re: Jim Irsay: Colts underachieved in the playoffs with Manning

I would agree.

Of course they wanted 3 or 4...he just told the truth!

Well...ge aint lying. I know the Manning fanboys wont like it but there is plenty of truth in Irsay's statement

To quote LeonPhelps from a thread a month or so ago:

quote:

---

Context is desperately needed for his playoffs. His post-season passer rating is higher than Brady's despite his regular season passer rating being lower, btw. Brady won 3 super bowls when he was not an elite QB. He has not won any since becoming elite. It is a TEAM sport. It takes the entire team and good coaching to win it all. Manning is one person. He cannot block for himself, catch his passes, kick field goals (frick you, Vanderjagt), or play defense. Vanderjagt cost him a few playoff games. The defense definitely cost them some playoff games. And Jim Caldwell's terrible coaching cost them the super bowl as well as the playoff game against the Jets in 2010.

Manning has the record for most 90+ passer rating playoff games with no turnovers that resulted in a loss. Why? Because the team around him has usually been not very good. The Colts went 2-14 as soon as he was no longer playing, the same team he took to the playoffs the previous year.

The Broncos should have beaten the Ravens last year. There was a blatant pass interference not called when Manning threw a pick 6 in the first half. Decker's arm was clearly yanked down before the ball got there, causing the ball to go through his hands untouched and land in the defender's hands. Then there was the ridiculous 80 yard bomb that tied the game. Those sorts of things never seem to happen to Brady. It certainly didn't happen to Montana, who had a top 5 defense every year he won the championship and a hall of fame coach that revolutionized the game of football.

Vanderjagt missed a 40 yard field goal to tie the game late in the fourth quarter in 2005. The Colts defense allowed Billy Volek to lead the Chargers to a game winning drive in 2007 or 2008 (Rivers and Tomlinson were both hurt). Peyton took the lead with less than a minute to go against the Jets in 2010, and the Jets returned the ensuing kickoff 50 yards, then completed a pass, then Jim Caldwell inexplicably called a timeout, then Sanchez threw a 20 yard pass, and the Jets kicked a field goal to win as time expired. How any of these losses are on Peyton is beyond me. Yet he is someone called only a regular season champion. He has the record for the biggest comeback in an AFC or NFC championship game when he came back from down 18 to beat the Patriots in 2006. He had a perfect passer rating in a playoff game in 2003 ended up losing to the Pats in the championship game when they illegally mugged the receivers every single play, leading the stricter enforcement of the no contact beyond 5 yards rules that was totally ignored in that playoff game. I could go on and on. But all these lazy commentators want to focus on is the playoff record and the fact that he has only 1 super bowl.

So to base his legacy on how many rings he has is lazy analysis. It is not tennis.

---

If nothing else, we'll get a chance to see if Peyton really does have that next level Jordanesque killer instinct because if this doesn't piss him off and encourage him to go for sixty then nothing will.

Colts coaches and players have to be loving these comments seeing as Rivers gave them more than they could handle.

The one time they won it they had a very solid running game and the defense played great.

I would say they overachieved in the regular season with Manning, but achieved closer to their talent level in the playoffs.

Here is a stat for you. Peyton Manning's team has led in the 4th quarter in 11 consecutive playoff games. That does not sound like someone who folds in playoff games.

Irsay was talking about changing a system from relying on one person to the entire team pitching in. Here is former GM Casserly explaining what Irsay is trying to say:

LINK

Biggest stat provided by Casserly is the fact that the Pats won their first super bowl with Brady when Brady was making $315K! His second and third super bowl, he was making $7.5M. Since he got his big contract, they could not afford to pay for a great defense and have not won a super bowl since.

My addition: In the last 15 years or so, only one QB was making elite QB money when he won the super bowl - Peyton Manning. All other QB's who won were paid well below market value, allowing the team to spend more on other players.

Still comes off as an ungrateful prick

Click