Before the Super Bowl even occurred, various headlines have dominated sports media stations since the matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos became official. The highlight of this debate was centered around the Broncos’ quarterback, Peyton Manning.
Manning has been argued to be the greatest quarterback of all-time. Some people will not approve of this statement until they see how Manning performs in the future.
On the other hand, Manning’s past is believed to speak for itself and give him the recognition of one of the best athletes.
Manning’s stats and rankings are enough evidence to prove him to be the best. Throughout his career, Manning has achieved 64, 964 yards passing, 491 touchdown passes and 65.6% completion percentage.
In addition, Manning is a 2007 Super Bowl XLI Champion and MVP, four time NFL MVP, 13-time participant in the Pro Bowl, seven-time AP First Team All-Pro, eight-time AFC offensive player of the year and 2013 NFL single season passing yards and touchdowns leader.
Manning overcame four neck surgeries to find continued success with the Denver Broncos. This role model, and face of the NFL has had one of the most storied careers in sports history, and is playing at the highest level of his career at the age of 37.
I believe that he is the greatest quarterback to ever strap on a helmet. Watch Manning on any given Sunday. No quarterback does more pre-snap, is better at reading coverage’s or puts his players in a better position to succeed than Manning. He has taken players such as Austin Collie, Eric Decker, Julius Thomas, Knowshon Moreno, and Marvin Harrison, and turned them into absolute stars.
Judging quarterbacks based off of Super Bowl victories is not the way we define the career of a quarterback. Yes, it does mean something for Dan Marino, who does not have a Lombardi Trophy attached with his legacy. Manning plays in an era where fellow quarterback’s Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, and younger brother Eli Manning, all won multiple superbowls before he had. Super Bowl XLVIII was Peyton’s third Super Bowl start. After being drafted No.1 overall in the 1998 NFL Draft, Manning turned the Indianapolis Colts into a perennial AFC Title Contender, giving us countless playoff matchups that are some of the greatest games in NFL history.
Aside from football, Manning has been in numerous commercials for various companies, wrote books, started his own foundation, started football camps, been a leader in the community.
As I said earlier, Manning has been the face of the NFL for decades.
Despite what his future may hold for him, Manning is already the best player based off of what he has already accomplished in his career.
I’d argue that since 2000, no player in sports has meant more to his team than Manning due to the various challenges that he has faced with his teams.
Indianapolis was known to perform with poor defense. Manning also had to face the Broncos’ team who had Tim Tebow as their starting quarterback, running a college read-option offense to success and setting records in addition to playing in Super Bowls.