I have watched with great surprise and consternation over the past few weeks as criticism – almost all of it unjust and unnecessary – has been heaped upon one of the greatest players in the history of the toughest position in sports.
If you follow me on Twitter, you finally saw it spill out last night in a series of tweets supporting the great Peyton Manning and castigating those of you with the foolish audacity to criticize him because he’s had a rough three game stretch.
The catalyst for my Twitter rant was reading this article about the idiotic comments that Colts radio voice Bob Lamey made about Manning. The comments were made off-air, but were picked up by a hot microphone. Here is the jist, as summarized by Florio at Pro Football Talk:
Our friends at StampedeBlue.com explain the comments of Bob Lamey, who reportedly said that NFL defenses had “figured Manning out,” that he should be benched for Curtis Painter, and that the Colts should draft Manning’s replacement in 2011.
When I saw this, my first instinct was to let out a giant guffaw and just move on. I mean, these comments are so ludicrous and so unbelievably insane that I was wondering for a minute if PFT had been taken over by writers for The Onion. Peyton Manning should be benched? For Curtis f’ing Painter? Seriously?
Here’s the thing: comments like this would be a little bit easier to accept if it was just from a frustrated rogue fan who’d knocked back a few too many Keystone Lights while watching Peyton toss away the Colts to chances to win last Sunday. That I could deal with. As sports fans we all get caught up in the heat of the moment and sometimes say things we don’t mean. But these comments by Lamey were not that. They were a premeditated manifestation of ideas he’s clearly ruminated about for a while now, at least the last three weeks. Pondering is one thing, but actually considering them enough to speak them out loud in any public setting is another.
And, as I tweeted last night, sadly Lamey is not a rogue voice. He actually speaks for a lot of fair-weather, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately Colts fans, which is perhaps the most disgusting and pathetic aspect of this entire story.
Now that I’ve properly set the stage, allow me to dive into my main point.
Colts fans and anyone associated with the team should be bending over backward to support Peyton Manning right now. Even in the face of the worst stretch of his career, the praise for him from Colts nation should be so effusive that one might think he’d thrown 11 touchdowns in the last three games, rather than 11 interceptions.
Can you posit critiques of Peyton’s performance? Absolutely. Can you discuss some of the reasons why he might be throwing more interceptions than usual? Absolutely. But the minute the conversation turns to “Peyton’s lost it” or “put in Curtis Painter”, a reality check is necessary.
So here is your reality check.
The Colts played football in Indianapolis without Peyton Manning from 1984 through 1997. During those 14 seasons of football, the team accomplished the following:
- Five winning seasons and three playoff appearances, never reaching the Super Bowl
- Six seasons with five or fewer wins
- One season scoring 350 or more points
You get the picture. The Colts were nothing on the field. And in a state consumed by basketball and amateur sports, the Colts were even less off the field. I grew up in Indiana and lived there during that entire time period. Moments of buzz about the Colts were few and far between. For all intents and purposes, no one really gave a flying flip about them.
Playoffs? Playoffs!? That was an appropriate question for the majority of the Colts’ pre-Manning existence in Indy.
Then Peyton came.
Archie’s oldest son has been in Indianpolis since 1998. Because so many people feel justified in criticizing Peyton right now, a refresher is obviously needed on what the team has accomplished with him at the helm:
- Ten winning seasons and 10 playoff appearances, including a Super Bowl victory.
- An amazing seven straight seasons with 12 or more wins, which ended this year, in a league set up for parity
- Ten seasons scoring 350 or more points
- He’s been an All-Pro five times and won four MVP awards
- A brand new stadium was built because of the success had during Peyton’s reign
I could keep going. He is also on pace to hold every significant statistical record for quarterbacks, for those of you who put stock in such things, though that is an infinitesimally small measure of Peyton’s worth as a player.
So, really Bob Lamey? You’re ready for the Peyton Manning era to end because he’s had three tough games? If that is really how you feel, you are an indefensible imbecile. And any Colts fans who agree with Lamey should have their horseshoes ripped right off of them.
Peyton Manning is the Indianapolis Colts more than any other current athlete is their franchise (now that LeBron is out of Cleveland, and maybe even if he was still there). Remove Peyton Manning from the Colts and what do you have? Just another crappy, moribund, boring NFL franchise fighting to be 9-7 and sneak into the playoffs for a Wild Card loss every third year…if they’re lucky.
