RLflutie7 Posted January 15, 2005 Author Share Posted January 15, 2005 Since in his rooke season Manning was the only AFC QB to start every single game (I know Farve did in the NFC but there may be no one else) I knew he was something special even though he racked up only a 3-13 record. Since then he has only confirmed that he is one of )if not the) greatest QBs to ever play the game. However, I think he is far from being one of the greatest players ever and I would not pick him to build my team around under the current NFL rules because his impact on the salary cap has been one of the issues which has killed Tndy season after season during his career as they struggle to manage it and to build a D that is good enough to win after they have poured so many resources (salary cap and draftees) into Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison, Mike Vanderjagt, et al. and the other offensive weapons that are essential to him being such a productive QB. It is no coincidence that finally last season Peyton finally moved ahead of Ryan Leaf in terms of delivering playoff wins to the team which drafted him in no small part because the cap is such an equalizing factor. I say hats off to Indy because with the acquisition of Bill Polian who has been able to work his GM magic to negotiate tough contracts and acquire the best marginal players at a price they could afford he has made the ST as good as it can be. Incredibly, the also got one of the best D oriented HCs in the NFL in Tony Dungy to squeeze water out of the rock of their D which has insufficient investment because they focus so heavily on the O. This may be the year that Peyton finally achieves the goal which all NFL players shoot for. However, they were not good enough with their cut-rate D to earn homefield advantage and that has added an extra game to their load while Belicheck prepares and will force them again outside of the pass-fiendly confines of the dome for the game tomorrow and next week if they make it. If this isn't the year for Peyton he may end up like Marino ending up not with arguments about whether he was the best player ever, but instead arguments whether he is the best player never to win the SB. 205740[/snapback] Very well put. I think Mannings great offense could be the very thing that ends up costing him the championship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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