Colts need Luck to pass Peyton

In March 2012 Colts fans worlds collapsed.

The era was over.

Their saviour was no more.

The decision was made, Peyton Manning was cut.

Manning delivered 11 playoff slots in 13 years.

Manning triumphed in Super Bowl XLI.

It surely wasn’t possible to replace arguably the best player the NFL has ever seen?

Later in the same year, Andrew Luck was the overall and Colts number 1 pick in the draft. Luck followed Manning’s path to the Colts in similar circumstances; in 1998 Manning was the first overall draft pick- again for the Colts. Many Colts fans desperately wanted to keep Manning, slowly integrating Luck into the team so that the mantle could be passed from old to new. However we weren’t going to witness a situation of the Master and his Apprentice. Instead Manning donned the orange Jersey and mounted his bronco to ride into the final chapter of his NFL career.

On Sunday though, the prodigal son returns ‘home’ to Indianapolis as the Broncos take on the Colts. The return of a past hero to the place that helped mould him has predictably been whipped into a media frenzy. Colts owner Jim Irsay didn’t this week shy away from questions put to him on Manning; he in fact made it clear he felt the Colts ought to have had more Super Bowl wins whilst Manning was on the team. When posed the question whether the Colts could have had both QB’s on the one roster he responded with:  “We’ve changed our model a little bit, because we wanted more than one of these,” (he indicates his Super Bowl ring).

You don’t have to be a mathematician to realise for the Colts in the long term, sacrificing Manning was the right thing to do. Manning’s salary cap figure in 2013 is over three times that of Luck who was of course restricted due to his rookie status. The extra cap room from Manning’s departure theoretically speaking allows the Colts roster to improve from bottom to top. With Manning recovering from major neck surgery there was a question mark as to whether he would ever recover to the level he was originally at. Hindsight’s a wonderful thing though. The Colts sacrificed the chance to have 5 more years with Manning at the helm to a potential 15+ with Luck.

With first overall draft pick you know you’re getting a quality player (JaMarcus Russell aside perhaps!) but that doesn’t mean you’d be capable of carrying on where a player of Peyton Manning’s stature left off. One watch of Andrew Luck though and you realise he truly is something special. Luck instinctively does the difficult aspects of the quarterback role well. Luck has the ability to move in the pocket; something he is doing nearly EVERY throw at the moment, you have to question whether Manning would’ve survived with the same o-line. Luck has remarkable accuracy that allows him to direct throws almost through an eye of a needle. He has incredible game intelligence that far surpasses expectations for his age- so much so that the Colts give him freedom to change the play at the line of scrimmage. Perhaps more surprising is just how agile and athletic he is. Clearly his pace doesn’t compare to that of RG3 but at 6ft 4 and with a solid frame he’s enough speed to get out of trouble or at the very least the physique to withstand a hit. With a rookie season resulting in 11-5 and a playoff berth there’s surely only more to come.

There are many who have chosen to erase Manning from their memory and (I include Irsay in this) suggest what he did in his time there is irrelevant- they are very much mistaken. Fans flocked to see Manning play, a mediocre franchise with horrendous record became instantly recognisable. Manning not only led the Colts to wins, but also the city. Without Manning there wouldn’t be the Lucas Oil Stadium.

Luck came into a franchise which isn’t comparable to the one Manning joined but in hindsight would Irsay actually have cut Manning had he known the recovery from major neck surgery would be verging on a miracle? Or does he genuinely think Luck can deliver the multiple Super Bowl rings he so craves. Either way, come Sunday, football fans can embrace the chance to see two genuinely supreme quarterbacks on the same field. As for Colts fans, here’s a quote from historian F.W Maitland that I feel is somewhat relevant to the Manning/Luck dispute: “We should always be aware that what now lies in the past once lay in the future.”