The really unfortunate part is that at some point Peyton Manning will retire. Who knows how many more playoff appearances he’ll give Colts fans, how many more MVP awards he’ll win, and how much more general quarterbacking genius he’ll bestow upon the people of Indy; but I do know that Bob Lamey and every single person who roots for or is associated with the Colts will miss the hell out of Manning when he’s gone.
Don’t believe me? Ask Dolphins fans what life has been like without Dan Marino, whose Dolphins tenure didn’t come close to equaling Manning’s in terms of wins and consistency. Ask Broncos fans, who have had to cheer for a floundering franchise ever since John Elway windmilled into the end zone and out of Mile High Stadium. Ask 49ers fans, who hit the jackpot by having Steve Young ready to take over for Joe Montana; but how have things been since Young retired?
Peyton Manning has thrown 11 picks in three games, four of which have been returned for TDs. The Colts actually are having to fight for a playoff spot this year instead of having it locked up by Week 14. So what? Are you really that spoiled now Colts fans?
I remember when LeBron said that he had spoiled the city of Cleveland with his play. I thought he sounded like an arrogant prick. He did. Peyton Manning would never say something like that, but if he did he would be perfectly justified in doing so. He has spoiled the Colts so much that a voice as powerful as their own radio announcer felt compelled to call for Curtis Painter. I don’t think I’ve stopped shaking my head since I read that.
Okay, now let me take a quick break from ranting to offer some deserved praise for many of the Colts fans who follow me on Twitter. When I ranted last night, all of the responses I got were pro-Peyton and in support of my points. Many of these responses were from Colts fans, so I know there are sensible ones out there. I’m hoping that more of these sensible voices will speak up in support of their leader. In fact, once I’m done here, I will leave you the comment section to offer words of encouragement for Peyton Manning. A smart, informed, astute, and appreciative fan base would do that. Anyone who wants to disparage Peyton is welcome to comment as well, but my hope is that Colts fans take any such commenters to task and prove that they are not the spoiled brats that Bob Lamey’s comments suggest.
Even if Peyton Manning goes out and throws five interceptions tonight and the Colts lose, he should get a standing ovation from the Lucas Oil crowd at their next home game. If Peyton never throws another TD pass and never wins the Colts another game, he’s done enough to earn the unyielding support of every single person who associates themselves with this franchise that was so pathetic before Manning arrived.
Call me crazy, but I tend to look at being a fan of a team like being part of a family. You have to stick together, and a fan’s job is most important not when things are going well but rather when they are going poorly. Being a fan is easy when your team is winning 12 games a season. The question is do you have the fortitude to be as good as a fan when the chips are down. That is when the team really needs you and when a fan base’s true character is revealed. Believe me, as an IU basketball fan I have had my fortitude tested mightily over the past decade. With respect to the Colts, critiquing performance is one thing, but I’m seeing people start to doubt Peyton, forgetting about just how much he has done over a decade and just how devastated this team is by injuries this year. Peyton has not been himself by any means, but if anyone has earned the benefit of the doubt, especially from his home fans, it’s Peyton Manning.
Colts fans, you and I have not always seen eye to eye. I’m on record as saying that I do not have a great amount of respect for you as a fan base. Bob Lamey’s comments are the perfect microcosm for why, because I don’t think he’s alone in his thoughts. I’ve never, ever felt that the city of Indianapolis deserved a savant like Manning while good football cities like Cleveland and Kansas City have suffered with pathetic QBs year after year.
I’ve spoken my peace, now you speak yours. This is your chance to prove you actually deserve Manning by sticking up for him the one time during his career when his normally impeccable play cannot stick up for itself. I know Peyton Manning is up to the challenge of reversing the trend of the last three games. He’s proven himself time and again. Colts fans, you have not. Prove me wrong. Oust Bob Lamey as a rogue voice among a Colts nation that vehemently supports its hero. Peyton Manning deserves it.
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(P.S. Memo to Jim Irsay and Bill Polian: get the man a real coach too for crying out loud. He definitely deserves that.)
About Jerod Morris
