Quick Intro: I'm not going dark just because Peyton Manning suffered another awful loss. I'll do picks on Friday. I may even decide to watch the games. Anyway, just want to throw my thoughts on (digital) paper on Peyton Manning after another loss.
We, as a society of sports fans, are smarter now than we were 50 years ago. We have advanced statistics, we have access to replay, we have a 24-hour sports media cycle; in every way, in a post-moneyball environment, we are smarter about sports. But add in Peyton Manning and playoffs, and I wonder if we aren't dumber.
There is no way, objectively, to look at Peyton Manning's postseason career and conclude anything other than the fact that he and his teams have been extraordinarily unlucky. There is no way, objectively, to look at Peyton Manning's postseason career and conclude anything other than the fact that he has performed on par with most QBs to amass as many starts in the playoffs as Manning's 20. But there is that one objective statistic, that playoff record, that is so loud, so jarring that it overpowers all the data that we should believe. That 9-11 is there, it isn't going away, but shouldn't we be smarter than just focusing on one team-based statistic to judge an individual.
Peyton Manning, subjectively, hasn't played a bad postseason game since the 2006 Divisional Round game in Baltimore (which his team won). That last loss to the Ravens was Manning's worst playoff performance in a loss since the 2004 Divisional loss at New England. In fact, these are Manning's numbers in his last six playoff losses: 157/242 (64.9%) for 1,850 yards with 10 TDs and 5 INTs, for a 93.2 rating. Again, those are his numbers in his last six LOSSES. Not only has he lost those games, but in the last five of them, Peyton Manning and the Colts/Broncos offense has given their team a lead in the 4th quarter, and their defense has blown it each time (in 2008, 2010 and 2012 in the last minute). This doesn't happen to normal QBs. It hasn't happened to any other QB, but it happened to Peyton Manning, and he is wrongly criticized for it.
Judging an individual by a team's win-loss record (especially in a single-elimination playoff) is just absurd, even if QB is more important than most positions. The only other two positions in all of team sports where W-L record matters is really counted is a SP in baseball and a Goalie in Hockey, yet both of those two have a greater impact on any game than a QB (even then, the W-L record of a pitcher has largely been discredited by smart mathematical analysis). Looking at a QB through a thin prism of how his team performs in the playoffs is not smart. What is even dumber is only judging certain ones to that standard. No one considers Mark Sanchez to be anything other than a bad QB, despite his 4-2 playoff record. Jake Delhomme has a 5-3 playoff record. You know who else does? Aaron Rodgers. Only an idiot would claim Delhomme is anywhere close to the QB Rodgers is, and no one does, because for Rodgers (or Delhomme/Flacco/Sanchez/Brees) playoff record doesn't matter.
Aaron Rodgers is an interesting example because three hours after Justin Tucker kicked the Broncos out of the playoffs, the 49ers beat Green Bay. Aaron Rodgers fell to 1-3 in the playoffs outside of his one Super Bowl season (in comparison, Manning is 5-11 outside his, which is a better percentage). He lost by 14 points in the playoffs a year after losing as a 15-1 #1 seed at home by 17. In comparison, Peyton Manning's last six playoff losses have been by a combined 31 points. Rodgers lost a home playoff game just a year ago by 17. Manning has lost five career home playoff game by a combined 14. Has anyone criticized Rodgers' for his subpar performance in the playoffs these last two years? No, and they shouldn't because judging Rodgers by two playoff performance is stupid, considering his brilliance over the last 32 regular season games. But that isn't why Rodgers gets a pass.
Rodgers gets a pass because he won a Super Bowl early in his career. Same reason Brady gets passes for bad performances in recent playoff losses. If you reverse Tom Brady's playoff career (so his first trip to the playoffs is a loss to teh Giants in the Super Bowl, and his most recent is a win in the Super Bowl over the Rams), he, until winning his first Super Bowl in Year 1, becomes the object of media scorn. If people could look past Brady's three Super Bowl wins on teams that rarely relied on Brady and the passing game, he in recent years has been an average playoff QB. However, he is far, far better as a QB in 2005-2012 than he was in 2001-2004.
In the end, I don't think Peyton Manning will ever silence his doubters, mainly because the doubts are unsubstantiated and muffled by blinders. It used to be that Peyton Manning couldn't beat Florida, despite his team never being as good. Then it became 'Peyton Manning hasn't won a playoff game' until he killed the Broncos and Chiefs back-to-back. Then it became 'Peyton Manning is a choker who can't beat New England' and then he beat New England in the playoffs in epic fashion. Then it became 'Peyton Manning can't win the Super Bowl' until he did. Finally, it is now 'Peyton Manning can't win another Super Bowl and that Super Bowl win was over Rex Grossman'. It is ridiculous how the fences have been moved back for Peyton time and time again. No one is given such a standard to live up to, and it really isn't fair.
For the first time after Peyton Manning's team lost a playoff game, I wasn't really mad. I was just sad, depressed that because Rahim Moore forgot what his position was called, that Peyton Manning's legacy gets ruined. I was depressed that Manning threw what admittedly was a terrible interception in OT, because it was an opportunity for the haters to finally have tangible evidence to support their here-to-fore absurd conclusion. I was depressed that the ridiculous bad luck and strange occurances that plagued the Manning era in Indianapolis seems to have followed Peyton to Denver. I was just sad for him, that he would have to endure another season of hate, another offseason of failed promise, and another offseason of people questioning him. As a sports nation, we are smarter, but in so many ways we aren't, and many of those ways manifest themselves when discussing Peyton Manning./
We, as a society of sports fans, are smarter now than we were 50 years ago. We have advanced statistics, we have access to replay, we have a 24-hour sports media cycle; in every way, in a post-moneyball environment, we are smarter about sports. But add in Peyton Manning and playoffs, and I wonder if we aren't dumber.
