By Matt Rosenfeld
Peyton Manning broke the NFL record for all-time passing touchdowns this past Sunday night in a win over the San Francisco 49ers. Manning surpassed Brett Favre’s mark of 508 touchdowns and now sits at 510 career touchdown passes, with no evidence that he’s going to slow down any time soon.
Manning’s capture of the touchdown torch has raised discussion of Manning as the potentially best quarterback ever. When I heard this, for some reason, it felt ridiculous. Unless he wins a couple more rings in the twilight of his career, regardless of his final numbers, Peyton Manning will never feel like the best quarterback of all time.
Don’t get me wrong, Manning has been as dominant a quarterback as we’ve ever seen. He has thrown over 25 touchdowns in every one of his 17 playing seasons. When this season is over, he will have amassed over 67,000 passing yards. He led the Indianapolis Colts to nine straight 10-win seasons from 2002-2010. Every year, it felt as if the Colts were going to be the team to join the 1972 Miami Dolphins with an unbeaten season.
But they never did. Every year, with 2006 being the exception, Manning failed to come through in the postseason. Manning has over 50 game-winning drives in his career; only one has come in the postseason. That’s not coming from a small sample size, either. Manning has played 23 postseason games in his career, mostly with teams that were seeded highly.
In Super Bowls, of which Manning has played in three, his record is 1-2, and he has thrown three touchdowns and four interceptions.
A quarterback’s legacy should not be based on postseason play alone, but unfortunately, for Manning, playoff performance is often the first thing that comes to mind when comparing quarterbacks, from different eras. How did he perform when it matters the most?
Look at other major American sports. Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth and Wayne Gretzky are widely considered the best ever in basketball, baseball and hockey, respectively. All of them combined two things: record-setting individual statistics with championship performances. I’m aware football is probably more of a team sport than the others listed. It takes far more than one individual to win in football. Football is the only sport in which you don’t play both offense and defense. But, no matter what you try to qualify it, Peyton’s playoff performances just leaves something to be desired.
Peyton’s numbers are jaw-dropping. Peyton Manning will always be the most surgically efficient quarterback I have ever watched and I’ll never look down on what he has accomplished throughout his career. I hope to watch him continue his greatness for at least a few more years.
Manning may have the most touchdown passes ever. He’ll most likely end his career with the most passing yards ever. But, unless he provides some playoff magic soon, Manning will never be my greatest quarterback ever.
