Peyton Manning Missing Games Will Help His Long-Term Legacy

Peyton Manning is on pace to break almost every major passing record, but he is not even considered the best quarterback of his era. In NFL Network’s recent countdown of the top 100 players of 2011 it was Tom Brady, not Peyton Manning, that finished No. 1.

The argument for Brady over Manning always comes down to Super Bowls. Although Brady does clearly win that with three compared to Manning's one, everyone seems to undervalue how much Manning means to his team compared to any other quarterback in the league.

When Brady got hurt in Week 1 of the 2008 season the Patriots were still able to finish 11-5 with a fourth-year quarterback drafted in the seventh round who had not played meaningful football since he was in high school. 

Just last year the Steelers were without their Superbowl-winning quarterback for the first four games of the season and they went 3-1. And the only team ever to complete a perfect season, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, lost its Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese in Week 5 and he did not return until the AFC Championship game.

The Colts can’t win a game when they sit Manning for one half of football during a perfect 14-0 season. 

The only damage that would be done to Manning’s legacy if he were to miss a few games is that he would then be unable to break Brett Favre’s consecutive games started streak of 297. But how important is that really to Manning’s legacy? Most people consider the consecutive starts record as Favre’s most impressive because Favre is best known for being an all-time iron man. 

As impressive as Manning’s streak of 208 games is, does anyone really consider him an iron man? Breaking Favre’s consecutive start streak would not mean nearly as much to Manning’s legacy as it does for Favre. When listing the all-time toughest quarterbacks Manning does not even really come to mind. The list starts and ends with Brett Favre, but after that are guys like Johnny Unitas and Steve McNair. Even current NFL quarterbacks like Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers are considered tougher players.

Breaking Favre’s most impressive record would do little to cement Manning as the greatest quarterback of all time. 

If Manning misses the first four games of the season the Colts will be lucky to go 1-3. The offense would be in complete disarray and everyone would consider their playoff chances slim. When Manning returns the offense returns to its elite form and the Colts begin to make their run back to the playoffs for the 13th consecutive season.

Unlike so many teams that lose their quarterback the Colts would not just slow down, they would fall apart. There is not a single player in the league that is more important to their team winning than Peyton Manning.