Manning is, by a wide margin the best regular-season QB of all time. it remains to be seen if his decline over the past two months is the start of his demise or a mere blip. remember, Brady was significantly worse last year than he had been for many years, leading many to posit that, given his age, it was more than likely a sign that he had entered terminal decline. that thesis is now dead, as he has rebounded completely at age 37.
despite that, I do think Manning is very likely to be in decline. Brady's lone severe injury was a blown ACL. there's no reason to believe that continues to haunt him in the least. Manning's neck injury, which required three surgeries, is much scarier. he's stated that he has it evaluated every offseason, and would retire without hesitation should it force him to go under the knife again.
Manning's late surge as a Bronco is the most impressive an athletic feat I've witness. looking back: 2010 was his worst season since his rookie season of 1998. he then had multiple surgeries on his neck and missed all of 2011 - and as I said, those are not far more dangerous than the ligament replacement of surgeries that have been all but perfected by the top orthopedists. when Manning made clear his desire to return in 2012 an hit the free agent market, I took the position that whoever signed him to a massive contract was committing a colossal error. as stated earlier, his 2010 season was not elite but only above average, and given his age, it more than likely indicated he was entering the decline phase of his career. even ignoring the major injury risk and the missed 2011, his 2010 performance and advancing age meant there was every chance that a fully healthy Manning would be but a league-average QB.
I was dead wrong. Manning's 2012-2014 is right up there with the great QB performances of all time. his 2013 season was one of the top five QB-seasons of all time (along with Marino 1983, Manning 2004, Brady 2007, and Rodgers 2011).
what makes it all the more amazing is that Manning's physical skill has markedly diminished. it's obvious to the naked eye that his arm strength is not only weaker than it was a decade ago, but it's actually strikingly poor. if he were being scouted at the NFL combine scouts would write without hyperbole that he has less ability to put velocity on a throw than any QB they'd ever seen. he can still, in a sense, throw the ball far, but for the most part he's doing it with accuracy and an unparalleled, encyclopedic football mind - the defense may as well tell him what they're doing before the snap.
A rare good post about a sports related topic on the Atlas Forum. Good job, Tweed. I enjoyed that read.
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