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Colts 15-Ravens 6

When the Denver Broncos won their first NFL championship, John Elway sucked. In Super Bowl XXXII, one of the all time top quarterbacks completed 12 of 22 passes for 123 yards and one (most hurtfully timed) interception. You can look it up.

And you'll have to look it up. Nobody but nobody remembers Elway's numbers from Denver'
s stirring 31-24 victory over the Packers. Almost a decade later, the great man's ineptitiude is lost in the glossy haze of revisionist history. All that's left is the "this one's for John" tearjerking and Elway's admittedly marvelous head over heels scramble for a first down in the second half.
And that's as it should be. Elway's teammates took him off a hook he never should have been hung on in the first place.

The alert reader will note Elway's performance was WORSE than Manning's (15-30, two INTs) was yesterday against Baltimore. Manning was subpar by any standards, let alone his own, but he turned in many more significant pass completions than Elway managed in his career-fulfilling triumph.

One might think commentary on the Colts' win over the NFL's best defense would've simply left Manning out of the equation. Surely some observers would realize for the Colts to carry their quarterback to a win instead of their accustomed other way around meant Indianapolis is a far better TEAM than it's been in seasons past.

The game evolved into a contest out of Brian Billick's dreamiest fantasies-a contest of rousing violence, no scoring, and error avoidance. When push came to shove, the Colts won by controlling the ball with simple, straight ahead, muscle on muscle running. It was a manly effort indeed by a team constantly derided as just this side of sissified.

In expected but saddening fashion, the Colts' win was seen through the prism of Manning's performance. Indianapolis was somehow tainted because Manning didn't have a big day, although the exact opposite was in fact true. One gets a skewed view of Manning in these parts, as he's the opponent Pats' fans hate and fear the most. But on a sportswriter's web site where participants earn their living by knowing better, Manning drew 10 slams for every bit of praise his team received.

Manning does far, far too many television commercials. This should not blind us to the bedrock fact of yesterday's game. It's the idea every coach I've ever met has tried his hardest to impress upon fans and journalists, the first cliche in a sport built upon bromides. To wit, it's a team game.

Win and all 45 players on the active roster did something to contribute to their shared success. Lose and the same is true in a negative direction. It's really simple to figure this out. Football is played with 11 guys on a side, more than all the other games. Ergo, it's the sport where the collective matters most and the individual least.

Of all Tom Brady's gifts as a quarterback, his greatest is his ability to suss out his proper role in any given game more quickly than any QB I've ever seen. When Brady perceives the Pats can win if he does less and concentrates on error avoidance, he downshifts immediately. There's never been a big star so good at playing second banana, a character attribute beyond rare among quarterbacks, all bred to be leaders since childhood.

It's also an attribute Manning has never had, partly due to his serious, borderline grim, personality, and partly because he never felt he had the luxury of winning Best Supporting Actor. Throughout his distinguished career, one could look at Manning's individual passing stats after a game, and with no other information, immediately divine whether the Colts had won, lost, or been clobbered.

Not yesterday. Obviously the Colts aren't going to win many playoff games with an average or worse Manning. The point is, they won one, one few folks thought they would under any circumstances. The unhealthy co-dependency between the quarterback and his 52 teammates was broken, if only for a day.

To me, that only makes the Colts a far more dangerous opponent for the rest of the season. Perhaps you disagree. OK, but Bill Walsh, Bill Belichick, and the ghosts of Paul Brown and Vince Lombardi are on my side of the argument.

posted by Michael Gee @ 10:26 AM