Saturday, October 19, 2013

Sunday Morning QB: It’s Pey back time for Manning


It ended ugly for Joe Montana in San Francisco when he lost a power struggle with Steve Young and even uglier for Brett Favre in Green Bay when the Packers wanted to move on with Aaron Rodgers.


So why should it be any different for Peyton Manning with the Colts — who chose Andrew Luck over an aging and, at the time, injured veteran — even if it took a year for hard feelings to surface on the eve of his return Sunday with the Broncos with some ill-conceived comments by Colts owner Jimmy Irsay.


Manning meant more to the Colts than perhaps any player has meant to his team in NFL history. His success and icon status in the city might be the reasons the Colts didn’t move to Los Angeles and they surely had a lot to do with the magnificent new stadium with the retractable roof that was built in Indy — second-nicest to Jerry’s Palace in Dallas — and it subsequently being awarded Super Bowl XLVI that was won by Manning’s little brother.


There is no way to minimize the impact of Manning’s 14 years on the Colts even if he produced just one Super Bowl victory in two tries despite eight seasons of at least 12 wins. Manning didn’t leave kicking and screaming like Montana and Favre, but it had to hurt that he was essentially fired by Irsay, who didn’t pick up Manning’s $ 28 million option for 2012 after he missed all of the 2011 season and was coming off serious neck surgery.


If Irsay knew after a rough start in 2012 that Manning would be the best quarterback in the NFL the second half of last season and then for the first half of this season, he might have stuck with him. Certainly there were no guarantees. It was fortuitous for the Colts that without Manning they went 2-14 leading into a draft where Luck, considered the best quarterback prospect since Manning in 1998, was sitting there. Irsay decided to make the break.


Peyton Manning, 37, wows the NFL with 22 touchdowns and only two INTs through six weeks.


Doug Pensinger/Getty Images


Peyton Manning, 37, wows the NFL with 22 touchdowns and only two INTs through six weeks.


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If Manning was younger and the injury was not as serious, Irsay could have traded Luck and acquired at least the three first-round picks and one second-round pick that the Rams received from the Redskins for the No. 2 overall spot so Washington could select Robert Griffin III.


Instead, Irsay fired Manning after firing GM Bill Polian and coach Jim Caldwell. Polian told me recently that if he remained, his plan was to pick up Manning’s option (of course, Irsay would have had to sign off on that kind of financial commitment) and draft Luck. He felt with the rookie wage scale limiting Luck to a five-year $ 22.1 million deal that it was feasible to carry both QBs and then let Luck learn behind Manning. Polian said he had already told Manning it was time to look for his successor. Polian wanted both for 2012.


Even so, you can’t blame Irsay for wanting to start over and spread around Manning’s money and build the team up around Luck.


It has worked out well for Manning, who has an excellent chance to be playing in the New York Super Bowl on Feb. 2. And it has worked out well for the Colts, a young team on the rise that is set for the next 10 years at quarterback.


Colts owner Jim Irsay was ready to wave goodbye to Peyton Manning after the 2011 season.


Andy Lyons/Getty Images


Colts owner Jim Irsay was ready to wave goodbye to Peyton Manning after the 2011 season.


“We’ve changed our model a little bit, because we wanted more than one of these,” Irsay told USA Today while displaying his Super Bowl ring. “(Tom) Brady never had consistent numbers, but he has three of these. Pittsburgh had two, the Giants had two, Baltimore had two and we had one. That leaves you frustrated. You make the playoffs 11 times, and you’re out in the first round seven out of 11 times. You have to love the Star Wars numbers from Peyton and Marvin (Harrison) and Reggie (Wayne). Mostly, you love this.”


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Again, he was talking about the ring.


It was interpreted as a direct slap at Manning, even if Irsay later said that was not the intent. He is emotional and knows how much Manning meant to his franchise. Manning would never say it, but Irsay’s comments had to tick him off.


Manning was asked to talk about his relationship with Irsay these days.


The Colts draft Andrew Luck to replace the legendary Peyton Manning in Indianapolis.


Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP


The Colts draft Andrew Luck to replace the legendary Peyton Manning in Indianapolis.


“I can’t and I won’t,” he said.


Montana beat the 49ers in his second year with the Chiefs, although it was in Kansas City. Favre beat the Packers twice in his first year with the Vikings after a one-year stop over with the Jets.


