youself one question, if you had to build a franchise based soley on the physical attributes of a QB—arm strength, size, intelligence—who would you pick? For my money, give me P. Manning.

Case in point, ’07….much celebrated that Ben had the worst passer rating of any winning QB in SB history, but…..
*Ben converted a 3rd & 28, with a truely brilliant play
*Ben ran for the subsequent TD
*Ben ran for a first down on the 3rd down directly preceding the El to Hines TD (on which he thew a key block)
*Staked to an 11 point lead, and needing to run clock, Ben converted a pair of 3rd downs, one by throwing, one by passing

Seems like Ben made a few plays in that SB for a QB that sucked so bad.

Tell ya what ‘07. You pick your QB based on physical attributes…..take P. Manning. I’ll pick mine based on the ability to make plays, and win, when the game is on the line…and I’ll take Ben.

most people believe a player’s legacy has as much to do with the team’s success as it does the individuals. All i’m saying is I think Peyton has had to work a lot harder to win the Ben has. That’s why I pointed out the defensive rankings.

Ben has always played with a top 5 defense, why Peyton has never played with a defense ranked in the top 10.

As far as your crisp memory of SB 40, what about the year before when he singled handedly lost the NE game in the AFCC or the next year when he threw 3 picks en route to a loss to a much lesser Jags team.

IMO, Peyton was forced to make plays in many of his games because the defense constantly put them in a whole. I love Ben, and, despite my defense of P. Manning, I wouldn’t want any other QB to lead the Steelers, but I’ve seen Ben lose games that P. Manning would have won, just like I’ve seen Ben win games that Manning would have lost.

But all told, I base my opinion of players on their body of work, not by wins and losses and SB championships (which are team achievements). If you put Manning on the Steelers the last 5 years, do you think they would be better or worse?

Because swissvale lays out a solid case against Manning. The negatives are there in black and white. But I find two things kind of funny.

Whenever anyone mentions the statistics, they’re stat whoring it up. Here’s a quick reminder… in order for Peyton to get those stats, he has to perform well on the field.

If I just dismissed all of your arguements as being opinion whores, does that mean you’re all wrong too?

Then the arguement he’s a “fantasy quarterback”. I don’t get this one either. Is it the fact the name of the game is “Fantasy Football” that leads people to belive that in some world, it’s not really happening?

In my fantasy league, the players only get points when they do something well. Any body else’s league like that? So, in order for Peyton to be a “Fantasy Quarterback” that in turn means he performs well… does it not?

I think it’s just hard for some people to realize that giving credit to some one on another team doesn’t necessarily mean you like their guy better. Apparently it’s that black and white. You’re either with us or against us. That’s foolish.