INDIANAPOLIS — Sorry, Peyton Manning.
No umbrella drinks and poolside dunk gags this year.
For the first time in eight years, and only the second time in 10 years, Manning will not be playing in the Pro Bowl.
He’ll be going to be Miami, all right, but only to play in the other game.
The Super Bowl.
Down big and late in the first half to the astonishingly pesky New York Jets, Manning took complete charge of the AFC championship game here today at Lucas Oil Stadium, throwing three unanswered touchdown passes and leading the Indianapolis Colts to a 30-17 victory and second Super Bowl appearance in four years.
This year’s Pro Bowl will be played a week before, and in the same site of Super Bowl XLIV, so those chosen from the two Super Bowl won’t be able to participate. During last year’s Pro Bowl, Manning was part of a gag that threw then Broncos” quarterback Jay Cutler into the pool.
There will be less hijinx in Manning’s life the next two weeks. Although he was frustrated early by the blitzing, smothering Jets’ defense, Manning wasn’t about to get outsmarted by the New York Jets’ goofy coach Rex Ryan.
Down 17-6 with 2:11 left in the half, Manning connected on three consecutive passes to slot receiver Austin Collie for gains of 18, 16 and 16 yards. Touchdown. The Colts were back in the game.
By the time the Colts got the ball again in the second half, Manning was a quarterback in rhythm. The Jets took away the Colts’ top pass catchers in Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark, who combined for just four receptions worth 43 yards through three quarters.
So Manning instead went to his third- and fourth-best receivers, Collie and Pierre Garcon. Third- and fourth-best for the Colts are better than most. Manning threw four completions to Garcon in the Colts’ opening second-half drive, including a 4-yard fade to the end zone for the go-ahead score.
After the Jets lost their star rookie running back Shonn Greene to battered ribs in the third quarter and the Colts’ defense stopped giving up big plays, Manning mixed in Wayne and Clark with Collie and Garcon on his first drive of the fourth quarter.
The drive ended with Manning connecting with Clark on a 15-yard touchdown pass and the Colts up 27-17 midway through the fourth quarter
The best quarterback of the present now has a chance to stamp his case as the best quarterback of all-time. Manning has been the NFL’s most prolific passer since 1998, the year the Colts were fortunate enough to have the No. 1 overall draft pick.
To the Colts’ credit, they did not whiff. Can you imagine if they had listened to so many draft pundits and took Ryan Leaf?
Instead, the Colts have won at least 12 regular-season games for a record seven consecutive years. They didn’t always have the kind of defense built for postseason play, but Manning is now headed to Miami, where he will gladly surrender a chance to play in another Pro Bowl for the opportunity to play in only his second Super Bowl.
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com.
