How do you cut Peyton Manning? Is it anything like when Verbal Kint asks “” In other words, you don’t?
Manning looked all of his 38 years in the Broncos’ stunning upset playoff loss to the Colts on Sunday. Manning was decidedly outplayed by his much younger counterpart, Andrew Luck. The Broncos scored a touchdown on their first possession, a drive kept alive by a late hit penalty, and that was it. Denver mustered just two more field goals the rest of the game.
The play that will be talked about years from now by Broncos fans came on a third-and-5 in the third quarter. Denver desperately need to get its offense going. Manning rolled right and found at least 20 yards of open field in front of him. for a first down. But he threw the ball far downfield trying to connect with Emmanuel Sanders against tight coverage on the sideline. Incomplete. The air went out of the stadium.
Manning played against the Colts with a thigh injury. He played several games at the end of the season with the injury. He’s an aging quarterback and clearly has lost a step. Or two. This begs some questions:
1. Why did Manning, with an injured leg and needing to be sharp for the playoffs, play nearly all of a mostly meaningless game against the lowly Oakland Raiders to finish the season? Why not save him and help aid his recovery?
2. With an injured plant leg, why did Manning repeatedly choose to throw deep against the Colts, something he hadn’t done all year? Throws that often went wild.
3. And most importantly, is Manning’s career over? That we don’t know, and he’ll take some time to make that decision.
Denver Post columnist Mark Kiszla argued many of these points after Sunday’s game, saying that we may see Manning play again but .
For context, let’s look at how he compares against other greats at the same age:
| Name | Year | W-L | Com. | Att. | Pct. | Yards | TDs | INTs | QB rating |
| Joe Montana | 1994 | 9-5 | 299 | 493 | 60.6 | 3,283 | 16 | 9 | 83.6 |
| John Elway | 1998 | 10-2 | 210 | 356 | 59.0 | 2,806 | 22 | 10 | 93.0 |
| Dan Marino | 1999 | 5-6 | 204 | 369 | 55.3 | 2,448 | 12 | 17 | 67.4 |
| Fran Tarkenton | 1978 | 8-7-1 | 345 | 572 | 60.3 | 3,468 | 25 | 32 | 68.9 |
| Peyton Manning | 2014 | 12-4 | 395 | 597 | 66.2 | 4,727 | 39 | 15 | 101.4 |
Manning’s 2014 season is very comparable, if you adjust for changes in the game, to Joe Montana, John Elway and Fran Tarkenton at the same age. And the one common theme?
Montana, Elway, Dan Marino and Tarkenton all retired when they were 38. So did Steve Young, Sammy Baugh, Y.A. Tittle, Phil Simms and Kurt Warner, among other great quarterbacks.
It’s the magic age for the end of a QB’s career. Manning, a master’s student of football’s history, knows all of this.
Manning, even with a bum thigh, is still a top-10 QB in the NFL. He was getting MVP attention through the first half of the season. Most teams would do just about anything to acquire a top 10 quarterback.
It’s hard to imagine Broncos general manager John Elway wants to plunge the franchise into the uncertain arms of Brock Osweiler, who has had maybe three meaningful snaps in three years.
So the question isn’t how do you cut Peyton Manning? You don’t. It’s up to him to make the call on whether to keep playing.
CHEW ON THIS
• Bob Newhart, and his button-down comic’s mind, was the head ref for Monday’s college football national championship game. After the world took to Twitter to ask if that ref who kept making calls in the Ohio State-Oregon game was him, .
You can decide for yourself if he’s telling the truth. Or just listen to his bit on “.”
• Walt Weiss, third-year manager of your Colorado Rockies, is now the longest-tenured head coach/manager in Denver pro sports. Chew on that. (h/t to )
• I still haven’t figured out why Kevin Mitchell — the 1989 National League MVP and a former outfielder for the Giants and Mets who turns 53 on Tuesday —