There is no way, objectively, to look at Peyton Manning's postseason career and conclude anything other than the fact that he and his teams have been extraordinarily unlucky. There is no way, objectively, to look at Peyton Manning's postseason career and conclude anything other than the fact that he has performed on par with most QBs to amass as many starts in the playoffs as Manning's 20. But there is that one objective statistic, that playoff record, that is so loud, so jarring that it overpowers all the data that we should believe. That 9-11 is there, it isn't going away, but shouldn't we be smarter than just focusing on one team-based statistic to judge an individual.
Peyton Manning, subjectively, hasn't played a bad postseason game since the 2006 Divisional Round game in Baltimore (which his team won). That last loss to the Ravens was Manning's worst playoff performance in a loss since the 2004 Divisional loss at New England. In fact, these are Manning's numbers in his last six playoff losses: 157/242 (64.9%) for 1,850 yards with 10 TDs and 5 INTs, for a 93.2 rating. Again, those are his numbers in his last six LOSSES. Not only has he lost those games, but in the last five of them, Peyton Manning and the Colts/Broncos offense has given their team a lead in the 4th quarter, and their defense has blown it each time (in 2008, 2010 and 2012 in the last minute). This doesn't happen to normal QBs. It hasn't happened to any other QB, but it happened to Peyton Manning, and he is wrongly criticized for it.
Judging an individual by a team's win-loss record (especially in a single-elimination playoff) is just absurd, even if QB is more important than most positions. The only other two positions in all of team sports where W-L record matters is really counted is a SP in baseball and a Goalie in Hockey, yet both of those two have a greater impact on any game than a QB (even then, the W-L record of a pitcher has largely been discredited by smart mathematical analysis). Looking at a QB through a thin prism of how his team performs in the playoffs is not smart. What is even dumber is only judging certain ones to that standard. No one considers Mark Sanchez to be anything other than a bad QB, despite his 4-2 playoff record. Jake Delhomme has a 5-3 playoff record. You know who else does? Aaron Rodgers. Only an idiot would claim Delhomme is anywhere close to the QB Rodgers is, and no one does, because for Rodgers (or Delhomme/Flacco/Sanchez/Brees) playoff record doesn't matter.
Aaron Rodgers is an interesting example because three hours after Justin Tucker kicked the Broncos out of the playoffs, the 49ers beat Green Bay. Aaron Rodgers fell to 1-3 in the playoffs outside of his one Super Bowl season (in comparison, Manning is 5-11 outside his, which is a better percentage). He lost by 14 points in the playoffs a year after losing as a 15-1 #1 seed at home by 17. In comparison, Peyton Manning's last six playoff losses have been by a combined 31 points. Rodgers lost a home playoff game just a year ago by 17. Manning has lost five career home playoff game by a combined 14. Has anyone criticized Rodgers' for his subpar performance in the playoffs these last two years? No, and they shouldn't because judging Rodgers by two playoff performance is stupid, considering his brilliance over the last 32 regular season games. But that isn't why Rodgers gets a pass.
Rodgers gets a pass because he won a Super Bowl early in his career. Same reason Brady gets passes for bad performances in recent playoff losses. If you reverse Tom Brady's playoff career (so his first trip to the playoffs is a loss to teh Giants in the Super Bowl, and his most recent is a win in the Super Bowl over the Rams), he, until winning his first Super Bowl in Year 1, becomes the object of media scorn. If people could look past Brady's three Super Bowl wins on teams that rarely relied on Brady and the passing game, he in recent years has been an average playoff QB. However, he is far, far better as a QB in 2005-2012 than he was in 2001-2004.
In the end, I don't think Peyton Manning will ever silence his doubters, mainly because the doubts are unsubstantiated and muffled by blinders. It used to be that Peyton Manning couldn't beat Florida, despite his team never being as good. Then it became 'Peyton Manning hasn't won a playoff game' until he killed the Broncos and Chiefs back-to-back. Then it became 'Peyton Manning is a choker who can't beat New England' and then he beat New England in the playoffs in epic fashion. Then it became 'Peyton Manning can't win the Super Bowl' until he did. Finally, it is now 'Peyton Manning can't win another Super Bowl and that Super Bowl win was over Rex Grossman'. It is ridiculous how the fences have been moved back for Peyton time and time again. No one is given such a standard to live up to, and it really isn't fair.
For the first time after Peyton Manning's team lost a playoff game, I wasn't really mad. I was just sad, depressed that because Rahim Moore forgot what his position was called, that Peyton Manning's legacy gets ruined. I was depressed that Manning threw what admittedly was a terrible interception in OT, because it was an opportunity for the haters to finally have tangible evidence to support their here-to-fore absurd conclusion. I was depressed that the ridiculous bad luck and strange occurances that plagued the Manning era in Indianapolis seems to have followed Peyton to Denver. I was just sad for him, that he would have to endure another season of hate, another offseason of failed promise, and another offseason of people questioning him. As a sports nation, we are smarter, but in so many ways we aren't, and many of those ways manifest themselves when discussing Peyton Manning./
