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If you start a conversation about who the greatest quarterback in NFL history is, you’ll certainly get a wide variety of answers.
Are Super Bowl rings the most important thing to you? Joe Montana, Tom Brady and maybe even Terry Bradshaw go toward the top of your list. Are outstanding individual numbers, spurred by impeccable durability, what makes a great quarterback? Maybe Brett Favre or Dan Marino is your guy then. A mix of both? John Elway might be the choice, particularly when you add in the physical tools he had in his prime even while losing three Super Bowls.
Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning needs three touchdown passes on Sunday night against the San Francisco 49ers to set the career record for passing touchdowns. Favre is the current record holder with 508, and even if Manning does not set the record this weekend he surely will very soon.
For a long time, Manning had the stigma of never being able to win big games in the playoffs, particularly against Brady and the New England Patriots, but he got that monkey off his back when the Colts beat the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Since then Manning has appeared in and lost two more Super Bowls, including last February, which may still knock him down a peg in the eyes of some fans. But I’m here to tell you Manning is already the greatest quarterback in NFL history, even if he currently has one less Super Bowl ring than his brother Eli.
Manning had a remarkable streak of consecutive starts before undergoing multiple neck surgeries and missing the entire 2011 season with the Indianapolis Colts. So he would already have the career passing touchdown record by a fair margin if he hadn’t missed a whole season. Even at age 38, assuming a couple more fully healthy seasons after this year, 600 career touchdown passes seems realistic.
Manning helped turn around a Colts’ franchise that had at best fleeting success before his arrival. Starting in 1999, Manning’s second season, Indianapolis won at least 10 games in 11 of the next 12 seasons with eight division titles over that span. His neck issue, while unfortunate, led to a 1-15 2011 season and the Colts getting Andrew Luck with the No. 1 overall pick in 2012. Simply put, the Colts are set up for a lengthy run with two of the best signal callers of their respective eras firmly in place.
Released by the Colts in March of 2012, Manning had multiple teams interested in signing him under the assumption his neck issue was not going to be a lingering issue. Elway is now in the Broncos’ front office, and Manning offered one of the only viable options to replace Tim Tebow that fans would have excepted.
Since coming to Denver, Manning has raised the bar for everyone in the Broncos’ organization, from the front office down to his teammates, with a short window to win another Super Bowl adding some urgency to the equation. If you’re not willing to work hard during the week or you make multiple mental mistakes on game day, you won’t see the field with Manning for very long.
Manning was never the most physically gifted quarterback in the league, even in his prime, but even now he makes up for any deterioration in his tools by being the most mentally prepared quarterback we’ve ever seen. The difference between very good and truly great quarterbacks comes down to the minute details, and Manning is a quintessential gym rat that finds and makes an effort to correct flaws with startling proficiency.
Manning’s choreography at the line of scrimmage, with notable code words and hand signals, does not stand out quite the way it used to as the NFL has evolved into a passing league with complex offenses over the last few years. But it still shows his overall command of himself and the other 10 guys on the field with him, as essentially an offensive coordinator on the field, and an ability to manipulate the defense as well. That interplay will be on a national stage in each of Denver’s next two games, with Sunday night’s game followed by a Thursday night game against the San Diego Chargers.
Manning is on track to own every meaningful individual quarterback-related record before he is done, assuming his neck allows him to play another season or two without issue. The career records for completions and passing yards are well within reach as well, and Manning would likely pass Favre for those two milestones sometime during the first half of the 2015 season.
His 1-2 record in Super Bowls is a minor black mark on his otherwise sterling Hall of Fame resume right now, and that would be minimized if he leads the Broncos to a win on a Super Bowl Sunday before calling it a career.
It’s worth wondering if Manning would follow Elway’s lead and retire on top if Denver wins the Super Bowl this year. But I don’t see that happening, since Manning is so dedicated to his craft and would surely want to continue a high level of success for himself and his team for as long as possible.
Favre’s legacy was altered a bit by a concussion that ended his career and served as the sign he should have retired a year earlier. Manning will not need to be essentially dragged kicking and screaming off the field in that fashion, and when he ultimately retires on his terms he will be unchallenged as the greatest quarterback we’ve ever seen.
Brad Berreman is a Columnist at Rant Sports.com. Connect with him on Twitter and Google +.
