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| Peyton Manning will be calling the signals elsewhere in 2012 |
After months of speculation, it is confirmed that Peyton Manning will not be a Colt as of tomorrow.
The Colts were in a position that was too good to pass up. The Colts won the "Suck For Luck" sweepstakes. They now have their pick between Baylor's Robert Griffin III and Stanford's Andrew Luck. A selection between two franchise quarterbacks and an opportunity to build from scratch was more of a sure thing to Jim Irsay than on established superstar coming back from neck surgery to run the "Peyton Manning" offense.
The Colts fired head coach Jim Caldwell, vice chairman Bill Polian and General Manager Chris Polian after a 2-14 season without Manning. The writing was on the wall when this happened. That is when people grew even more suspicious that Manning would be done in Indy. The $28 M he would be owed had the Colts chose to pick up the last four years on his contract also made people speculate on whether a new quarterback was a better option
There was a distance that grew between him and the front office. Peyton Manning started speaking out, a trait you would expect more from his draft day counterpart Ryan Leaf. By now, most people knew that he would not be back in Indianapolis this upcoming season. Peyton Manning will be in a new uniform and for the second season since 1998, another quarterback will be starting in his place. The new quarterback is presumed to be Andrew Luck, but no word on whether they intend to draft him or Griffin. Whichever one succeeds Manning in Indianapolis will bear the burden of living up to Peyton.
As for Peyton, he will most likely get no consideration in the best quarterback of all time debate. Hell, this may be his last season depending on how his neck surgery goes. However, he is a future first ballot Hall of Famer. I will remember Manning's tenure for three things. He ran his own offense, he broke Dan Marino's single-season touchdown record and he had difficulty beating New England in the postseason.
The shame in this whole ordeal is that Peyton Manning's career did not end with a teary-eyed press conference in Indianapolis. It did not end with multiple Super Bowls. It ended with a media affair and everyone's infatuation with a certain Stanford quarterback. It ended with many familiar faces leaving town with him. It ended after a lost season.
But that's life.
The Colts were in a position that was too good to pass up. The Colts won the "Suck For Luck" sweepstakes. They now have their pick between Baylor's Robert Griffin III and Stanford's Andrew Luck. A selection between two franchise quarterbacks and an opportunity to build from scratch was more of a sure thing to Jim Irsay than on established superstar coming back from neck surgery to run the "Peyton Manning" offense.
The Colts fired head coach Jim Caldwell, vice chairman Bill Polian and General Manager Chris Polian after a 2-14 season without Manning. The writing was on the wall when this happened. That is when people grew even more suspicious that Manning would be done in Indy. The $28 M he would be owed had the Colts chose to pick up the last four years on his contract also made people speculate on whether a new quarterback was a better option
There was a distance that grew between him and the front office. Peyton Manning started speaking out, a trait you would expect more from his draft day counterpart Ryan Leaf. By now, most people knew that he would not be back in Indianapolis this upcoming season. Peyton Manning will be in a new uniform and for the second season since 1998, another quarterback will be starting in his place. The new quarterback is presumed to be Andrew Luck, but no word on whether they intend to draft him or Griffin. Whichever one succeeds Manning in Indianapolis will bear the burden of living up to Peyton.
As for Peyton, he will most likely get no consideration in the best quarterback of all time debate. Hell, this may be his last season depending on how his neck surgery goes. However, he is a future first ballot Hall of Famer. I will remember Manning's tenure for three things. He ran his own offense, he broke Dan Marino's single-season touchdown record and he had difficulty beating New England in the postseason.
The shame in this whole ordeal is that Peyton Manning's career did not end with a teary-eyed press conference in Indianapolis. It did not end with multiple Super Bowls. It ended with a media affair and everyone's infatuation with a certain Stanford quarterback. It ended with many familiar faces leaving town with him. It ended after a lost season.
But that's life.
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