We may have seen the last of Manning vs. Brady games

varjao said:

St. Louis makes a lot of sense, they have a defense, money, and a dome. Dont know about the weather though. Maybe a Florida team? Tampa?

Click to expand...

Wouldn't a dome negate the weather effect?

Gronkowski123 said:

he'll beg belichick to return.

Click to expand...

Hey, I'd take Talib on an Arrington contract for him to have the privilege to return here and play with Browner and Revis.

pheenix11 said:

No thanks, he's too unreliable.

Click to expand...

I suppose if he wanted a vet minimum deal. . . .

strngplyr said:

Wouldn't a dome negate the weather effect?

Click to expand...

Not unless they can get HFA throughout. There's that whole January thing.

ctpatsfan77 said:

Not unless they can get HFA throughout. There's that whole January thing.

Click to expand...

Fairly certain the poster I quoted was questioning the STL weather though, which a dome negates, I dunno why else he'd bring it up followed by mentioning hotter climate teams like Tampa.

No way does the sport's (apparently) most marketable athlete retire. Just think of all the jingles left in that tank...

Bronco fans are like, 'Peyton Manning needs more weapons'...

ausbacker said:

The thing about a great rivalry is you need a great rival. The Patriots beating Manning has been enjoyable because whatever you choose to think about Manning, he's going to Canton and he's arguably a top 10 QB of all time. That's what makes the Patriots ownership of Manning special.

Personally, I think he goes around one more time and the Broncos somehow, throw the kitchen sink at the 2015 season. I'd like for Brady to get one more crack at beating Manning in his house.

Click to expand...

I think the 2014 season was Denver throwing the kitchen sink at the Superbowl.
I'm not an expert on their cap situation, but from what little I do know, I don't think it's possible to throw anything else. Denver has been really talented in part because so many of their playmakers are on cap friendly rookie contracts, and many of these important contracts are expiring. Not only that, other players, like Von Miller, are up free agents the year afterwards, so unless Denver wants to lose everybody, I think they actually have to start being careful now with what they do, especially if they intend to pick up Manning's contract.

Though if he does return, I guess a pay adjustment is all but guaranteed now

terabthia2 said:

If his big tailoff this year was due to an undisclosed injury that has been kept under tighter lids than Fort Knox, then maybe the offseason will give him one more chance with one more year. If John Fox is gone, then it would make sense with another team.

Something even more crazy just occurred to me: How about Buffalo? Hey, they went for Rex and would they even try to go for a bigger splash with Manning?

Probably won't happen that way, but it would sure be one last crazy fun hurrah, that's for sure.

My guess right now is he'll be back for one more run, but with whom I don't know...

Click to expand...

There's no way that P6 goes to Buffalo. No way. If he leaves Denver it will be to a team with great weather and a soft schedule.

Rob0729 said:

As much as I hate Manning, I respect him. I find it a bit depressing to think that it may be likely that we will never see another game where Brady and Manning go head to head. Sad to think. No matter how much you hate the Colts and then the Broncos and Manning, the rivalry was great.

Click to expand...

I'm Ok with not seeing another. It's been a good run, but Peyton is beat-up. It feels like time for him to step-out, while he is still one of the best. Obviously, things can change and a strong off-season might make him ready to compete again, but with his injury history, I just don't see that happening. Good luck to him. It's time for Tom to carry the mantle of responsibility for smacking-down young upstarts.

Brady_to_Moss said:

Jason La Canfora ‏@JasonLaCanfora 3m3 minutes ago
With Manning's future in doubt guess it's as good a time as any to pass along I'm told the team he really wanted to go to in '12 was HOU...

Click to expand...

Makes sense now too. He needs to be on a team that will let him win with 13 points.

MassPats38 said:

When I discussed the game with my father, his theory was the week off for the Pats and Broncos left them flat. The Pats snapped out of it, while the Donkeys never did. The Donkeys just looked bad tonight. I like the idea of the bye, but the time off rarely seems to help the emotion or rhythm of the team in the first game back (the Hawks didn't exactly distinguish themselves against the JV Panthers squad in their win - it was a game that became comfortable in the final quarter).

