Peyton Manning: What Do The 2011 NFL Playoffs Mean To His Legacy?

Peyton Manning has his Indianapolis Colts in the NFL playoffs for the ninth straight year.

Contemplate that for a moment, if you will.

It's a major accomplishment, a major part of a resume and a legacy that is beyond impressive.

This appearance by the Colts ties them with the 1975-83 Dallas Cowboys for consecutive playoff appearances, impressive when you consider the Indy boys have done it with 17 players on injured reserve.

Manning has played his usual part in leading the way for the Colts. He completed 450 passes to set an NFL mark this season. He's also now started 208 straight games. That ties Gene Upshaw as the most starts at the beginning of a career.

Manning's latest venture in Legacy Land is yet another meeting with the New York Jets. You might recall that the Colts took out the Jets in the AFC title game last year.

They'll meet again Saturday night in Indianapolis and Rex Ryan says it's personal. "I'm going to beat him one day. I just hope it is this Saturday," Ryan says of his team's rematch with Manning and company.

"With Peyton Manning, I want to beat him. Is it personal? Yes," says Ryan.

Manning had Ryan's number when he took care of those Ravens defenses that Ryan coached. He comes into this playoff game after throwing touchdown passes 398 and 399 in the win on Sunday against the Titans that secured the division title for the Colts.

If you look in the Legacy Locker, that is the seventh AFC South title in the last eight years. Did we already mention the 17 players on injured reserve? Call it an improbable AFC South title, but still another title in the Manning legacy.

More Legacy footnotes?

How about this: the Colts are the third team since 2000 to lose in the Super Bowl and get back into the playoffs the following year. Did we mention the 17 guys on injured reserve?

"We know what they were up against and how difficult it was and to overcome all that and win the division, it is extra special," is how Colts owner Robert Irsay summed up a season that saw his team start 6-6.

Despite the odds, the Colts and Peyton Manning earned that home game against the J-E-T-S and a chance to move on.

But first things first.

The Peyton Manning legacy is still a work in progress.