Peyton Manning Rumors: Why Manning to Dallas Cowboys Rumors Are Garbage

Allow me to state a fact that should be obvious but for reasons I don’t completely understand is not.

Will Peyton Manning wear a blue star in 2012?

No.

This idea isn’t even a fun fantasy like perhaps signing Houston Texans free agent Mario Williams or defensive tackle Paul Soliai of the Miami Dolphins. Those players would fill an immediate need and would go far toward repairing one side of the ball for the Cowboys.

Understanding that Dallas finished with a record of 8-8 in 2011, the Cowboys have many needs, but the quarterback position doesn’t even register.   

I’ll repeat—quarterback does not register among the areas this franchise needs to improve upon.

In today’s day and age of Madden video games, the idea of acquiring and disposing of football players has become both commonplace and ridiculously unrealistic. Factor in the Internet, for as great as it is, and some ideas can take on a life of their own that are fictitious in nature and often just stupid.

 For about nine months now, the future career of the great Peyton Manning has been seriously in doubt. A surgical procedure on his neck May 23, 2011 was supposed to take somewhere between four to eight weeks to heal, but this has not been the case—or even close.

Manning ended up missing the entire 2011 regular season, which obviously torpedoed the Indianapolis Colts, who finished 2-14 in landing the first overall selection in the upcoming 2012 NFL draft in April.

I recall Manning stating publicly following his eighth season in 2005 that he planned on playing another eight years before retiring. I thought at the time that this might be a little presumptuous, and this is proving to be true.

Manning will turn 36 prior to next season and, for the first time in his Hall of Fame career, he’ll play for a team other than the Colts.

You have to understand that there are numerous reasons for this. The biggest two are probably the fact that nothing stands in the way of Indy and top-ranked collegiate quarterback Andrew Luck of Stanford, and also the fact that Manning can’t throw an NFL-caliber pass right now.  

If we were talking about the same Manning who was torching the NFL from 1999 through 2010, then we might have some kind of discussion. Then again, if this was true, the Colts wouldn’t be sitting with the first overall pick in the draft and Manning wouldn’t be even close to available.

Manning is damaged goods, and he’s getting too old to play pro football. In fact, I have no idea why he’s even considering playing further given his age and neck injury that have essentially ended his reign as the best quarterback in the NFL.

The Cowboys have absolutely no interest in acquiring Manning because there is simply no reason to do so. Granted, the publicity would be downright historic, but that would really die down once Manning couldn’t unseat another Pro Bowl quarterback, Tony Romo, from the starter’s job.

See what I’m talking about?

Remember that Manning cannot throw footballs right now, and there is no indication that he will ever be able to do so again.

If you don’t have a franchise quarterback, then you acquire one. If you do have one, then you start building around him, as Dallas is in the process of doing at this very moment.

And if anybody thinks that Manning wants to come to Dallas to take snaps from Phil Costa as opposed to Jeff Saturday—think again.

Yes, Saturday is a free agent who could also be acquired.

Saturday will turn 37 prior to next season—he also needs to retire.

The history of the Cowboys, as for most other NFL franchises, shows that acquiring rapidly aging quarterbacks does not lead to anything but false hope.

We can all remember the three-year circus surrounding Brett Favre as he clung to life as an NFL starting quarterback before just bottoming out in 2010. History now illustrates vividly that Green Bay did the right thing by parting ways with Favre following the 2008 season in favor of the younger and better Aaron Rodgers.

The Packers won the Super Bowl two seasons later and are still arguably the best team in the NFC. 

All Minnesota got during Favre’s two years wearing purple and gold was a poetic Favre pick in the NFC Championship game at New Orleans in January, 2010.

How about Dallas’ acquisition of Drew Bledsoe in 2005?

Like Favre with the Vikings, Bledsoe still had a little football left, but he obviously wasn’t able to play at the same level that helped New England, the team that drafted him in 2003, reach Super Bowl XXXI in 2007.

Funny thing is this: Tony Romo was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2003, and history tells us that Romo likely should have been on the field well before 2006, when Bledsoe finally flamed out. Starting that same season, Romo led Dallas to the playoffs and did so again in 2007 and 2009 while winning the NFC East.

Was the Bledsoe signing even necessary?

I would argue absolutely not.

Dallas has every reason to believe that Romo can lead America’s Team to a Super Bowl victory once the right tools are in place around him. His stats, talent and character (winning while injured) speak for themselves, and what’s lacking for the Cowboys is not Peyton Manning.    

Anyone who disagrees needs to turn off the video game console for awhile.