Everyone knows Peyton Manning from his brilliant acting in Papa John’s pizza commercials, but what you may not know is that he’s also a pretty good quarterback.
Yes, believe it or not, Manning has impressively found the time to sling a few passes in between pizza promotions, and while he’s yet to land himself an Oscar for his acting talents, he has managed a few NFL MVP’s and a Lombardi Trophy.
His most recent non-pizza-related achievement came last Sunday in the Broncos’ 41-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, when he became only the second player in NFL history to throw for 500 touchdown passes.
The only other quarterback in the 500 club is Brett Favre, who not only needed 49 more games than Manning did to reach the mark but also has never even appeared in a Papa John’s commercial. (I know — what a loser.)
Favre finished his career with 508 career TD tosses, which — barring Manning scoring the lead in the next Scorsese flick — he will likely surpass by the end of the month, establishing himself as the all-time “touchdown king,” with what appears to be a few more seasons left in the tank.
Even before that inevitably occurs, however, I have to think that the “best quarterback of all time debate” is as close to it’s ever been to agreeable.
Sure, Steve Young was more electric, Unitas wore the horseshoe first, and Brady and Montana have more rings, but Super Bowls can’t be the ultimate factor here. Might I remind you that Trent Dilfer is a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, too, and the only reason his name is being mentioned is for contrast.
Touchdowns aren’t everything either, though, but if they were, Manning has easily bested them all in the category and could easily more than double Montana’s 273 by the time he hangs it up.
You also have to consider how he entered the league. Young and Brady inherited Super Bowl-contender teams, while Manning was saddled with a rebuilding franchise and turned a 3-13 team into a 13-3 team in just one season.
Then there’s the “Omaha” outlier. Sure, cases can be made in other regards, but I can’t imagine anyone disagreeing with the fact that Peyton Manning is the most cerebral quarterback to ever play the game. There’s no one that reads a defense better than “The General” — hence, the nickname.
Manning’s deep knowledge of the game surely sprouts from his pedigree, growing up as the middle child in what has become the first family of football — he watched and learned from his father, Archie Manning, and sought to follow in his footsteps as an NFL quarterback.
Now at 38 years old and in his 17th NFL season, after a neck injury and one of the most media-frenzied free-agent signings of all time, Manning appears poised to make another Super Bowl run — the only asterisks-warranting factor on his otherwise pristine best quarterback to ever play résumé.
While we’ll have to wait to see whether or not he can win another ring or two to settle what has been a contentious debate, I’m sure we can all agree on one thing: Manning may be the Leonardo DiCaprio of the acting world, without a single Emmy, but at least he’s not the Dan Marino of the football world, without a Lombardi.