Will the Real Peyton Manning Please Show Up?
Football’s greatest rivalry in the past 6 1/2 years is back, and better than last year in this NBC’s Sunday night Game of the Week. The New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts will meet for the 12th time with starting quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning at their respective helms, and there have been some instant-classics along the way.
In Brady and Manning’s head-to-head matchups, Tom’s Patriots hold a 7-3 record, including 2-1 in the post season. Although, in the “What have you done for me lately?” department, Indianapolis has won 3 out of the last 4, and 4 out of the last 5 if you throw in the game in the 2008 regular season which Brady missed with a knee injury. These games have been among the NFL’s highest-rated televised games in that span, and have resulted in more pulse-pounding finishes than the last 3 seconds of flight of a pass thrown by Jake Delhomme. For Example:
2003: In a game that was sure to help decide home-field advantage in the upcoming playoffs, New England completed one of, if not the greatest, goal line stand in the history of the game to preserve a 4-point lead and a 38-34 Patriot victory.
2003: The Pats and Colts would meet again that season en route to New England’s second championship in 3 seasons. During a 24-14 New England win, Peyton Manning started earning himself the reputation of a playoff choker, hurling 4 interceptions in snowy Gillette Stadium, 3 to Ty Law. Also in this game: Colts’ perennial pro-bowler Marvin Harrison caught only two more Peyton Manning passes than Patriots safety Rodney Harrison.
2004: Down 3 points with just over a minute left in the game, the Colts drive deep into New England territory. A pass to Harrison brings Indianapolis to the Patriot 17-yard line. Then, on 3rd down, taking one more shot to win the game before settling on the chip-shot, game-tying field goal, Peyton Manning is sacked by Patriot OLB Willie McGinnest for a 12-yard loss. Colts’ placekicker Mike Vanderjagt is seen rubbing his thumb and two fingers together toward the New England sideline to signal the kick was “Money in the Bank” before shanking the 48-yard field goal wide-right.
2004: After Peyton Manning’s record-breaking 49-touchdown, record-breaking season, New England and their decimated secondary is given little to no chance from every paid prognosticator before holding the unstoppable Colts offense to 3 points in a 20-3 playoff victory.
2006: Despite New England leading 21-6 at halftime and 28-21 to begin the 4th quarter, Peyton Manning rallies his team as they surge to a 38-34 playoff victory on their way to their first Super Bowl win with Manning behind the wheel.
And the latest memorable contest: New England, owning a 25 1/2 average point differential in 8 games prior to their meeting the, Colts hand the Patriots their first real challenge of the season, forcing the Patriots to come from behind to achieve their 24-20 victory. Besides reminding football fans of their team’s heretofore-forgotten mortality, this game set off a chain reaction that made the word “blueprint” and phrase “chink in the armor” completely impossible to listen to, even to this day. Manning has always had better offensive weapons, so Brady’s obviously the better quarterback if he can lead his team to championships. On the other hand, Brady’s always had a better defense to back him up, and therefore more room to make a mistake. Because Peyton Manning has had to make due without the benefit of a great defense getting him the ball back right away, he’s clearly better. And round and round, and back and forth we go. The fact is these two quarterbacks are the best in the game, and every game they play against each other should be instantly saved in the ESPN Classic library.
This Sunday, New England brings one of its more well-balanced teams in the history of the Brady/Manning debates into Lucas Oil Stadium to face Peyton Manning and one of his best statistical seasons to date. One would think the Patriots, ranked 2nd in total offense, 7th in total defense (2nd in scoring defense despite playing great offensive teams such as Atlanta, Baltimore, and Denver), and starting players named Brady, Moss, and Welker on the same team would hold a significant advantage over almost any team out there. And, well… that person would be right.
It’s true, the one team New England does trail in scoring defense is Indianapolis, but playing teams like Jacksonville, Tennessee, St. Louis, Seattle and San Francisco tends to help keep your scored-against averages down a bit. The fact is, from the torrential pace Manning was on to start the season, the averages from the first six games and from the last two are staggering: 115.3/84.8 QB Rating, 2.5TD/0.5 TD/gm, 73%/66% completion percentage. San Francisco and Houston are not slouch teams, but neither one is especially good in pass rush or pass defense. If #18 and the Colts don’t play a heck of a lot better than this on Sunday night, they’ll wake up Monday morning with a Belichick-sized hangover and hazy memories of guys named Welker, Mayo, Meriweather and some guy named “Chung” who was mostly Jamaican disrupting everything they had planned to do against their opponent.
