Peyton Manning appreciation thread

[BayRaider]

I’ve been a football fan since 1995, but Peyton Manning in 2003-2006 made me a hardcore football fan. And made QB by far my favorite position. The guy was the definition of a General on the field. Master at watching tape, reading defenses, adjusting and audibles, and finding weaknesses. He was one of the greatest processors of all time, like a super computer, and had great pocket awareness. He also had a rocket arm from 1998-2009 before it dwindled in strength. 
 

And I don’t say “2003-2006” as an insult. Peyton Manning was absolutely amazing his entire career, the model of consistency. The only two bad years he had were his rookie year and final year. It’s just 2003-2006 is four consecutive seasons of some of the greatest QB play I have ever seen. 
 

2012-2013 on Denver he also was absolutely masterful, with an average arm at best. 

Edited February 3, 2021 by BayRaider

[Blackstar12]

2 hours ago, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

I could watch this clip a million times and it'd still be hilarious.

A future HOFer (maybe) and a very good Pierre Garcon to compliment Dallas Clark is not a WR group that is bad by any stretch.

I never said it was bad. Other than Wayne, and Clark it was a young and inexperienced WR group. I think Collie was a rookie and Garçon was a sophomore. With most teams taking away Wayne and Clark they had to step up.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Blackstar12

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

1 hour ago, Blackstar12 said:

I never said it was bad. Other than Wayne, and Clark it was a young and inexperienced WR group. I think Collie was a rookie and Garçon was a sophomore. With most teams taking away Wayne and Clark they had to step up.

Yeah and I mean that's two HUGE weapons to "take away". Most teams don't (or didn't?) have that. And Pierre Garcon obviously showed he was capable of stepping up, as did Austin Collie until he started getting addicted to concussions.

[SkippyX]

There was a MNF game against Tampa where Manning was down 28-7 going into the 4th. (2003)

He throws a pick 6 with 5:09 left to make it 35-14 Bucs and he still comes back and beats them.

Stay for the whacky ending.

 

 

 

[SkippyX]

That was a Tampa team that raised a banner that month after winning the Super Bowl in 2002.

If you just won the Super Bowl you better stay away from Manning.

 

[BayRaider]

10 minutes ago, SkippyX said:

There was a MNF game against Tampa where Manning was down 28-7 going into the 4th. (2003)

He throws a pick 6 with 5:09 left to make it 35-14 Bucs and he still comes back and beats them.

Stay for the whacky ending.

 

 

 

That was one of the moments that made me a huge NFL fan and huge Manning fan.

2003-2009, no lead was safe vs Manning in the Regular Season. 21 points with 5 minutes, you were NOT safe.

He truly is the comeback legend back in the 2000's Era of Football.

Edited February 4, 2021 by BayRaider

[thebestever6]

That comeback against the chargers in 2012 was beautiful he was so cool so calm.

[Apparition]

 

I will still say that his greatest single-game performance was the 2nd half of the 2006 AFCCG. The Pats had him dead to rights in the first half of that one. 21-6 at halftime and he'd thrown a pick-6. Then he came out of the locker room and engineered 3 straight TD drives of 76, 76 and 67 yards. It was gut-wrenching as a Pats fan because we'd just watched the Bears win the NFCCG and knew that a 4th title in 6 years slipped from our grasp. But it was the ballsiest football I've ever watched.

[diamondbull424]

Manning is the best I’ve ever seen play the position, particularly his 2004 season. Had he been running up the score and actively trying to push the record out of reach, it wouldn’t have shocked me if he could’ve reached 60 TDs that year. Given the choice of any QB in history; I might eventually change my answer to Mahomes, but I’m still choosing Manning.

[Billy86]

7 hours ago, SkippyX said:

There was a MNF game against Tampa where Manning was down 28-7 going into the 4th. (2003)

He throws a pick 6 with 5:09 left to make it 35-14 Bucs and he still comes back and beats them.

Stay for the whacky ending.

 

 

 

I remember that one, was only my second year watching the sport and was a nuts finish. Though just a hangup of mine is that Manning didn't single handedly come back and beat them, it took 3 defensive stops and 2 recovered onside kicks to do so - defense, offense, and special teams all earned that comeback together, along with a crucial penalty against Simeon Rice after Vanderjagt missed his first effort at the game winning FG. 

[notthatbluestuff]

2 hours ago, Billy86 said:

I remember that one, was only my second year watching the sport and was a nuts finish. Though just a hangup of mine is that Manning didn't single handedly come back and beat them, it took 3 defensive stops and 2 recovered onside kicks to do so - defense, offense, and special teams all earned that comeback together, along with a crucial penalty against Simeon Rice after Vanderjagt missed his first effort at the game winning FG. 

That's true of any comeback. Show me a QB who single handedly came back to win any game. All comebacks require the defense to start getting stops/turnovers, special teams to make plays etc. 

[Billy86]

5 hours ago, notthatbluestuff said:

That's true of any comeback. Show me a QB who single handedly came back to win any game. All comebacks require the defense to start getting stops/turnovers, special teams to make plays etc. 

Absolutely, it's why the talk of comebacks as a marker of a great QB is often flawed as it is dependent upon the rest of the team also significantly upping their game (and/or the opposition collapsing) as well. 

[Mastercheddaar]

He needs to host SNL again. 

MC

[DirtyDez]

17 hours ago, Starless said:

 

I will still say that his greatest single-game performance was the 2nd half of the 2006 AFCCG. The Pats had him dead to rights in the first half of that one. 21-6 at halftime and he'd thrown a pick-6. Then he came out of the locker room and engineered 3 straight TD drives of 76, 76 and 67 yards. It was gut-wrenching as a Pats fan because we'd just watched the Bears win the NFCCG and knew that a 4th title in 6 years slipped from our grasp. But it was the ballsiest football I've ever watched.

Imagine the Manning takes at halftime of that game if social media were around...  Also, do the Pats still transform the offense if they win it that year?

[Apparition]

16 minutes ago, DirtyDez said:

Imagine the Manning takes at halftime of that game if social media were around...  Also, do the Pats still transform the offense if they win it that year?

This forum was around back then. Might be possible to find people's reactions there and just extrapolate. lol

I think the Pats would've still reworked the offense even if they won it all. Belichick was never content to rest on his laurels even after a title. He got Corey Dillon in '04 because he saw that the team couldn't run the ball in '03.