It's hard to describe Manning's latest exploits without resorting to cutting analogies. For last night, in the made-for-TV Thursday NFL Opener (that's how they do it nowadays; heaven forbid we wait till Sunday to get things started), Manning -- and take your pick: sliced; carved; filleted; cut up; gored; drew and quartered the formidable New Orleans Saints for three touchdowns and endless big plays. And his Colts broke open a tight game and romped, 41-10.
So often he made it look easy.
Watching Manning play quarterback -- and with no little credit to his offensive line and talented weaponry in his backfield and the guys split wide -- is like watching the X's and O's of a chalkboard come to life. He executes the passing play as if he's having a game of catch in his backyard. He makes QB look so simple, that even I feel like I can strap on a helmet and do it, because it just doesn't seem to be all that difficult. Fake a handoff on a play-action, drop back five or six steps, and loft a bullseye to a streaking receiver. Roll out and fire a bullet into another pass catcher's gut. He makes the 40-yard pass look like the highest percentage, lowest risk throw in the playbook.
If you look closely, you MIGHT see some sweat
And it doesn't suffice to say, "Well, it's only one game." In fact, that's what's so SCARY about it. It IS only one game. One down, 15 to go -- and already three TD passes on his stat line. When the Colts visited Detroit on Thanksgiving Day in 2004, Manning made quarterbacking look like shooting fish in a barrel. The Lions' secondary was helpless. It looked like freaking no-contact drills. Manning ended up with five TD throws that day, and I swear that if Tony Dungy hadn't employed his personal version of the Mercy Rule and didn't pull Manning out of the game in the third quarter, I'm convinced the final tally would have, could have, been 10. Yes, 10 touchdown passes. It was fitting, I thought, that Manning should wreck the Lions on a day known for turkey carving. A porous pass coverage, feeble pass rush, and an on-the-money Manning is a combination that can be like watching one of those nature videos when the food chain is in action: you tend to wince as the smaller animal is devoured in graphic form by the larger predator.
A couple weeks ago, against the Lions in a preseason game, Manning faced 3rd and 12 early -- on the game's third play. On play #1, the Lions had sacked him (a rarity) for about a 10-yard loss. But Manning went into chalkboard mode, calmly evading Lions pass rushers and, moving to his left, lobbed a perfect throw down the sideline. The receiver caught it. Manning had converted the 3rd-and-12. Easily. Then he proceeded to do all those knife and blade things to the Lions. And his machete was sharpened to midseason form.
Against the Saints, a team that some feel could represent the NFC in February, Peyton Manning exerted his will. He did his usual spread-the-wealth thing and got just about every non-lineman involved in the pass catching party. Always, it seemed, the Colts receivers were a step ahead of the Saints defenders. And always, it seemed, Manning delivered the perfectly thrown pass.
Forget the comparisons of brother Eli to Peyton Manning. It's not even close, nor will it ever be. And that pretty much goes for the rest of the quarterbacks in the NFL. Manning plays in a league of one. He's doing it already -- on a Thursday.
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