day after
 

I don't really get all the jokes about Manning choking. The quarterback is only one player on the field - you need a good one, but you also need the other guys on the team to play quality football. Manning's offensive line didn't do much, and his receivers didn't get open - what would you have him do? Perhaps immediately morph from a 37-yr old drop-back quarterback into a 27-yr old running quarterback?

Manning had no time to throw, and when he did the Seattle Defense didn't give him anyone to throw too. That had much more to do with Seattle than it had to do with Manning.

Seattle just played better football.....

It's all Broadway Joe's fault.:D

Probably true. All of those 'Rocky Mountain High' football players are members of FEDUP, or what some call PETA, and were so offended by the doghair coat that they could not concentrate on football.

Disclosure: I did not watch the game, saw photo of Namath's coat.

But if the Broncos had won, would everyone write "Peyton Manning Silences His Critics?"

That would have required a total meltdown by Seattle. How different of an outcome would you have gotten with a 'perfect' Manning yesterday? Or if you could have replaced Manning with Tom Brady, or a younger John Elway, would the result yesterday have been any different?

Manning had the misfortune of being up against a team that had a better plan than his, and that executed it to near perfection.

The Jokes are probably based on his playoff record of 11 wins and 12 losses. But Seattle played great defense and would have given trouble too any QB last night.

Joe

The jokes keep coming because this isn't just a regular QB that we are talking about.

I can understand a Joe Schoe QB having an 11 - 12 post season ercord but Manning is a five time league MVP, has set records for most passing yards in a season and twice most TD passes in a season. He is closing in on most career passing yards and most career TD throws. He is a guy with a 67 percent winning percentage inthe regular season.

As we in Central Indiana have seen first hand, consistently underperforming in the post season jsut can not be written off as the other guys on the team not stepping up or the opponent always being better.

As far as what Manning could do different? Well, maybe not using the same plays in hte same areas of the field every time he is there. Maybe running a reverse or a flea flicker jsut to give the opposing D a different look and something to think about.....

But that is the problem. Against bad teams, they can KNOW what Manning is going to do and he then goes ahead and does it anyway and succeeds. This makes him think he can do that ALL of the time. Yet, when he faces better teams, what he normally does and succeeds with DOESN'T work then he has no clue what to do.

THere is no back up plan. There is no checking to running plays. THere is nothing to throw the defense off. THen things start to swirl and the other players start pressing and THEY start making msitakes. Then penalties and turnovers start to happen and the swirling down the drain becomes a full on flush.

David

Edited to add.

How about running some bootlegs if he doesn't want to run a "gimmick" play?

What I think is lost on his critics is that her has been to 23 playoff games over his career.

Thought Manning was going to perform better, but considering what he's gone thru the last few years with switching teams and surgery, still one of the best qb's ever. Pretty classy too..