Peyton Manning's Legacy

If you cringed when you read the title of today’s post, you’re probably not alone. I’m not sure which phrase, between “Who dat?” and “Manning’s legacy” I have heard more over the last 48 hours. That said, ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt brought up an interesting take on his radio show earlier this week.

Van Pelt said that before the Super Bowl, a lot of people were calling Manning the greatest quarterback ever, and now that the Colts lost after Manning’s infamous pick to Tracy Porter, he’s nothing but a choke artist that needed a veteran coach in order to win a championship.

As in most cases, the truth lies in the middle.

For me, regardless of the rest of Manning’s career and how many championships he wins, the Colts quarterback will easily rest in my top 10 of all time and is currently in my top five as well right now. Championships are important, but they’re not everything. Dan Marino is in my top five, and he never won one.

I assume that I’ll get ripped for this, but here is my current top five quarterbacks of all time:

1. Brett Favre

2. Joe Montana

3. Johnny Unitas

4. Dan Marino

5. Peyton Manning

This is a fluid list and I change my mind frequently on it. Montana was long at the top, but Favre has since overtaken him. Manning was not on this list last year, but when you have the type of season he had—given the weapons and defense he had on his team—I had to put him in over John Elway.

Had Otto Graham had the type of career he had ten years later, he’d probably be the slam dunk No. 1, but he only makes the top ten right now.

I’m getting away from my point: Manning’s legacy is fine and didn’t take a huge hit with this loss. If he stays healthy, he will come in second for nearly every passing record. (Since Favre will play well into his sixties, Manning will never be able to overtake him.)

I could go into a lot more detail with this list, but I’ll refrain from doing it for now in case I do a much more involved post about it later.

And now let the hating begin on my top five. I can’t wait.