By James Howey
Sports fans are rarely able to witness history being made. On NBC’s Sunday Night Football, the sports world had the privilege to see the Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, arguably the greatest quarterback ever, become the NFL all-time leader in touchdown passes.
Manning passed Brett Favre and now has 510 touchdown passes in his career and he is far from done. Many people have speculated that Manning may have a staggering 600 touchdown passes when his career is over.
When you think about where Manning was in his career just a few years ago, this accomplishment is truly remarkable. Manning could hardly throw a football 15 yards and many feared that his career was over. Now Manning is back and playing better than ever.
Manning is often the recipient of a great deal of flak for his playoff record. I believe that Manning’s greatness is often taken for granted. A story came out last week that a number of scouts at the NFL said that, if given the choice, they would rather play against Peyton Manning than San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
In this day and age, it’s easy to become overly enamored with the new mobile quarterbacks who are emerging in football. The beautiful brilliance of Manning’s drop-back artistry has too often been overlooked. It’s hard to imagine seeing another quarterback with the type of command and precision that Manning plays with. Watching Manning play quarterback is like watching Picasso paint, listening to Einstein explain the theory of relativity or watching Charlton Heston act. We are witnessing a master of his craft at a level that few have ever reached.
As a long time Broncos fan, I can’t even begin to explain how fortunate I and other Bronco fans are to have Manning leading our team. Before Manning signed with the Broncos, they were plagued with constant inconsistency and mostly average quarterback play. Now the Broncos are a Super Bowl contender every year and have the best quarterback in the league.
So the next time you get the chance to watch Peyton Manning play, just take it in and enjoy it. Relish in the fact that we get to watch a legend for just a little while longer than most people thought several years ago.
Contact James Howey, sports editor, jhowey@jccc.edu