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Best NFL Players of All Time: Peyton Manning

Just for a moment, consider yourself to be the chosen one.

Since your initial arrival in a seventh-grade classroom, you were considered the top students in your class, with the highest aptitude.

You had to perform to the highest standard every time you took a test or engaged in class activities. Your 13-year-old self set the precedent that day, and those anticipations never went away.

Take that onto the football field now. Ever since you put on a helmet and shoulder pads for the first time, people have expected you to be the greatest. You just lived up to expectations if you were the best player on the field. You were disappointed if your team lost or if you committed a mistake.

Throughout his football career, Peyton Manning has carried that enormous weight with him at every turn. As the offspring of legendary NFL quarterback Archie Manning, Peyton was a gifted high school athlete with high expectations for his college career as a quarterback.

The pressure increased when he decided to enroll at the University of Tennessee, disappointing those who had expected him to attend Ole Miss to continue his father’s legacy. Being the greatest passer in SEC history, Manning never gave in to that pressure.

All of Manning’s professional accomplishments equipped him for success in the NFL. As the top pick in the 1998 draft, he immediately established himself as the Indianapolis Colts’ face. Manning transformed a struggling team into one of the league’s most glamorous teams in just a single season.

In quarterback Peyton Manning’s first season, the Colts finished 3-13, but by 1999, they had improved to 13-3. Knowing the game so well that he essentially took over almost all of the Colts’ play-calling responsibilities, Manning rapidly established himself as one of the most intelligent players in the league.

Manning’s rise was the outcome of diligent work and research. He spent countless hours in the film room learning his roles, what each of his ten teammates was expected to do on every play, and gaining a firm grasp on every option available to the opposing defense, in addition to spending countless hours on the practice field trying to learn and improve his game.

Manning said, “One thing I’ve learned about this game is that your chances of winning are better the more prepared you are.” “You have a lot greater chance of winning when you know how your opponents will probably try to stop you. You have control over how you perform on the field.

“I knew I had to put in as much work as possible in the film room and on the practice set if I wanted to succeed.”

Although Manning had one of the best passing careers in NFL history, he never trusted his accuracy, quick release, or ability to run the ball down the field. Rather, it was his ability to predict what his rivals would do that would enable him to capitalize on his skill and surpass the others.

After his debut season, Manning never failed to complete less than 62 percent of his passes, which contributed to his exceptional success record in Indianapolis. His totals for yards and touchdowns increased, and so did his number of victories.

In the 2004 season, he was exceptional, completing 336 of 497 passes for 4,557 yards, 49 touchdown passes, and just 10 interceptions. Manning appeared to be able to take the field at any moment and destroy NFL defenses, as the Colts dominated almost every opponent en route to a 12-4 record.

The next season, the Colts were even better, so the magic persisted. With a 14-2 record, they dominated the regular season. Manning did not, however, follow up his dominance in the regular season with a strong postseason showing.

Regardless of how outstanding his regular season stats were, Manning faltered during the postseason. Typically, the New England Patriots were involved because Manning was unable to outmaneuver quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick. But Manning also struggled against the aggressive Pittsburgh Steelers defense.

In the 2006 season, Manning finally reached his breaking point. The Colts defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 23–8 in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, overcoming their history of postseason disappointments. Then, in the divisional playoffs, they went on the road and upset the hard-hitting Baltimore Ravens 15-8, setting up a rematch with the Patriots in the AFC Championship game.

Manning seemed to be playing this game with heartbreak as the Patriots jumped out to a 21-6 halftime lead. The second half would see Manning go unstoppable this time. After tying the score with a short run in the third quarter, he hit little-used Dan Klecko with a short touchdown pass.

The Colts would go on to defeat New England 38-34 to secure a spot in the Super Bowl. Two weeks later, in Super Bowl XLI, the Colts would win their lone championship of the Manning era, defeating the Chicago Bears 29-17 in the rainy Miami.

Manning remarked, “Those victories over the Bears and the Patriots meant as much to me as any wins in my career.” Defeating the Patriots meant we were finally going to the Super Bowl after so many stops along the route. Win the Super Bowl by defeating the Bears. It fulfilled every player’s desire and meant a great deal to each and every one of us.

In Super Bowl XLIV, the Colts would play their second game, but they would lose 31-17 to the New Orleans Saints.

Manning’s stint in Indianapolis would eventually come to an end when his 2011 season was lost due to a degenerative issue in his neck. The quarterback subsequently signed with the Denver Broncos when the Colts allowed him to leave via free agency in the offseason.

Success was by no means assured, though. Although Manning cleared a physical before signing a contract with the Broncos, there were rumors that he was a shell of the player he once was and that he lacked the arm power to make his famous sideline passes.

When the season finally began, Manning appeared to have not missed a beat. With the same dexterity and rhythm from his Colts prime, he was leading the Denver offense.

