Peyton Manning is gone… GET OVER IT

This piece could have also been called, “The Team Game, Peyton Didn’t Know.”

Would Peyton Manning have been a part of a team that won a second Super Bowl… if not for the Wade Phillips defense? Same goes for his boss John Elway after 5 Super Bowls he finally won his last two because, RB Terrell Davis came along and made it possible.

People say it’s a quarterback driven league. True in many respects but isn’t it always, always, always the best team that wins the Lombardi? Many knew in the 1980s that Dan Marino was the best quarterback. Shotgun arm, amazingly fast delivery, prettiest spiral, aim on the dime, I loved him. But… did his “team” ever win it all. No. It’s not because Marino wasn’t a great quarterback, it’s because a team wins it all, not a QB.

Somewhere along the line, the standard for being the best QB ever had to include the number of title teams you were a part of so.. in that case… I’ll take Joe Montana. But the best quarterback I’ve ever seen? Dan Marino. No question.

Something else I am enjoying about the Kansas City Chiefs current regime: they appear to have a handle on knowing how to build “team” within a team. “Team” isn’t just a noun, it’s a verb and an adjective. John Dorsey and staff appear to be able to identify those kinds of prospects.

To me Peyton Manning has made the game an “All About Me” proposition.

Sure, Peyton gave a speech for the ages:

– with historical musings… about Johnny Unitas looking down on him now… but of course Peyton made that all about himself

– personal histrionics… of Indianapolis converting itself from a basketball/Indy 500 town into a football town. Of course that was all about him.

– even hysterical ramblings… “There is a saying that goes, treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is, treat a man as what he could be, and he will become what he should be.” All very touching I’m sure for his followers… hollow words for those who see though the self deprecating dismissal of our real world. Need I say, “All about him?”

– ending with a hilarious scripture equation… “There’s a scripture reading, Second Timothy, 4:7, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith…. Well, I’ve fought a good fight, I’ve finished my football race, and after 18 years it’s time.”  This well-known and oft-quoted passage is quite significant in that this epistle was [Apostle] Paul’s last before his martyrdom in A.D. 67. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t referring to someone’s 18 years in self-imposed slavery to a GAME.” Plus, that’s not quite the faith Paul was referring to. So, unless you’re getting ready to die… baaaad, analogy.

I’m sorry, I will never be a fan of someone who has the “biggest head” in the game. Peyton Manning has always struck me that way: the one with the biggest of egos. And in the tug-of-war world of egos… in that game… I will admit, he’s the biggest winner. And of course, that makes him, a big loser.

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So, what do you think Addicts? Tired of hearing Peyton Manning’s name? You know we could be hearing it even more now, right? All together now, “Nationwide is….”