You make it sound as if Manning is at end of his career trying to win one more.
Yes, that is exactly what I am saying.
I was, and still am primarily a San Francisco 49ers fan and a lot of us had a hard time seeing Joe Montana replaced with Steve Young. Our hearts wanted to stay with Montana who was still healthy and could scramble and avoid hits better than anybody before him, but as we saw him get older within his 30s, it became obvious we had to move on.
We were either going to keep Montana and probably never go to the Super Bowl again anytime soon, or we were going to move on with the rising, talented Steve Young, and win a Super Bowl, which we did with Steve Young throwing six touchdown passes.
Yes, four rings was nice with Montana, but the 49ers made a calculated move, and went with Young and a 5th ring.
People's hearts in Indy may be with Manning, or in Minnesota with Favre, but like myself and other Niners fans, we had to live with a move to a younger quarterback in San Francisco, and after all is said and done, it's great we chose Steve Young.
Today, we look fondly both on Joe Montana and Steve Young. The leadership of the 49ers never let such a talented player like Montana let himself wear out his welcome in San Francisco. Luckily, we didn't have to see him "slow down" in a 49ers uniform. He left the starting position while on
top.
Besides his Super Bowl ring and record six TDs, the new guy and at first unwelcome guy name Steve Young retired a 49ers with the highest rating of any QB at the time, and to date I believe.
Call Policy, DeBartolo, Walsh, and others within the 49ers organization cold hearted and in love with
youth, but they knew when to find new, great talent, and when to let them eventually step aside and let newer guys come in who could be built into superstars.
We kept changing the team, and as a result, we had five wins in the Super Bowl in five tries. No team can claim that honor. And we did it between 1981 to 1994 which is amazingly impressive. And oh yeah, with our "young" players on our teams, we also had a few other decent seasons in that time period, too.
In short, you build a dynasty around players, coaches, and managers, not just
one player.
I am convinced if this was the Peyton Manning of of the mid-2000s, made of iron and completely unflappable and not prone to errors in judgment, he would have blown out the Saints last night. But guess what, this is not 2003, 2004, 2005, or 2006, and Peyton's not the type of guy who could pull off 40 completions with ease and get 300 yards before he breaks a sweat.
Peyton had insanely great protection on a team that also has one of the most impressive Ds around. He has some good tools on offense, but let's look at who Peyton is these days. He's not the same QB I saw ten, eight, or even three years ago. If Indy's lineup had been a little stronger on O or D in past years, Peyton would be wearing 4 rings like Bradshaw or Montana. Peyton was great, and still is, but he is declining as last night clearly exhibited.
He couldn't hit obvious receivers, and his excellent changeup in picking receivers he once had made him try and rely on them when he should have used the extra time to scan what were plenty of open guys. Manning's mistake in the SB which killed him is not unlike the mistake Favre made in the playoffs.
These are the types of mistakes either rookies or declining players make. I am not going to chalk this up to a "bad" game that Manning had. The man gave it all he had, but last night showed us all he can give us against such a talented D as the one the Saints had.
Indy needs to use what young, rising players they have and rebuild another great run of wins with a younger QB.
They should not hang onto Manning forever and be one sack from complete ruin. My money for a QB healing is always on an OK 20-something QB over a great 30-something QB if they take an extremely hard hit. (Same goes with the Vikings and they need to rebuild).
