Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Legacy
There's been a lot of discussion the past week on Peyton Manning's "legacy" and what it will look like after Sunday's game. I'll leave it to others to talk (endlessly) about his playoff wins, his Super Bowl record, his TD records, etc. What I think is more notable is Manning's presence in pop culture and how much he's become synonymous with the word quarterback. How he plays the game seems almost more important than his actual stats. Whenever he retires he might not be the greatest quarterback ever, but he will be the quarterback.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
"Whenever he retires he might not be the greatest quarterback ever, but he will be the quarterback."
Interesting quote.
They had a great discussion on Mike and Mike on Monday morning about career Super Bowl win-loss records as the starting QB.
Assuming Tom Brady wins his next Super Bowl, what is better? Being 4-2 in the SB or 4-0 in the SB (Joe Montana)?
In Peyton Manning's case, if he wins on Sunday, he'll be 2-1 in the SB. What is better (for a legacy, all-time-greats discussion, etc.)? Being 2-1 or 2-0 in the SB?
The issue was: saying you are undefeated in the Super Bowl is ultra impressive, but what about all the times a QB failed in the playoffs? So, yes, Montana is 4-0 in the SB, but what about all the times he lost in the playoffs?
I'm not sure I explained the idea quite as clearly as I would have liked. It occurred to me today that Mike Ditka might be a good comparison. He's not the best tight end or coach ever, though he is in the Hall of Fame, but he might be the most well-known and certainly one of the most iconic NFL personalities. I think that will be true of Manning in way it won't be for, say, Tom Brady.
The discussion on Mike & Mike is a large part of what got me thinking about this. The idea that winning all of your Super Bowl appearances is better than winning the same number but playing in Super Bowls is ridiculous. It's the worst kind of simplistic, knee-jerk analysis made by the kind of low football IQ fan that makes so many games, and comment sections, unbearable. Is Brady worse because he's lost Super Bowls? Heck no, Brady and the Patriots are held in high regard because they've made it that far so many times. If the conference championship games had cleverer names and we actually celebrated winning them we wouldn't even have this conversation.
Post a Comment