The regular season is over. Remember last year, when he was the co-MVP of the NFL and threw up four picks against the Patsies in the AFC Championship? Yeah, that’s what I thought you said. In the playoffs he has been a choke artist.
Last year’s playoffs are also over, just so you know. But let’s think back to them just for your sake…
Yeah, I remember watching the Steelers in that AFC Championship game, too.
Oh, wait. They were watching other teams playing. That must explain it, then.
I also remember that Manning didn’t choke getting to the AFC Championship game. Seem to remember, furthermore, him hosing the Broncos and doing pretty decently against the Chiefs. So that means he had one bad game, and based on the “rule enforcement” differences this year my guess is things may turn out differently.
I just logged onto CBS SportsLine.com and was greeted by the one millionth appearance of a “Peyton’s Place” headline.
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Yes, Mr. Headline Writer, you are VERY clever. Who but you could have come up with such a witty pun? Oh, right … EVERY OTHER HEADLINE WRITER IN AMERICA.
(This is nothing against Manning himself, of course. He can’t control the numbing repetitiveness of these headlines. Being a Patriots fan, though, I will be rooting against him!)
We weren’t talking about the Steelers. We were talking about how your boy has been the best quarterback on the planet for the past 4-5 years, has one of the best running backs in the league, has one of the best recievers in the league, consistently has put up 30+ points in a game in his career, and yet somehow cannot make the big game. Maybe this year will be different, but until now he has been nothing but the most colossal choke artist in recent NFL playoff history. I don’t think you’re going to dispute that, but you never can tell.
Hey, you wanna knock the Colts, take a look at your own team’s past.
For starters, offense isn’t everything. See Minnesota going 15-1 in the regular season and losing in the NFC championship game. See St. Louis scoring 28 points in the fourth quarter in the first round fo the playoffs a few years ago, and losing because they’d already given up that many. See the Colts giving up 45 points in week 8 to the Chiefs. See the Ravens winning a Super Bowl despite having an average offense.
For another, last year he pretty well put that “choke artist” shit to bed in the eyes of most analysts. You’ll note that most of the talk regarding the Colts and the playoffs this year was just how much that offense could compensate for what has been heralded as a weak defense. Not “Oh, remember what happened to the Colts in the playoffs two years ago?” Not “Remember how Lamar Smith ran over them a few years ago?”
But I thought previous years and seasons and performances didn’t matter, as per your response to me citing 49 TD passes.
So you’re placing every big game loss the Colts have had on one man, yes? And Manning’s failures over the past few years are bigger than, say, the Eagles losing 3 consecutive NFC championship games? I’ll certainly grant that Manning has come up short in the past, but to say he’s the single biggest choke artist in recent NFL playoff history is a bit of a stretch.
Frankly I think you’re simplifying things something fierce.
I will be disappointed if the Colts don’t win the Super Bowl, but I don’t think they’re even the AFC team with the best shot, as per my pick in the MPSIMS Super Bowl thread (though I don’t think it’ll be as lopsided as you). I won’t be surprised if they don’t run the table, but I don’t expect that to legitimately be on the shoulders of Peyton Manning.
If you want to talk about the Steelers there’s a thread just for that express purpose. Let’s keep our eyes on the ball here. This is about the Colts.
Sure, which is why I think that the Colts can’t get out of the AFC. When they depend on overwhelming teams with points because they have no defense and they run into a team that CAN play defense they lose.
Oh, really? He wasn’t even off the field when Bonnie Bernstein was asking him about how he felt about playing the Patriots after he threw 4 picks last year. Put it to bed? Hardly. They’re beating him to death with it.
I didn’t say anything about previous years. I said the regular season was over. What he did then no longer matters, especially if he chokes like he did last year.
OK, let me revise that… he’s the biggest choke artist in the AFC.
Why not? Blaming their defense for sucking is a cliche. We all know they suck. He is the field general of the offense (literally, since he calls his own plays), so he is for better or worse solely responsible for the fates of the Colts. Them’s the breaks, pal, but that’s how it is.
You try to come with smack on the Colts, I respond in kind.
I agree inasmuch as if the Colts don’t win the Super Bowl it’ll be because of their defense. How that’s an indictment of Peyton Manning is beyond me.
Beating to death=one mention in the past few weeks. Good to know.
You make no sense, Airman. The regular season is over. So are last year’s playoffs. So is the 1991 preseason. Either the past (his so-called choke artistry, his 49 TD passes this regular season, the game against the Broncos earlier today) is relevant or it isn’t. Whence the sense that you can pick and choose which aspects of Manning’s past are relevant?
