There aren't many smarter football players than Peyton Manning. He knew the talent they had whether they came back and made the playoffs w/ Tebow or not. He knew he'd have a chance to win right away. If anything Tebow winning put more pressure on peyton as we saw Tebow win a playoff game but it took Peyton 2 years to win his first w/ Denver.
Personally, at least this week I am a huge Denver fan. I don't see how any real Jet fan could be otherwise. Maybe the Sanchez Fans have some different angle on it, though.
When you consider the fellow who replaced Carroll as the HC of the Jets, how can you, as a Jet fan not root for Pete to win it all. If not the Seahawks, then Denver, then SF No other choices
This isnt entirely true. Peyton was contacted by the 49ers, Seahawks, and Cardinals. He denied all three of them because his brother was in the NFC and he didnt want that. Then the Jets and the Dolphins were also viable options and again he denied both of them because he didnt want to play in the same division as the Patriots. The last two options at the time were the Broncos and the Titans and he chose the Broncos. The Jets, Dolphins, 49ers, Seahawks were ALL better teams outside of the QB position. Outside circumstances such as not playing in the same conference as his brother and not playing in the same division as Tom Brady limited his options. You know what? if Peyton is so good at judging talent he wouldnt have chose the Denver Broncos. Did he not watch the playoff game where Tom Brady shredded that defense in New England? Did he watch when Brady dropped 6 touchdowns on them? I guess not. That same defense that gave up 6 TDs was the save defense giving up a bomb to Jacoby Jones that cost him an entire season. I never felt bad for Peyton when the secondary choked last year against Baltimore, HE chose that defense. He should have saw it coming, I surely did, I said the defense would cost him in the end and it did. Anyone with any football knowledge who watched that New England game should have concluded that Denvers defense was horrible, apparently Peyton didnt because he still chose them over the Niners, Seahawks, and Jets defense. But like I said, Peyton didnt have many options, clearly the 49ers or Seahawks would have been much better choices but he didnt want to get in the way of his brother which is respectable.
Denver had no chance w/ Tebow at QB against NE, Ne has shredded many defenses in the past. he saw the talent on that team, good enough to win a playoff game w/ Tim tebow. he's no dummy. I don't buy the respect for his brother stuff, this was about his legacy, did any of those teams even make a move? I don't recall other than Harbaugh talking to him but there was much more involved than just interest. a lot had to be worked out. this Den team may be the most talented he has ever played w/ offensively and that is saying something w/ all the incredibly talented O's he's played on.
Denver also had no chance against New England because of the defense. But reguardless, Peyton had MANY options. At the time 12 teams reached out to Peyton Manning: Redskins, http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7659434/sources-peyton-manning-reps-contacted-12-teams The 49ers WORKED Peyton Mannng out... http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7696945/san-francisco-49ers-worked-peyton-manning-week-sources-say The Seahawks had a plane waiting in Denver to fly Peyton to Seattle... http://blog.seattlepi.com/football/...-had-plane-waiting-to-pick-up-peyton-manning/ Peyton had much better options than Denver, Denver wasnt even being discussed on any of the Networks at the time because they seemed like such an outside chance compared to teams like the Jets and 49ers. Peyton never considered the NFC teams out of respect for his brother. He could have gone to the Jets and Dolphins but he didnt, any the only explainable reason is because he did not want difficult roads to the division titles. Based on last year Peyton made the wrong decision, the defense cost him, he chose to align himself with that defense. Peyton decision to go to Denver will not be validated until he wins the Super Bowl. No excuses either, you can not use the defense as an excuse because he knew what defense he was goimg to begetting. Right or wrong? It will look even worse if the 49ers or Seahawks win the Super Bowl because they both wanted him and he denied the Niners and basically laughed at the Seahawks when they had the plane in Denver to pick him up. It is what it is though now.
It isn't "respect" for his brother that likely drove his decision, but it certainly isn't unfathomable that he didn't want to be a direct competitor to his brother in the same conference and prefers playing in the AFC where, if they meet in the post season, it is in the Super Bowl. Considering how hands on the Manning's were in "deciding" where both preferred to play, or not play, before they were even drafted you would be fooling yourself to believe that isn't something they were likely to consider.
I recall Schefter flat out saying he did not go to the NFC because of Eli. He was VERY tempted to go to the Niners but didnt, and at that time the Niners were coming off a championship game against the NY Giants. At the end of the day Peyton Manning was a 35 year old man when he made his decision. The decision he made should have been made by him and him only. If he went to Denver because his father told him to then shame on him.
