And They Talked About Peyton's Legacy
Entry posted by WeSpy
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Whew! What a week. The Super Bowl was fantabulous, Indianapolis was the best host city in years, and the media covered all the angles---no, wait, they just pulled out all their articles from four years ago... Copy and paste covers a multitude of sins...and typos, too. 
Anyhow, one of the main topics discussed all week was Peyton Manning. Questions ranged from his health to his children and seemingly never ended, but the question that led to the topic of this week's blog was even termed 'blasphemous' by one of the analysts on NFL Total Access. It is as follows: "Has Eli surpassed Peyton?"
I decided to tackle this question---not only because it is pertinent to the Colts---but because my Mind and my Heart were just itching to get into the debate. This discussion was different from all the past debates and probably all future ones as well. Why? My Mind and my Heart agreed.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said, "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." By Winston Churchill's definition, I am a fanatic. That means my Heart and Mind are as well. Thus, I cannot change my convicton and won't change the subject that was most discussed this past week. That being said, let's dive into and trudgen along in the middle of the discussion that my Heart and my Mind engaged in. Last night.
My Mind started things off. Maybe he was quick to begin this week because he didn't want my Heart giving him grief over being wrong the last time the two matched wits. My Mind said, "Heart, can you believe that people are even asking this?"
My Heart responded, "Well, Mind, we knew that no matter who won the Super Bowl, some question of this nature would come up. Either it would have been Brady being the greatest of all time or it would have been Eli as the better brother. Eli's team won, and so---here we are."
"Well," My Mind answered, "That's true. But you know, I remember seeing a comment on the forum the other day that went something like this: 'Great teams win Super Bowls. Great quarterbacks put up stats.' I don't know if I could agree more with that poster. When you look at Eli and Peyton, you see Eli having few good years and two Super Bowls, while Peyton has multiple good years and 2 Super Bowl appearances. It seems then, to me, that Peyton is a greater QB than Eli, because he has put up stats even with less than championship caliber teams."
My Heart would've been nodding its head if it had possessed one. "Exactly, Mind. And that's not to say that Peyton hasn't had good teams or that Eli has had better teams his whole career, it's simply stating the fact that Peyton's legacy is still bigger than Eli's because of his consistent success. Do you realize that Peyton holds over 50 NFL records? Eli holds under 5."
My Mind was in agreement. "Absolutely. And no matter what happens, Peyton will always be remembered as the better Manning. Even though Eli's season was amazing, it wasn't even close to one of Peyton's great ones. Do you realize that Eli's best season is only better than 5 of Peyton's 14? And if anything, the Colts 2-14 record this year only solidified Peyton's place."
They kept talking, even though it was late, and I hated to interrupt. So instead, I penned this to post here on my blog. I won't take the time to outline the arguments for Peyton's place as the better Manning, because any real fan of the game can see that for themselves. I will, however, requote Winston Churchill.
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." I am a true fanatic. Of Peyton. Of football. Of the Colts. And of the truth. 'Til next week!
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