Oh, since you say so, right? Blaming their defense for not being as good as the defense of a lot of other teams isn’t a cliche, it’s true. Manning led an offense in week 8 that produced 35 points, good enough to beat 22 teams that week. It wasn’t enough to overcome a 45-point performance by KC. That’s his fault? If Manning leads the offense to 56 points but the defense somehow allows 57, that’s his fault? How about blaming the defense for not being good enough?
It wasn’t an indictment of Peyton Manning, nor did I intend it to be. Quit playing stupid, because I know you’re not.
Right, that’s the only time anyone has talked about it. Again, quit playing stupid.
His past playoff performance is what is relevant. That’s why they keep separate statistics for the playoffs. The regular season doesn’t matter. At all. And his playoff history indicates choke artistry.
Thew Colts defense has been awful for years, it’s no secret. He knows it too. Therefore it falls on him every single game to outshoot the other team. If he doesn’t because they score 55 points, that’s one thing and he can hardly be blamed for it. If he can’t beat a team that only puts up 24 points because he throws 4 picks it becomes his fault.
Again, them’s the breaks.
I am not playing stupid, Airman, only responding to arguments you make that seem to have more basis in your head than in reality;)
I have been following along, at least casually, this entire season and haven’t heard much of anything about Manning throwing 4 picks in last year’s AFC Championship game. Some? Yes, especially at the beginning of the season, since week 1 featured a rematch of that game. I expect I’ll get to hear more about it in the coming days. However, most of the talk about Manning this season has been about his (then) current season. Most of the recent playoff talk about the Colts has been either about how they were going to punish Denver’s defense or looking ahead to a then-uncertain matchup between the Patriots and the Colts. I’ve seen more replays of Marvin Harrison’s unusual TD run from last year’s first-round game than I have of Manning’s poor performance, but that might just be me.
Most of the uncertainty surrounding the Colts playoff hopes has focused on two things, ISTM: weather and defense. Both legitimate points against the Colts. I remain hopeful but will not be surprised if a team designed for dome play (or, at least, that’s what the folks at ESPN have been saying) doesn’t fare quite as well playing in a New England or Pittsburgh winter setting.
I disagree, but then you knew that:) I see his playoff history as having two distinct parts: before last year’s game vs. Denver; and that game and the following three (I free admit that this seems more than a bit bit rose-tinted, but hear me out:)). Including the Denver game last postseason he is 3-1 in the playoffs since last year. You can feel free to think he’s a choke artist based in part on what he did back in 1999, but going by 1999 the Rams have the most potent offense in football.
Do me a favor: figure out your stance. Here is another statement you should recognize:
Decide which one it is, man. Was his play lackluster in last year’s AFC Championship game? You bet. I wouldn’t call playing badly in his first trip to the AFC Championship game a history of choking, though. I’d call it one game. I think he’s shown in the past four playoff games that judging him on games played in 1999 and 2001 aren’t what we should expect from him.
And if next Sunday he throws 4 TD passes, runs for another and doesn’t get picked, and the Colts lose 36-35, it’ll take some compelling argument to convince me that it’s squarely on his shoulders. (This of course ignores possibilities such as that Manning sees Reggie Wayne open in the end zone, freezes and makes an impossible horrible pass that ends up in the stands.)
If he plays badly and the Colts lose, damn straight it can legitimately be seen as his fault. If he plays well and they lose I don’t think that applies. I don’t know what we’ll see come next weekend, but I wouldn’t draw much of my conclusion from the 2001 playoffs.
This is why I don’t bet on football.
Howyadoin,
*Well, the Naptown Ponies spit the bit,
Do daa, do daa,
Payton Manning played like shit,
All the do daa day,
Marvin, Stokley, Wayne,
They ain’t got no game,
Bet your money on those bobtailed nags?
The bookie took it away*
-Rav
Pittsburgh better worry a little bit. If Belichick was able to throttle Peyton Manning like that, they need to be concerned about how their rookie QB is going to fare.
I just realized that I don’t offer enough mindless trash talk in these football threads, so here goes:
Peyton has only ever beaten cannon fodder in the playoffs. The no-defense Chiefs once and the scrotty Broncos twice? Hell, the Seahawks could have done that.
Eli will get to the Superbowl before Peyton. BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
The Colts’ loss reminded me of old times. Specifically, when Dungy was the coach of the Bucs … Just another promising playoff berth, followed by just another utter, total flameout.
Dungy is a proven loser and any team with him as a coach must resign themselves to being just another also-ran (albeit an also-ran with a minority coach who cares about family values; so they’ll have that going for them, which is nice, but not as nice as getting to the Super Bowl).