Click to expand...

The flatness is why Bill had an intrasquad scrimmage during the bye week. In the Pats' case, I don't think they came out flat so much, as they had a passive scheme. The Ravens were ready for it, and they picked-up 7 quick points. Denver had looked flat for weeks before the bye, so it's hard to say if they came-out flat or just weren't as good as they were earlier in the year, which was the case regardless. Green Bay and Seattle certainly didn't come-out flat.

Unfortunately, this sort of thinking could be the final piece of the argument for expanding the playoffs. Much has been made in the mediocracy about the underperformance of teams with the bye in the past 12 years - something around a 60-65% win rate, IIRC, compared to the historical 75% win rate since the current playoff format was adopted 20ish years ago. I'm sure that discussion will come-up again, but this year matched the historical win rate, so maybe the argument won't hold water in the public eye. Still, the expanded playoffs are probably too financially desirable to be shelved indefinitely.

This would mean seeing KC (again) and Houston, as well as Philly and SF. Things could be worse and would have been in other years. Still, an 8-8 wildcard (SF) would devalue the regular season games significantly and give things more of an NHL feel, where it's more important to be ready for the playoffs than to play good football. (The Ravens might even become the model for success - shudder.)

Bad timing for Peyton. Pats would have to travel to Denver for the next 3 years. He was playing pretty good until the game in New England. Another trip to Germany and I'm guessing he comes back next year and has a decent season.

Manning must've been injured as I don't see any other reason for the midseason drop off.
Also goes to show that we may only have a month, or a year, or two years left of great brady -- look how quickly a pocket passing manning (if he really isn't injured) has dropped off -- break the records last year, and this year was average at best in the last half season

pencilneckgeek said:

Lately, this sort of thinking could be the final piece of the argument for expanding the playoffs.

Click to expand...

I really hope not. Wildcard weekend this year may as well have been the regular season. Those games were just awful. Watching Carolina was just painful enough and they actually `deserved` to be there to represent their division.

He may retire but it won't be the last time we will see/hear him.

His Papa John's commercials will plague us for a long time. And he might go to being an NFL announcer or something. Ugh.

The folks here who think he will retire are FOOLS. He is 3000 yards short of Favre's record.Knowing FiveHead he will play on crutches for the JAGS for 5 more years if that is what it takes for him to cross the 3000 mark.

voluntarysaftey said:

Manning must've been injured as I don't see any other reason for the midseason drop off.
Also goes to show that we may only have a month, or a year, or two years left of great brady -- look how quickly a pocket passing manning (if he really isn't injured) has dropped off -- break the records last year, and this year was average at best in the last half season

Click to expand...

it's all arm for peyton. i just don't see how brady all of sudden throws ducks like peyton. and we already saw brady struggle many times notably last year and early this season. so whenever brady struggles, we will probably in denial saying 'it must be the oline'

FrodoBagginz said:

He may retire but it won't be the last time we will see/hear him.

His Papa John's commercials will plague us for a long time. And he might go to being an NFL announcer or something. Ugh.

Click to expand...

"Hello and welcome to what should be an excellent match up. I'm Phill Simms, joined by arguably the greatest quarterback ever, Peyton Manning."

voluntarysaftey said:

Manning must've been injured as I don't see any other reason for the midseason drop off.
Also goes to show that we may only have a month, or a year, or two years left of great brady -- look how quickly a pocket passing manning (if he really isn't injured) has dropped off -- break the records last year, and this year was average at best in the last half season

Click to expand...

You must not have been paying attention Manning's velocity was down after his return from spine surgery and regressed dramatically with more hits and time. Many of us were referring to it a year and a half ago. Brady has shown absolutely no sign of his velocity diminishing or arm strength waning at all, and continues to play some of the best football of his career. He hasn't had spine surgery and there is no reason at all to believe he will be on the same trajectory as Manning.