A Heck of a Player!
The Colts third-year quarterback Peyton Manning is doing - and saying - all the right things. Despite his protest, talk of greatness is not premature.
By Don Pierson... Pro Football writer for the Chicago Tribune Newspaper - November 2, 2000
Nothing about this business is easy, even when Peyton Manning makes it look that way. He will be the best quarterback to play in Chicago's Soldier Field this year, worth the price of admission. If you still prefer Green Bay's Brett Favre, then Manning is the best young quarterback.
After 40 games, he is being favorably compared to the all-time greats, a comparison Manning believes is unfair to both him and to the quarterbacks like Dan Marino and John Elway who excelled for almost as long as Manning is old.
It is unfair because it cheapen greatness. It reduces it to opinion and projections. It suggests there is something easy about what a quarterback does. It takes greatness for granted. It assumes things that no quarterback ever has the luxury of assuming.
"This word 'great' is thrown around too easily, Peyton Manning said. "I'm off to a good start. I had a good second year and I'm getting to play and I've got good people around me, but, shoot, you're always learning."
When Manning calls an audible and hits receiver Marvin Harrison on a fade pattern in the end zone, when he intentionally under-throws tight end Marcus Pollard for a touchdown, when he intentionally throws behind tight end Ken Dilger in the end zone, when he hits running back Edgerrin James in full-speed stride on a crossing pattern, it involves more than ability and heredity. It is the result of late-night film study and day-long practice.
Manning did all those things in the first half of last week's win over Detroit, staking the Colts to a 23-0 lead. On each of his three touchdown passes, the Lions' defenders had no chance.
"Manning's right on now," Lions cornerback Bryant Westbrook said. "They run a curl route and the ball is right there. He more or less throws perfect passes."
There is no coverage against perfect passes.
"The defensive guy never saw the ball," Dilger said on his TD catch. "It was a perfect pass."
Ted Marchibroda, a former Colts coach, who has broadcast all of Manning's games on radio, is an expert on quarterbacks. He played the position, has seen all the great ones of the last half-century, and coached Sonny Jurgensen, Roman Gabriel, Bert Jones, Jim Kelly and Jeff George.
"The thing that's sticking out to me the more I see of him is his quick release," Marchibroda said. "He has all the other attributes - extremely accurate. He doesn't miss people when they're open. But I don't think anybody has said too much about a quick release. I'm not too sure he's not in that Marino category with the release."
No longer the kid quarterback, Manning benefited from playing every snap and throwing a league-leading 575 passes two years ago as a rookie in a 3-13 season.
Now he's in his prime and the Colts have won 17 of his last 20 Starts. But this isn't cruise control.
"Against the Lions it might have looked easy in the first half, but boy, we worked hard," Manning said. "It was a hard week for me."
Manning was at the Colts' complex until 9 p.m. last Wednesday and Thursday and excepts the same routine this week for the game against the Chicago Bears.
"You bust your butt all week for a three-hour game," Manning said. "When you lose that's why it makes you feel sick, because you feel like you wasted your time. Every week is a different challenge and it's never, never easy." Footballhistorian.com - The Keeper of Football History