Matchups to Watch: The most dangerous Colts’ player on the field when the game is close is Dallas Clark. Having Clark on your fantasy team right now is as much of an advantage as it was when Marques Colston was mistakenly listed with Tight End eligibility in his rookie season. His 60 receptions are 1st among tight ends and 15 more than second-place Vernon Davis. His 703 receiving yards are also 1st, and 113 more than second-place Antonio Gates, and 184 more than third-place Owen Daniels. Clark is not so physically gifted he cannot be covered by Jerod Mayo, but it is doubtful Bill Belichick would want to commit his best defensive player to the cause of limiting the tight end position. More than likely, the Patriots will have an extra defensive back covering Dallas Clark, since although he is a tremendous pass catcher, his run-blocking is not exactly something to gameplan against. (Editor’s note: It is looking like Brandon McGowan will be assigned to Clark.)
The other crucial matchup on Sunday will be between Colts’ defensive end Robert Mathis and Patriots rookie replacement left tackle Sebastian Vollmer. Last week against Miami, Vollmer was able to hold Joey Porter to the most pronounced lack of statistics in the loudmouth linebacker’s career. If he’s not able to at least mimick his performance against the strength and speed of Mathis, it could be a long day of blind-sided attacks for Tom Brady.
Prediction: Despite injuries to two key figures on the Patriot lines with Jarvis Green and Matt Light officially out on Sunday, no injury to any team in the NFL seems to impact said team more than Bob Sanders to the Colts. Without his incredible speed and instincts in the running game, Indianapolis has boatloads of trouble containing the run against even the most tepid running games. With L-Mo running like he may have even been worth a 1st-round pick, the Patriots may be able to control the clock, keep Peyton Manning on the sidelines (whether or not he plays or the decoy they’ve dressed in his uniform for weeks 8 & 9), pick apart their secondary and pull out a road victory against the so-far undefeated Colts.
"MA?! MA... YOU THERE?! Nah, I'm not at work Ma, we left early to catch the game... Can you see us on the t.v.? Yes mom, we ARE wearing out Colts helmets of course..."
Stars of the Game:
Tom Brady: 35/42, 312 yards, 2 TD
Laurence Maroney: 24 carries, 115 yards, 4 receptions, 60 yards, 2 TD
Wes Welker: 11 receptions, 97 yards
Peyton Manning: 40/50: 337 yards, 3 TD
Reggie Wayne: 8 receptions, 137 yards, 3 TD
Joseph Addai: 20 carries, 67 yards
New England 31, Indianapolis 27
Staff picks:
- Craig: Pats 28-27 – “Brady throws for 312 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs, L-Mo rushes for 76 yards and a TD, and Brandon McGowan runs an INT back for a TD!”
- Patrick: Pats 30-27 – “Brady throws 3 TDs and an INT & Dallas Clark gets shut down against a Patriots team that took care of Tony Gonzalez and Kellen Winslow.”
- Seano: Pats 17-3… (Don’t listen to him!)
- Mike: Pats 47-44 in OT - ”Its going to be a showdown of Manning vs Brady, rifle vs shotgun. Both defenses are going to get absolutely crushed by the longball!”
- Chas: Pats 30 – 28 - “Gostkowski FG at the buzzer.”
- Jawz (The Traitor): Colts 30-27 – “As much as I’d love to call it for the Pat’s the Colts are having a fantastic season and have always been a thorn in our side. Sorry to be the Debbie Downer.”
4 Responses to “Will the Real Peyton Manning Please Show Up?”
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Should be a great match up; I have Peyton & Favre as my fantasy league QB’s & as of now I plan on starting Peyton. Should keep things interesting, but I always cheer for REAL football (a Pats win) vs. FANTASY.
Your all in for a big surprise i think…..2 good teams, low score….just watch
I know this is an old post but I just wanted to comment now that the Colts lost. Until Peyton wins at least one more Super Bowl there shouldn’t even be an argument about who has a better legacy between him and Brady. Tom wins hands down!
I absolutely agree that this loss really hurt his potential to be put alongside Brady. Realistically, this view is based on the decade in quarterbacks, hopefully Tom Terrific can get himself back to that point again soon. But I don’t see Peyton getting any better, he had the right team and the great season but he was absolutely nullified for the last 3 quarters of this game.