Indianapolis – Peyton Manning was wearing a baseball cap. He was sitting on the bench, his head down.
Can you blame him for not looking?
Tom Brady was driving. It was out of Manning’s control, just as always against Brady and New England. But unlike in the past, Manning had done all he could. And unlike in the past, it was enough for Manning.
After two big plays that put the desperate Patriots into Indianapolis territory, Brady failed. Manning benefited. The baseball cap was off, the celebratory hugs began. Peyton Manning is a Super Bowl quarterback. And he did it by beating Brady, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots, 38-34 in the AFC championship game Sunday night at a delirious RCA Dome.
In the days before the game, Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy – who like his quarterback erased his own playoff demons with the win – said it was poetic justice that the Colts had to go through New England to get to their first Super Bowl while the team called Indianapolis home.
Poetry? Perhaps not. But it was a classic game in which Manning and Dungy found themselves on their way to Miami to face Chicago on Feb. 4 in Super Bowl XLI. Dungy and Bears coach Lovie Smith are the first African-American head coaches to advance to the Super Bowl.
It was the largest comeback in championship game history. That’s right. Manning beat Mr. Comeback with a comeback. The Patriots led 21-3 after a 39-yard Asante Samuel interception return for a touchdown with 9:25 remaining in the first half.
“Not the situation you want to be in, at home, down 21-3,” Manning said. “But we took it one drive at a time and got a great win.”
Indianapolis, down 21-6 at the half, chipped away, tying the game at 21, 28 and 31.
However, the Colts didn’t take their first lead until rookie running back Joseph Addai scored from 3 yards out on third-and-goal with 1:00 remaining in the game. The game was sealed when defensive back Marlin Jackson intercepted a Brady pass at the Colts’ 35 with 16 seconds to go.
Everything went away. The Patriots’ postseason hold on Manning (New England knocked the Colts out of the playoffs after the 2003 and 2004 seasons), Manning’s 5-6 postseason record, Brady and Belichick’s 12-1 postseason record, the 18-point Sunday night deficit. It all went away.
“I don’t get into monkeys, vindication,” Manning said. “I don’t play that card.”
Manning certainly earned the victory. Trailing 34-31 with 2:17 remaining, the Colts took over after a New England punt at their 20. Manning hit receivers Bryan Fletcher and Reggie Wayne to setup Addai’s touchdown run. Manning, who on the previous drive hit the thumb on his throwing hand on a teammate’s helmet, brought the Colts down 80 yards on seven plays in 1 minute, 17 seconds.
The drive has become Manning’s defining career moment. Instead of regular-season success, postseason failure and one commercial endorsement after another, Manning is now known, above all, as a Super Bowl quarterback.
“I’m very happy for Peyton,” Dungy said. “He was very, very calm. … It was just fitting.”
Manning also was not very good in the Colts’ two playoff victories this month, at home against Kansas City and on the road vs. Baltimore. Going into Sunday night, Manning had thrown five interceptions and had one touchdown pass. Sunday night, Manning, who got better as the game progressed, completed 27-of-47 attempts for 349 yards and one touchdown. Manning celebrated on the field after the game with his younger brother, Eli, the quarterback of the New York Giants.
The biggest NFL game in Indianapolis, in which three linemen scored, history was wild and unpredictable, far different from the two previous times these teams faced each other in the playoffs. In those games, New England dominated. The Patriots thought they were going to run away again Sunday night inside the dome on a cold, snowy evening.
But finally, it wasn’t Brady’s night. It was Manning’s.
Staff writer Bill Williamson can be reached at 303-954-1262 or bwilliamson@denverpost.com.
Super Bowl XLI: Bears vs. Colts
When: Sunday, Feb. 4, 4:25 p.m.
Where: Miami
TV: KCNC-4
Line: Colts by 7
KEY MATCHUP
Bears LB Brian Urlacher vs. Colts QB Peyton Manning
Urlacher is the NFL’s best middle linebacker for many reasons, one of which is his ability to drop deep into pass coverage. It’s not unusual to see him deflect a pass 20 yards down the field. Urlacher will often decipher a quarterback’s audible, then make his own audible for the Bears’ defense.
No quarterback in NFL history has audibled more than Manning, whose greatness may finally be stamped with a Super Bowl victory after rallying the Colts past playoff nemesis New England 38-34 in the AFC championship game.
– Mike Klis
