Peyton Manning Rumors: A Colts Fan's Take on the Man Who Saved Our Team

For the last 13 years, Indianapolis has had one constant: Peyton Manning. 

Until now, he was the name and face of an entire city, the savior of an awful football team and the rejuvenator for thousands of football fans in a basketball state. 

Another constant during his career was that he would go down as possibly the greatest quarterback of all time. 

He broke the single season touchdown record in 2004.  He’s a four-time league MVP. 

But after a season that has made Colts fans question just about everything, I begin to wonder if Manning's legacy is as real as people think.

Anyone who's watched Manning control an offense knows he's an amazing quarterback.  I will never question his work ethic or football IQ. 

But in 30 years, when those of us who have had the privilege of watching No. 18 are reaching retirement, and the older fans are long gone, people will look at two things when they consider Manning's career: records and rings. 

They’ll see—from those two basic criteria upon which we judge all players' performance—that Manning's credentials are lacking. 

At least he has one more ring than Dan Marino, but a close look at the record books shows Marino still holds several passing records. 

And the fact that he threw for 5,000 yards in an era before we treating quarterbacks like babies is absolutely amazing (insert asterisk next to Drew Brees’ name).  

The single season records that Manning once held have been broken.  He’s in the top five in all major all-time passing categories: touchdowns, completions, yards and completion percentage.

But if 2010 was his last productive season in the NFL, he’ll never reach the top of those lists. 

Tom Brady broke his touchdown record in 2007 and Drew Brees owns the yardage record after this year.  Aaron Rodgers holds the record for highest career passer rating at 104.1.

As for counting rings, that speaks for itself.  Manning has one.  Compare that to others in the era and one is decent, but Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer also have one and they aren’t anywhere near the GOAT conversation. 

Counting championships to determine a player’s greatness is a difficult thing to do, especially in football because it is the ultimate team sport. 

Jordan had great teams, but basketball is also a sport in which one person on the floor can make a huge difference; one guy can take over a game (Kobe scoring 81 when his team was down). 

One player cannot take over a football game.  A quarterback must have receivers who can catch the balls he throws.  A running back must have a line to block defenders. 

I would even argue that a wide receiver has the best chance of taking over a game individually because he may be able to beat his guy and make catches on poorly thrown passes.  

If you saw Manning play, you saw the regular season greatness.  You saw the huge plays and perfect passes he threw to help the Colts win regular season games. 

But you also saw him struggle to score any points in the playoffs against the Jets, and go to New England year after year in the postseason and throw multiple picks in bad losses. 

Everyone has am opinion, but when it’s all said and done, the numbers don’t lie.  Manning's stats are no longer good enough for him to go down as the greatest quarterback of all-time.  

That is, of course, if Rob Lowe is correct.