Peyton Manning is the best QB of the decade

Manning and Brady are different QBs so who's better comes more down to personal taste than actual facts.

Many QBs have been known for their intangibles (leadership, hard work, etc), many for their skillset (rocket arm, accuracy, etc) and many for their deep understanding of the game (mainly though these are players that have been in the same system for years). The combination of these aspects is what makes a QB great.

The best QB, if those parameters were the ONLY parameters, in the last decade is Brady. He excels as a leader and makes everyone work harder with a team-first attitude. He knows how to use every player to his strengths. He has all the physical tools (maybe not so athletic but he doesn't need it) and has developed great touch and accuracy. He knows the system in which he plays as well as anyone. He is mentally strong and rarely screws his team by committing mistakes.
In these things I think he even is slightly better than Manning. Don't get me wrong, Peyton too is great in all of the above aspects, but if I give Brady an A++ Payton gets an A+. For example I think his accuracy isn't as good as Brady's.

What puts Manning over the top though (in my opinion of course) is that he is an OC on the field.
While many players EXECUTE a given game plan, Payton has such a deep understanding of the game (that means knowing your O but also knowing how Ds play) that on every snap he can TAILOR his offense to everything the opposing D has to offer. Why do you think he was able to stop our pass rush so effectively? Why do you think the Colts WRs where EXACTLY in the soft spots of our coverage? This is why the Colts O can score points against basically every D in this league... because every time they get to the line of scrimmage they can adapt to what they have against. Manning analyzes the D and, like a field general, tailors the play that was called so that someone wil be open. In doing this he is the best in the history of the game.

This way his team-mates don't have to worry about analyzing themselves what they should do... Manning does it for them... they only have to execute what he says. This clearly shows in the OL play... sure, every QB calls out some alerts to his OL, but Manning tells each and everyone of them where they'll be attacked and how they should pass protect.

For this reason, since I consider this OC on the field ability so rare and valuable, I think Manning is the best QB to ever play the game. Maybe other QBs could do what he does if given the freedom by their HC (hah, Belichick wouldn't give the freedom to decide what is best to his mom) but at the moment Manning is the only one.

Brady, Rivers, Rodgers and many others are extremely good QBs but their production is limited by how well the plays are called/designed.
In Brady's case those two aspects where excellent and this is why NE was so successful... but it wasn't his merit (or only partially, I don't think he's involved in designing plays). If shitty WRs where put in a position to succeed it was because Weis/McDaniels or whoever else where great in identifying their strengths and designing plays that enhanced them... then they'd go to Brady and say "Hey, this kid is good at doing this, this and this... this is what he has to do in these plays... go get the ball to him". Manning interferes in that process.. and not (only) in a class-room with a blackboard, but on a field with the clock winding down!

For Manning the sky is the limit since he can modify every single play at the line of scrimmage.

PS I'll go one step further and say that the only way you have to beat Manning (which is what the Steelers did) is getting him to make the wrong adjustments... problem is the more he gets experience the less mistakes he makes!

 

Charlie Weis got the playcalling duties taken from him a half dozen times when he was working for Parcells. He became a genius when he got brady to run the offense (they won 5 games the year before, and were 0-2 with Bledsoe, at the time a Pro Bowl QB). Troy Brown was a rookie in 1993, but never had a decent year as a receiver until 2000. Brady threw for 350 yards against the Panthers, so they obviously had an emphasis on pass before they got a "great" receiver.

I couldn't care less who thinks who is better. I'll keep the QB who led my team to 3 SBs. Would Manning have taken those teams to SB wins. Maybe, in fact there is a good chance. However, I'll keep the ones I know were won.

There is no question Manning is the best right now. Careerwise, it completely depends on how you look at it. Obviously, biased posters on hear can make great cases for both QBs each way, though I don't buy the arguments that downplay or take credit away from either of their achievements.