In his 2012 season with the Broncos, he passed for 4,659 yards with 37 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions. That was only a preamble to Manning’s 5,477-yard passing season in 2013, which saw him score 55 touchdown passes and only 10 interceptions.

The Broncos defeated the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII, but they were unable to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

In the most important game, Seattle’s speed and strength on defense absolutely overwhelmed Denver’s dynamic offense.

No quarterback in the history of the NFL regular season has controlled games and statistics more than Peyton Manning. Although he has won one Super Bowl, his deficiency in postseason accomplishments has been a point of contention for his detractors.

Nevertheless, Manning is one of the most renowned quarterbacks in sports history and may be the most productive starting quarterback the game has ever seen.

Since he first picked up a football, he has been the greatest of the best, and he has fulfilled his enormous potential.

Best NFL Players of All Time: Peyton Manning Stats

Regular Season

Year	Age	Tm	Pos	No.	G	GS	QBrec	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	TD%	Int	Int%	1D	Succ%	Lng	Y/A	AY/A	Y/C	Y/G	Rate	QBR	Sk	Yds	Sk%	NY/A	ANY/A	4QC	GWD	AV
1998	22	IND	QB	18	16	16	36598	326	575	56.7	3739	26	4.5	28	4.9	191	42	78	6.5	5.2	11.5	233.7	71.2		22	109	3.7	6.08	4.84	1	1	11
1999*	23	IND	QB	18	16	16	13-3-0	331	533	62.1	4135	26	4.9	15	2.8	197	46.6	80	7.8	7.5	12.5	258.4	90.7		14	116	2.6	7.35	7.06	6	7	18
2000*	24	IND	QB	18	16	16	36805	357	571	62.5	4413	33	5.8	15	2.6	213	50.3	78	7.7	7.7	12.4	275.8	94.7		20	131	3.4	7.25	7.22	2	3	17
2001	25	IND	QB	18	16	16	36687	343	547	62.7	4131	26	4.8	23	4.2	201	46.4	86	7.6	6.6	12	258.2	84.1		29	232	5	6.77	5.88			15
2002*	26	IND	QB	18	16	16	36805	392	591	66.3	4200	27	4.6	19	3.2	213	47.6	69	7.1	6.6	10.7	262.5	88.8		23	145	3.7	6.6	6.09	4	5	15
2003*+	27	IND	QB	18	16	16	36864	379	566	67	4267	29	5.1	10	1.8	213	51	79	7.5	7.8	11.3	266.7	99		18	107	3.1	7.12	7.35	3	4	18
2004*+	28	IND	QB	18	16	16	36864	336	497	67.6	4557	49	9.9	10	2	233	57.1	80	9.2	10.2	13.6	284.8	121.1		13	101	2.5	8.74	9.78	2	4	21
2005*+	29	IND	QB	18	16	16	14-2-0	305	453	67.3	3747	28	6.2	10	2.2	198	55.7	80	8.3	8.5	12.3	234.2	104.1		17	81	3.6	7.8	8.03	1	1	18
2006*	30	IND	QB	18	16	16	36864	362	557	65	4397	31	5.6	9	1.6	242	56.6	68	7.9	8.3	12.1	274.8	101	86.4	14	86	2.5	7.55	7.93	3	3	20
2007*	31	IND	QB	18	16	16	13-3-0	337	515	65.4	4040	31	6	14	2.7	207	53.9	73	7.8	7.8	12	252.5	98	76.9	21	124	3.9	7.31	7.29	1	2	17
2008*+	32	IND	QB	18	16	16	36864	371	555	66.8	4002	27	4.9	12	2.2	213	52.4	75	7.2	7.2	10.8	250.1	95	76.5	14	86	2.5	6.88	6.88	4	6	16
2009*+	33	IND	QB	18	16	16	14-2-0	393	571	68.8	4500	33	5.8	16	2.8	241	54.6	80	7.9	7.8	11.5	281.3	99.9	80.7	10	74	1.7	7.62	7.51	7	7	17
2010*	34	IND	QB	18	16	16	36805	450	679	66.3	4700	33	4.9	17	2.5	253	54.1	73	6.9	6.8	10.4	293.8	91.9	71.6	16	91	2.3	6.63	6.48	0	2	16
2011		Missed season – Injured (neck)
2012*+	36	DEN	QB	18	16	16	13-3-0	400	583	68.6	4659	37	6.3	11	1.9	231	54	71	8	8.4	11.6	291.2	105.8	79.6	21	137	3.5	7.49	7.89	3	3	15
2013*+	37	DEN	QB	18	16	16	13-3-0	450	659	68.3	5477	55	8.3	10	1.5	291	55.2	78	8.3	9.3	12.2	342.3	115.1	79	18	120	2.7	7.91	8.87	2	2	19
2014*	38	DEN	QB	18	16	16	36864	395	597	66.2	4727	39	6.5	15	2.5	227	51.6	86	7.9	8.1	12	295.4	101.5	72.6	17	118	2.8	7.51	7.68	1	1	16
2015	39	DEN	QB	18	10	9	36709	198	331	59.8	2249	9	2.7	17	5.1	110	40.6	75	6.8	5	11.4	224.9	67.9	44.2	16	95	4.6	6.21	4.52	3	3	2
Career					266	265	186-79-0	6125	9380	65.3	71940	539	5.7	251	2.7	3674	51.4	86	7.7	7.6	11.7	270.5	96.5		303	1953	3.1	7.23	7.17	43	54	271
13 yrs		IND			208	208	141-67-0	4682	7210	64.9	54828	399	5.5	198	2.7	2815	51.3	86	7.6	7.5	11.7	263.6	94.9		231	1483	3.1	7.17	7.04	34	45	219
4 yrs		DEN			58	57	45-12-0	1443	2170	66.5	17112	140	6.5	53	2.4	859	51.7	86	7.9	8.1	11.9	295	101.7		72	470	3.2	7.42	7.61	9	9	52

