Second Ring Will Pave Peyton’s Place
Written by Marc Jenkins
Winning a Super Bowl is something that every player wants to do and something every quarterback needs to (unless you’re Dan Marino). A Super Bowl ring is usually the final piece of hardware which separates the very good signal callers from the Hall-of-Fame guys. However when talk arises of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time there is an even stricter piece of criteria and that is having multiple Super Bowl titles under your belt.
Peyton Manning currently has one Super Bowl appearance and victory to his name and with his second Super Sunday game ahead of him he is looking for another win. Manning already sits amongst the game’s greatest statistically and still has at least five high-level seasons left in him.On the all-time career leaders list, Peyton currently ranks third in completions (4,232), seven in pass attempts (6,531), fourth in passing yards (50,128), third in passing touchdowns (366), second in QB Rating (95.2) and tied for fourth in completion percentage (64.8%). Even more remarkable is the fact that as high as he ranks in all those positive categories, Manning sits in a tie for 34th place in career interceptions (181).
At the end of his career there is a very good chance that Manning will sit alone atop of the positive categories with everyone else looking up at his monumental numbers.If Manning and the Indianapolis Colts can pull out a victory over the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV then is it safe to say he will go down as the greatest quarterback to ever play the game?
Peyton Manning has the highest passer rating ever in a single season (121.1 in 2004), most career 300-yard passing games in the postseason (seven), most consecutive 300-yard passing games in a season (seven in 2009), is the youngest quarterback to pass for 50,000 career yards, is the first quarterback to pass for 40,000 yards in a single decade (2000’s) and has the most games with four touchdown passes or more (six in 2004).
Need more? Manning is also the only four-time NFL MVP (2003, 2004, 2008, 2009) and has the best passing yards per game average in NFL history (261.1), the most five passing touchdown games (seven), the most 4,000 passing yard seasons (10), the most games with a perfect QB Rating (four), the most consecutive seasons with 25 touchdown passes or more (12 from 1998-2009) and the most wins by any starting quarterback in any decade (115 in the 2000’s).
Here’s just a little more. Peyton is the only quarterback in NFL history with at least 12 wins as a starter in consecutive seasons (seven from 2003-2009), to lead five consecutive fourth quarter comebacks and to defeat all 31 of the other NFL teams not mention he is also the record holder for most fourth quarter comebacks in a single season (seven in 2009).
After all that being said, how can another winning another ring not solidify his place as the greatest quarterback in the history of the National Football League? As far as I’m concerned if the Colts defeat the Saints there should even be a conversation and that’s no disrespect to Montana, Favre, Elway or anyone else thought of or considered.
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