 

if the idea that Brady is better because Manning chokes in the playoffs (as if there weren't other deficiencies around him that contributed to those losses), Manning has never had a bigger playoff choke than Brady who went into the Super Bowl with the greatest offense in history and only led them to 14 points. that's a bigger playoff egg than Manning has ever had.

of course you have to ignore all the other factors of the game, but it serves to show how ridiculous doing such is if that is the argument against Manning. sometimes the better team that wins isn't led by the better QB. that's just a fact. it happens.

 

Awesome post!

Fran Tarkenton was talking about Peyton Manning on Sporting News today.

He said, "Peyton Manning does not have the greatest arm & he is not a great runner. Peyton talks to his coaches constantly & he practices with his receivers constantly and that is why he does so well."

P.S. Hope that I did not hack up your quote...it is a bear trying to do a long quote on an iPhone.....LOL

 

We'll see what happens, there's a few more years for the 2 QBs to state their case. 5 years from now I might be saying it's peyton by a mile or I could still say it's Brady. We'll see, clearly the last 2 years it's been manning but Brady didn't play one of those years.


I always say it's not all about peyton that he deserves the bulk of the blame and Brady didn't deserve all the credit just the bulk. Brady was awful vs. Bal and he deserved the bulk of the blame but again it's never all on one player.

So in the 2006 AFC Title game he led his team 80 yds for a go ahead TD only to watch his defense blow it? You knw the point I was making, I shouldn't have to add "and the D blew it" to that point every time I make it.

I never convienently leave anything out, you make excuses.


he was known as a choker, name me the big kicks he had made in his carere to that point?


he did beat Brady in the '06 title game, he was great in that 2nd half. It is funny though that when Manning had all that incredible offensive talent he was leading his team to blowout losses against Brady and NE and when Brady had Caldwell and gaffney as his main wideouts he nearly got them to the SB.


He clearly hasn't passed Brady all time, he has passed him CURRENTLY though.


When have I used fantasy #s to support Brady?

Except those Tds and carving of the Ds don't happen often in January when it matters most. That's the point, you guys judge him on reg season peyton, I weigh his mediocre postseason career more than the great reg season #s.


yep b/c Charlie Weis has won so many SBs w/ different QBs and also was so successful w/ the 2 big time college Qbs he had w/ weak schedules at ND.

troy brown wouldn't have seent he field in Indy w/ Harrison, Wayne and company. Brown had ONE 1,000 yd season in his career and it happened in his first year w/ Brady.


he had ONE healthy year w/ Moss and Welker and he MADE a Super Bowl. How come all those years w/ those great weapons Peyton couldn't at least make a SB?

and yet w/ the game on the line he led his O 80 yds for the go ahead TD only to watch his D blow it. has peyton ever done that?

and the '05 Pitt game at home was a bigger choke than Brady and the Pats in the SB. They tried to hand him that game at home and he still couldn't take it. In the SB the Giants needed one of the biggest miracle plays in SB history to win that SB.

 

Being a Jet fan and living in range of D.C. television all I have to say is, "Let's go to the videotape."

 

Fixed the title for you:

Peyton Manning is the best QB in NFL history

 

So what you are really saying is he could only score 7 points with that record setting offense until the late score.

 

Look at it this way:

In 2007 the Pats averaged 37 PPG then he led them to 14 in the SB and they lost.

In 2004 Peyton led his O to 33 PPG and then led that O to just THREE points in their playoff loss.

Both struggled a bit but one kept his team in the game and gave them the lead late, the other led his team to a FG.

 

I was just going to say that....Giants only had 10 points until that late TD to win.

 

Yep b/c in 2004 their opponent scored a whopping 3 more pts than NE's opponent in 2007. :rofl:

NE only scored 13 pts heading into the 4th qtr of that 2004 playoff loss.


Keep those excuses coming guys.

 

Fun fact: Peyton Manning has thrown for over 300 yards in the playoffs 7 times. That is an NFL record.

 

Each offense had 4 possessions(not counting NE kneeling to end the game) in the 2nd half. Wouldn't that be a feather in Brady's cap over Manning that he could keep his o on the field that long while Manning wasn't leading his O to points and was leading them to quick drives ending in punts?

 

Thanks for taking the time to read it on an I-phone