Retiring On Some Note

I'm not much of a Peyton Manning fan, but I have to give him some credit. By retiring right after his second Super Bowl title, Manning goes out having answered the top criticism of his career- his big losses. Even with his Super Bowl 50 win, he still was about a .500 post-season QB, despite constantly playing in the post-season, for good teams. Even with that stat looming over him, the reality is still the reality- he got that second ring.

It's hard to blame Manning for calling it a day after 2015. Every superstar wants to go out as the best, and he gets to go out a champion. Even so, something feels wrong about this. Whether it was the HGH, the story about the trainer at Tennessee, not defending his title, the feeling he hung on a year or two too long, the memories of past losses, or what, I felt like Manning had a little left to show. The stat sheet says otherwise, but I just feel like he is leaving football with some question marks. I also feel like his press conference belongs in Indianapolis, not Denver- but that's just my view.

Is Peyton Manning the best quarterback of his day, or of all-time? You can have a raging argument about these questions. I tend to go with Tom Brady in this era, as I see the point of football being championships. I tend to go with Joe Montana as the best of all-time, but Manning has his argument for both. His stats sheet beats both, and his two championships at least soften the blow of many big game losses. I still personally put him behind both Montana and Brady. I put him in the top five of all-time now though, which is better than the fate I had in mind for him before Super Bowl 50.

Peyton Manning

I don't make much secret of my dislike for Peyton Manning. It actually goes back to his college days, when I strongly disliked Florida, and wanted Manning to beat them every year for his highly ranked Tennessee teams. His Volunteers lost, basically. Then he was drafted to Indianapolis, and he quickly had a rivalry with the New England Patriots, who I hated at the time. In those days, Manning was almost an automatic loss against Brady and Belichick.  Peyton's ability to choke in big games that I wanted him to win made me begin to not like him. Over the years, I grew to have other reasons for disliking him, but it mostly came down to his inability to win the games I wanted him to win. So I started cheering for Pittsburgh, for New Orleans, for whoever faced him in big games. I even became a Brady fan. Manning went from Indianapolis to Denver, and at that point, I became a real hater (I'm not a John Elway fan).

Despite all of that, I have to hand it to Peyton Manning that he had a pretty amazing career. His stats are second to almost none. He's got the NFL record for games won, and he has two Super Bowl rings. He has passing records, and generally has few statistical peers. He is an iconic star in the history of the game, a guy who did a lot of winning, and a lot of succeeding.

I think this Wikipedia passage on him sums up a lot of what I think about him:

He has been named the NFL's most valuable player a record five times (four times as a Colt, once as a Bronco), has been named to the Pro Bowl 14 times (a record) and named first team All-Pro seven times. As a starter up to the end of 2015 season he had a career winning percentage of .702 in the regular season. He holds the NFL record for career touchdown passes and career passing yards, achieved in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

The most commonly cited criticism of Peyton Manning's professional career is that despite great success and gaudy statistics during the regular season, he has not enjoyed similar levels of success in the post-season. Although Manning has won two Super Bowls (Super Bowl XLI, in which he was named MVP, and Super Bowl 50) and played in two others, his career post-season record as a starter is a more modest 13-13. By comparison his regular season record through the 2015 season was 186-79.

I think that about sums it up for me.

CAMVP! I'm Pulling for the Panthers in Super Bowl 50

I was a little sad yesterday to watch Tom Brady lose. I'd like to see Touchdown Tommy get that record of five rings, and I'd like to always see Peyton Manning lose. For me, it goes back to Peyton's Tennessee days, when he couldn't get over the hump against Florida, and it annoyed me. Then as a pro, I wanted him to beat a younger Brady-Belichick duo, but he always lost. I branded him a loser. Sure, he finally got one in Indianapolis, but he's mostly been a choker his entire career. At this point I just want him to finish that way. I'm tired of him, his Nationwide commercials, and his football career. More so than Manning though, I have no love for John Elway at all. What he did to Baltimore at the outset of his career was awful.

With all of that out of the way, I'm a Cam Newton fan for the next two weeks. With all apologies to Larry Fitzgerald, who I hoped would get a ring, Cam is the man right now. First off, how can you not like this guy? Oh sure, he dances around when things go well, but that's because he's out there having fun. He's handing footballs to kids, dancing with cancer patients, and having a good time. Cam Newton is exactly the image that football needs. Has he made past mistakes? Sure has. Let's not hold youthful transgressions against the guy though.

On the field, he's on the cusp of something amazing. Cam Newton won this year's MVP award. He won the Heisman in college. He won the SEC championship in college. He won the NFC championship as a pro. He won a BCS National Championship. If he wins the Super Bowl, he will have basically achieved everything a quarterback can achieve in major football. This may seem amazing, but Cam could be Canton bound just by winning one more game, because he will have basically done everything a football player can do.

Do I want to root for a perennial underachiever like Peyton Manning to salvage his legacy in big games, or for a young, up-and-coming superstar to make history and join the greats in the history of the game? For me it's easy. Give me the dab, the handing footballs to kids, and the NFL MVP Cam Newton over Peyton Manning any and every time. Keep pounding, Carolina!