Playoffs

Year	Age	Tm	Pos	G	GS	QBrec	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	TD%	Int	Int%	1D	Succ%	Lng	Y/A	AY/A	Y/C	Y/G	Rate	Sk	Yds	Sk%	NY/A	ANY/A	4QC	GWD
1999*	23	IND	QB	1	1	0-1	19	42	45.2	227	0	0	0	0	13	38.1	33	5.4	5.4	11.9	227	62.3	0	0	0	5.4	5.4
2000*	24	IND	QB	1	1	0-1	17	32	53.1	194	1	3.1	0	0	8	40.6	30	6.1	6.7	11.4	194	82	0	0	0	6.06	6.69
2002*	26	IND	QB	1	1	0-1	14	31	45.2	137	0	0	2	6.5	8	46.2	17	4.4	1.5	9.8	137	31.3	1	13	3.1	3.88	1.06
2003*+	27	IND	QB	3	3	45323	67	103	65	918	9	8.7	4	3.9	46	63.3	87	8.9	8.9	13.7	306	106.4	5	41	4.6	8.12	8.12
2004*+	28	IND	QB	2	2	45292	54	75	72	696	4	5.3	2	2.7	35	67.3	49	9.3	9.1	12.9	348	107.4	2	12	2.6	8.88	8.75
2005*+	29	IND	QB	1	1	0-1	22	38	57.9	290	1	2.6	0	0	11	47.1	50	7.6	8.2	13.2	290	90.9	5	43	11.6	5.74	6.21
2006*	30	IND	QB	4	4	36617	97	153	63.4	1034	3	2	7	4.6	55	57.6	53	6.8	5.1	10.7	258.5	70.5	6	41	3.8	6.25	4.64	1	1
2007*	31	IND	QB	1	1	0-1	33	48	68.8	402	3	6.3	2	4.2	21	60.4	55	8.4	7.8	12.2	402	97.7	0	0	0	8.38	7.75
2008*+	32	IND	QB	1	1	0-1	25	42	59.5	310	1	2.4	0	0	11	43.9	72	7.4	7.9	12.4	310	90.4	1	8	2.3	7.02	7.49
2009*+	33	IND	QB	3	3	45323	87	128	68	956	6	4.7	2	1.6	52	63.4	46	7.5	7.7	11	318.7	99	4	30	3	7.02	7.24
2010*	34	IND	QB	1	1	0-1	18	26	69.2	225	1	3.8	0	0	11	58.7	57	8.7	9.4	12.5	225	108.7	1	6	3.7	8.11	8.85
2012*+	36	DEN	QB	1	1	0-1	28	43	65.1	290	3	7	2	4.7	15	56.5	32	6.7	6	10.4	290	88.3	3	17	6.5	5.93	5.28
2013*+	37	DEN	QB	3	3	45323	91	128	71.1	910	5	3.9	3	2.3	45	58	37	7.1	6.8	10	303.3	94.2	1	1	0.8	7.05	6.78
2014*	38	DEN	QB	1	1	0-1	26	46	56.5	211	1	2.2	0	0	11	28.1	32	4.6	5	8.1	211	75.5	2	11	4.2	4.17	4.58
2015	39	DEN	QB	3	3	36586	51	92	55.4	539	2	2.2	1	1.1	26	50.3	34	5.9	5.8	10.6	179.7	75.4	9	75	8.9	4.59	4.54	1	1
Career				27	27	14-13	649	1027	63.2	7339	40	3.9	25	2.4	368	49.8	87	7.1	6.8	11.3	271.8	87.4	40	298	3.7	6.6	6.29	2	2
11 yrs		IND		19	19	45545	453	718	63.1	5389	29	4	19	2.6	271	51.8	87	7.5	7.1	11.9	283.6	88.4	25	194	3.4	6.99	6.62	1	1
4 yrs		DEN		8	8	45415	196	309	63.4	1950	11	3.6	6	1.9	97	45.1	37	6.3	6.1	9.9	243.8	85	15	104	4.6	5.7	5.54	1	1

 

 

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