Peyton Favre or Brett Manning

After losing a Super Bowl everyone thought he should win, I wonder if Peyton Manning is fast becoming the next Brett Farve.

You may say no way. Peyton Manning is beloved. He’s one of the most respected players in the game. He’s a true team leader and one of the hardest working guys in the game. On top of that, he’s probably the most marketable player in the NFL (and top five in all of sports). If you saw his MasterCard commercials or SNL guest spot, you’d know he’s also a very funny guy. On the other hand, Favre is a guy whom you either love or hate. He is a guy who always makes the big mistake or fails to come through in the clutch. An indecisive and selfish man who doesn’t know when to call it quits and turned his back on an entire city that loved and defended him to the death. What an a**hole.

But if you remember back, before all that happened in 2008, Brett Favre was beloved. He was one of the most respected players in the game. CNNSI’s man of the year. A guy who loved to play the game and always had fun out there (as shown by his smile and boyish like demeanor on the field). And in Green Bay, Wisconsin - Favre was king. He was the equivalent of Nick Serrano in the ROFFL. And if you watched “There’s Something About Mary”, you’d know that he had a sense of humor about him. Also, if you watched the MNF game against Oakland when he played so brilliantly and courageously after losing his father, you’d know that it was hard to be a critic of his. He was almost untouchable. But all that changed when he got into an ugly and bitter divorce with the Packers leading to his trade to the Jets.

My question is will that same fate happen to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts?

Sure, Peyton will sign an extension that will allow him to play out the remainder of his career at Indy. But wasn’t Favre supposed to play out the remainder of his career at Green Bay. But what if Peyton wants to play until he’s 40? What if he retires and decides he can’t be away from the game just like Favre?

Is it fair to make that assumption? Well if you look deep into the similarities of both players’ careers, then you can see similar career paths.

Let's take a look at each player's stats:

Super Bowl record:
Peyton Manning: 1-1
Super Bowl XLIV (Loss) – 31/45, 333 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Super Bowl XLI (Win) – 25/38, 247 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

Brett Favre: 1-1
Super Bowl XXXII (Loss) – 25/42, 256 yards, 3 TD’S, 1 INT
Super Bowl XXXI (Win) – 14/27, 246 yards, 2 TD’s, 12 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD

Regular season:

Peyton Manning:
12 seasons with Indianapolis (he’ll be 37 if/when he plays his 16th season)
192 consecutive games started
50,128 yards
366 TDs
4 regular season MVP’s

Brett Favre:
16 seasons with Green Bay
286 consecutive games started
69,329 yards
497 TDs
3 regular season MVP’s

A couple of interesting things stand out:
· Brett Favre was actually better in the Super Bowl, yet both will be defined by winning only one super bowl.
· And Peyton has a chance to break every single regular season record that Brett Favre holds. And from what I hear and read, Peyton knows very well about his place in history. And he wants to be known as the greatest quarterback ever.

And that is what I see as the potential key to Peyton emulating Favre’s end of career path. If Peyton wants to break the record for consecutive games started or yards thrown or TD’s thrown, then he’ll have to play into his late 30’s/early 40’s. And if Peyton doesn’t win that second title, and falls short several more times, then the criticism will start to weigh on him.

If the script unfolds as such, then as the years go by, I truly believe the rumblings will grow with intensity. The only way for Peyton to stop them is to win another title and know when to gracefully bow out. As a Peyton fan, I for one hope he wins at least one more title and retired as a Colt. Because as much as I love seeing Favre play, I wish he would have retired as a Green Bay Packer. And I really hope I’m wrong on this.