If his best chances were in SF or Sea he would have went there, if all things were equal or close to equal it makes sense to choose the AFC team. teams and players float many things out there for PR purposes. we don't know what SF offered him or if it ever got serious.
Junc I dont want sound like a jerk but you dont know what your talking about. The 49ers were seriously interested in him but it goes back to the fact he did not want to be in the same conference as Eli. If you think Peyton thought the Broncos had a better team than the Niners your nuts, he knew the Niners were better but again he refused to be in the same conference as his brother. Junc if you dont think the Niners were intersted, why did they delay Alex Smiths contract negotions? If you dont think Manning was interested in the Niners then why did he work out with Greg Roman and Jim Harbaugh? Come on....
I am not saying what you are saying isn't true but unless we know the offers how can we say that? and SF was viewed as a 1 year wonder at that point, Denver made it one rd before SF w/ Tim Tebow as the QB. Clearly Den had many more offensive weapons and their D was really good too. You are looking at it knowing what we know now as far as the Ds go but Den's D the last couple of months was outstanding holding teams down to allow Tebow to lead his TD drive to win those games and yes they got thrashed in NE but SFs D got thrashed at home by NO. If SF was viewed as a much better place and the offer was similar he would have went there.
you certainly can't make that declaration at all. but considering the Manning family's history of dictating where they want to play, even before they are drafted, it is clear they take many things into consideration so you can't even remotely attempt to claim their decisions are strictly about where they have the best chance to win. Eli conveniently forced his way out of playing for an AFC team to be traded to an NFC team? now Manning chooses not to go to an NFC team...coincidence? hardly.
you have to present some evidence or even anecdotal argument to support that assertion, and you have done neither.
Eli not going to SD had nothing to do w/ Peyton playing in the AFC. where is the evidence otherwise? some vague tweets? we don't know the offers form any of the teams. Peyton wants to win, he wasn't coming back and getting to choose his team to break records. if he thought SF gave him his best chance by far he would have gone to SF. He knew what he was getting into in Denver w/ a very weak division and boatloads of talent. If he never had any intentions of playing for an NFC team b/c of his brother why would he work out and meet w/ any of them?
says you based on nothing. I am not saying it is the absolute truth, but anecdotally it is still a more credible argument than your declaration that has nothing to support it either way. it is still more "evidence" to validate the credibility of the position than your assertion that reflects what you would have done in that situation, not what Peyton Manning would have done. you have no grounds to declare how Peyton Manning thinks and thus what he believes to be important.
let's connect the dots. if no AFC team offered him a job, and only an NFC team did, would he have retired rather than not play in the AFC out of deference to his brother? absolutely not. but all things relatively equal, I think it is rather obvious he preferred to stay in the AFC, and guessing on the reason for that preference the idea that he (and daddy Manning) preferred he not to play in the same conference as his brother is certainly reasonable. but there was and is nothing to defend the position that simply the perception of the better team was what drove his decision, and had SF made him an offer he would have taken it simply because it appeared the better winning opportunity.
didn't I say if things were relatively equal he'd choose the AFC team? another poster mentioned how much better SF was, I countered by saying if that was the case he'd be playing in SF and if he had no interest in playing for an NFC team b/c of his brother he wouldn't have entertained offers from NFC teams. Den and SF both have incredible talent around their QBs, SF more on the D side, Den more on the O side but both have SB rosters if Peyton(or any decent QB) is their QB. post #853
There's more that went into his decision than AFC vs NFC and/or the better team. Peyton not only wanted to go to a contending team (which both SF and Denver were), he also wanted to be the focal point of the entire operation. Elway gave Peyton the keys to the castle and said they'd design their entire offense around PM and he's basically the OC as well. Whereas Harbaugh and the Niners FO would have been happy to have PM but you can be sure as hell that an egomaniac like Harbaugh wasn't going to succumb and let PM run the entire offensive side of the ball. It had a lot more to do with control than these other factors being debated. Also Peyton's relationship with Elway is well documented now. He wanted to play for the legendary HOF former QB. Sorry Harbaugh, you had a few moments but nowhere near Elway's class.
wherever Peyton went he would be the focal point of the O and the organization, you don't bring him in if you don't want him to be the focal point.
