You may know him as a spokesman for corporations like MasterCard, Gatorade, DirecTV and Sprint.
Or you may know him as a guy who has shown his funny side with appearances on Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons.
But to many, Peyton Manning is known as the quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts, the best quarterback in the NFL.
And while all of this is accurate, the majority of people do not see the full picture – Manning isn’t just the best quarterback in the NFL right now.
He is the best quarterback in the history of the league.
Sure, you may think I’m crazy for saying this about a guy with only one Super Bowl ring. But we also need to take into consideration the teams of which he has been a part. While the Colts’ offense has flourished under Manning, the defense has always disappointed.
And despite this, the Colts have still won nine playoff games under Manning, including the Super Bowl in the 2006-07 season.
Another thing that many people don’t realize about Manning is that he is already near the top of the record books in numerous passing categories, despite only being 34 years old.
He is currently third in career touchdown passes, career completions, career passer rating, fourth in career passing yards and first in career passing yards per game and career touchdown passes per game.
Manning also put together the best statistical decade of any quarterback in NFL history from 2000-2009.
He had 115 regular season wins and 124 wins, including the postseason, both being the most for any starting quarterback in a decade. He also threw for 314 touchdowns over this span, also a decade record.
Manning has also never thrown for fewer than 26 touchdowns in his career, a record among quarterbacks. He also has the record for most seasons having thrown for over 4,000 yards, and has done so in 10 of his first 12 seasons.
He has the largest career touchdown/interception difference, which is a staggering 194. The statistical support is overwhelming, and the numbers game is clear.
Manning also has four regular season Most Valuable Player awards to his name- the most out of any player in NFL history, not just quarterbacks. Only four other players have multiple awards, and only Brett Favre joins Manning as players with more than two.
Speaking of Brett Favre, I’m sure many of you are wondering how I can overlook such a talented player. Don’t get me wrong, Favre is one heck of a player, but he just doesn’t have the overall stats that Manning does.
While Favre has the most touchdown passes in NFL history, he also has thrown the most interceptions over his career than any other quarterback. He has never been the best decision maker, and it is reflected in his stats. Manning, on the other hand, rarely throws interceptions and has thrown only 153 in the past 11 seasons, compared to Favre’s 226 over the same span.
Who knows, maybe the whole reason that Favre keeps deciding to come back is to try to pad his stats to make them harder for Manning to reach.
But if Manning keeps up this pace, both Dan Marino and Brett Favre should be on the lookout and should expect to be passed in the record books.
They are all bound for the Hall of Fame. But when it comes to quarterbacks, you don’t get better than Peyton Manning.