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Manning did speak about some of the things he misses about Indianapolis and then said, “But you have to have peace with circumstances that come your way that aren’t your choice. You better have a good attitude about it and find some peace and contentment in it. But I’ve worked hard to create some of it and I’ve had a lot of people help me with it.”


Manning loved the fans in Indy and he loved the city. Irsay plans to honor him with a nice tribute Sunday, and then Manning will go out and beat his former team just as Montana did in 1994 and Favre did twice in 2009.


Indianapolis can thank Peyton Manning for Lucas Oil Stadium.


Joe Robbins/Getty Images


Indianapolis can thank Peyton Manning for Lucas Oil Stadium.


STILL TIME FOR ELI IN ’13


The Vikings coming to MetLife on Monday night brings to mind the last time the Giants played them at home. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2007. Despite all that has happened this season, it was the lowest point of Eli Manning’s career. He threw four interceptions, and three of them were returned for touchdowns in a 41-17 loss. If he wasn’t a bust back then, there were at least major questions whether Manning was ever going to be able to lead the Giants to a championship. Of course, a little more than two months later he beat the undefeated Patriots with the greatest two-minute drive in Super Bowl history. Manning is now in a deep slump. He’s had a bad season — his 15 INTs are as many as last year and he’s on pace for 40. George Blanda has the record with 42 for Houston Oilers in the AFL in 1962. Although the NFL has incorporated all the AFL records, the most thrown in an actual NFL season were by Vinny Testaverde, who had 35 in 1988. Manning has reached another low point in his career despite his two Super Bowl MVPs. It’s laughable when anybody suggests he should be benched — for Curtis Painter or Ryan Nassib, come on — or the Giants should get another quarterback in 2014. Manning is mentally tough, and I think he’s going to fight his way through this bad stretch and re-establish himself before the end of the season as a top 10 QB.


MORE TO BE WILD ABOUT


The NFL has no plans to add a second Thursday night game, which is a good thing. No team plays more than one Thursday night game per season. One quick turnaround is enough, especially with the league putting such a premium on player safety. . . . The most lucrative place for the NFL to create new revenue streams is by placing a team in London, which I think will happen by 2020. . . . This is the 19th consecutive season there is no team in Los Angeles. In 1995, the Raiders moved back to Oakland and the Rams moved to St. Louis. Amazingly, the league has survived without Los Angeles. There’s been no discernible outcry from fans in L.A. about getting a team back, so you wonder if they are just happy getting the best games on television. . . . The NFL is considering reducing the preseason from four to three games and adding a seventh playoff team in each conference. In that format, only the No. 1 seed would get a bye and there would be three first-round games in each conference. Even though there’s something special about the NFL playoffs being such an exclusive club with just 12 out of 32 (37.5%) teams getting in, adding the extra playoff game is realistic. Increasing the regular season from 16 to 18 games in return for cutting out two preseason games has met with great resistance from the players and won’t be happening any time soon. If the tradeoff of adding two more playoff teams is getting rid of one week of awful preseason games, then it will be good for the fans. The earliest it will happen is the 2015 season. Bringing the total to 14 playoff teams means that 43.75% of the teams will make it the postseason compared to 33% in baseball (10 out of 30) and 53.3% in the NBA and NHL (16 out of 30). One more wild-card team in each conference will create more opportunities for 9-7 teams to make the playoffs. And 9-7 teams can win it all like the NFC East champion Giants did in 2011.


QB CAROUSEL


It’s only Week 7, but on Monday night the Vikings will go with Josh Freeman, their third starting quarterback of the season following Christian Ponder and Matt Cassel. Here are the teams that will have already started at least two QBs through this weekend’s games: Eagles, Vikings, Bucs, Bills, Browns, Texans, Titans, Jaguars and Raiders. That’s 28% of the league. And it’s why in many cases a quality backup quarterback is considered one of the five most important players on any team. . . . The trading deadline is at 4 p.m. one week from Tuesday. If the Giants don’t beat the Vikings and Eagles in their next two games, it makes sense to trade Hakeem Nicks, who will be a free agent after the season. He’s not having a good year, and it’s hard to imagine them signing him for big money after paying Victor Cruz. If the 49ers or Patriots offer a third-round pick, that would be a good deal for the Giants. If the Giants lose Nicks as a free agent, they potentially could get a third-round compensatory pick depending on how active they are in free agency, but in any event, the pick would not be until 2015. Another thought: The Giants could trade Nicks in the next 10 days and then re-sign him after the season if the price is right.





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