Peyton Manning Saga Could Upstage Super Bowl Itelf

In five days, the entire sports world will be focused on the Giants and New England Patriots as they play Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The entire sports world will be focused on Tom Brady and Eli Manning. Or will they?

You would think that the answer to that question is a no-brainer. You would think that the answer to that question wouldn’t require a lot of thought. But you might be wrong.

Eli’s older brother Peyton might upstage both star quarterbacks on Sunday. Peyton Manning might upstage both teams. He could upstage the Super Bowl. He might even upstage the entire NFL.

And you know what? It won’t be such a bad thing when it’s all said and done.

The entire NFL is wondering what the Colts are going to do with Peyton. He missed the entire 2011 season after undergoing three neck surgeries. His contract calls for the Colts to pay him $28 million dollars on March 8^th (at this point there is virtually no chance of that happening). The talk last week was that the Colts would wind up letting him go. Now there is talk that he might retire (making actor Rob Lowe right and guys like Chris Mortensen of ESPN looking very silly).

Make no mistake, the Peyton story is the talk of Super Bowl week. It has become bigger than the Super Bowl itself. The game is being played in the house that (basically) Peyton built. Without his contributions, it’s doubtful the Colts would have been as successful as they have been over the last twelve seasons. Without that success, do you really think the Colts would have such a nice new stadium to call home?

Let’s look at some of the other storylines we’ve gotten as this game draws closer. We can start with the Eli Manning talk. It’s okay if you want to put Peyton’s younger brother in the ‘elite’ class of quarterbacks. I’ve got no problem with that. After what he did this year he deserves it (and this is coming from someone that isn’t an Eli fan). But to actually sit there and try to debate who the better Manning is? That is ridiculous.

No matter what Eli has accomplished, even if he wins more Super Bowls than Peyton does, the older Manning is the better Manning. It’s not even close. Take a look at the numbers. Peyton has a better completion percentage. Peyton has thrown 399 touchdown passes with 198 interceptions (that’s better than a 2-to-1 margin). Eli has 185 TD passes compared to 129 picks. Again, advantage Peyton. I could give you more numbers, but I think you get my point.

So the talk about which Manning is better is ridiculous. It might fill a segment of a sports talk radio show, but there is no case to be made for Eli as the better Manning (even if he wins the second Super Bowl ring that Peyton doesn’t have).

Then there has been the talk about what Tom Brady’s place in history is if the Patriots win on Sunday. Again, it’s a short conversation. Whether or not New England wins Sunday is irrelevant. Brady has three Super Bowl rings. He’s one of the best that has ever played the game. He is right up there with guys like Joe Montana. There is no need to belabor the point.

There are three other stories that have people talking this week. The first one is about Pats tight end Rob Gronkowski and his high ankle sprain. Will he play? Well, all I can say is that Sunday is the Super Bowl, and ‘Gronk’ will do everything he can to play in the biggest game of his life. Other than that, again, it’s a short conversation. None of us really knows if he will be able to go. Only Gronkowski, the Patriots and a higher power knows, and none of them are telling us right now.

Now let’s talk about Tom Coughlin. Where does the head coach of the Giants belong if he wins another Super Bowl. I have a one word answer for you on that one – Canton. A win makes him a Hall of Famer in my mind. Multi-time Super Bowl winners have to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The only reason Bill Parcells isn’t at this point is because he came back time and time again.

And the last story people are talking about is the confidence of the New York Giants players. Antrel Rolle told reporters on Monday that the Giants ‘expect’ to win the Super Bowl. Patriots fans are upset at this. How dare he talk so brashly about winning it all? Well, what do you expect him to say? That the Giants hope to win the Super Bowl? Come on! Get over it.

So as you see, the stories that many in the media have tried to come up with for Super Bowl XLVI don’t have staying power. A least they don’t have the staying power that the Peyton Manning saga has. This is a soap opera that could last for at least another six weeks. What will the Colts do with him? Will he retire? And if he doesn’t retire, where will he play?

The Peyton story has juice. It has legs. And it could upstage the Super Bowl itself.