Why is it that during the regular season when Peyton puts up dominant numbers we hear about how it's the great Peyton Manning and how his teammates are honored to play with him and how he makes them better. They put up numbers against good defenses in the regular season as well.
But when he has a terrible game in the Super Bowl all of a sudden it's a team game. To counter that, even if Denver's defense shut the Seahawks out they still would've lost because of 18. Denver scored 8 points. Peyton threw a pick 6 and caused a safety with all that silly unnecessary Omaha audibling nonsense on the first play of the game. that's 9 points Seattle scored which can be attributed to him.
Why is it that the 49ers who have a quarterback in Kaepernick who isn't as a good as Peyton were able to go into Seattle and score points and almost win the game? It's much tougher to play in Seattle then on a neutral field. Drew Brees who is about the same level as Peyton was able to play a decent game in Seattle in the playoffs as well. This Seattle defense was great but they weren't no 2000 Ravens or 1985 bears.
No matter how you cut it, there's no excuses for "The best qb in the game" to crap the bed on the level he did in the Super Bowl. Remember all we heard about those 2 weeks leading up to the game was Peyton Mannings legacy, his place in history, how great he was, and the rest of the Broncos were just a footnote. Had they won the game, it would be about how the great Peyton Manning willed them to victory. I don't mind him getting the individual accolades when he does good, but it shouldn't all of a sudden become a team game when he does bad, if the rest of the team was a footnote when he does good.
And regarding the Elway part. Those 3 Super Bowls he lost, those teams were totally overmatched, Aside from Super Bowl 25, the same could be said about Jim Kelly's Bills. They weren't expected to win those games. There was a reason the NFC won 13 straight Super Bowls during that time period.
Many of the games Peyton Manning led teams lost, they were expected to win and some of the games where they played on the road they were expected to put up a much better fight then they did.
Some of the teams, Steelers in 05, Ravens last season, they destroyed in the regular season only for the team to come up short and him not to deliver when it mattered most.
Some of the teams they had no business losing to, at home to the Chargers who were without Rivers and Tomlinson for a good portion of the game, to an 8-8 Chargers team that squeaked in the last week of the season.
Some of the games were blowouts 41-0 to the Jets, 20-3 to New England after the rules were changed which benifited the Colts passing game going against a physical defense like New England.
Some of the games he imploded when it mattered most, pick 6 while driving to tie the game against the Saints. the Jets playoff game where if he got a first down they run the clock out and win the game.
I'm disregarding his first few playoff loses because they weren't as good yet but from 2003 on they were a 12 win or more team each season aside from 2010 and were considered true contenders each year.
I got no hate or dislike towards Peyton Manning, he's a good role model, and great person. However the playoff scrutiny he gets is warranted and deserved. Doesn't take away from him as a person though.
