Monday, Jan. 5, 2004 | 9:51 a.m.
Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4084.
For years John Elway lived with the indignity and the rap that he couldn't win the big game. It was a preposterous supposition and an unfair burden, given his otherwise fantastic career.
Yet it was part of his reputation, an almost equal consideration (along with his toughness and ability to rally a team) when describing the Denver quarterback.
Elway was 0-3 in Super Bowl games until the Broncos won the championship in 1998 with a 31-24 victory against Green Bay. They also won the following year, in 1999, by a 34-19 score against Atlanta.
Only then were Elway's previous Super Bowl losses -- to the New York Giants in 1987, to Washington in 1988 and to San Francisco in 1990 -- placed in perspective. Elway, history shows, was always a "winner." It's just that his team didn't always win the final game of the season.
It took a Super Bowl victory, even with running back Terrell Davis as the '98 MVP, to take the onus off of Elway.
That same onus leapt off the back of Peyton Manning on Sunday in Indianapolis.
Playing one of the greatest first halves in NFL history, Manning completed all but two of his 18 passes and threw for four touchdowns as the Colts jumped to a 31-3 lead against the Elway-less Broncos in an AFC wild card playoff game. Indianapolis finished the game intact, winning 41-10 to advance to next weekend's conference semifinal game at Kansas City.
Manning was fantastic, completing 22 of 26 passes for 377 yards and five touchdowns, and anyone who was foolish enough to believe he was a habitual choker has likely been silenced for good.
"I feel the clock ticking," Manning said just before the game to a TV reporter, reflecting on his 0-3 record as the Colts quarterback in playoff games before Sunday. "I feel responsible when we don't win."
His earlier playoff failures, including last season's abysmal 41-0 loss to the New York Jets, are but an anomaly now. Manning, at 27 years old and coming off a regular season in which he was named the league's co-MVP, has fully arrived as a major star.
His passes, especially in the first half, were sharp and crisp and inevitably led to significant gains. In rapid order he connected with Brandon Stokley for a 31-yard score; hit Marvin Harrison for a touchdown when the Broncos goofed and failed to touch the temporarily downed receiver; found Harrison on a slant out from 23 yards for another score; and whistled one over the middle to Stokley for an 87-yard touchdown strike.
It was a numbing performance by a superb player, who, six years into his pro career, had been receiving far too much negative publicity for the Colts' previous playoff lapses. In fact, in seemingly every written or verbalized advance account of the Colts' matchup with the Broncos, Manning's 0-3 record was mentioned within a moment or two.
Now the pundits, and skeptics, can talk about something else. Now there's no need, or market, for questioning Manning's credentials.
The son of a former quarterback and the first choice in the 1998 draft, Manning was all but born with a silver spoon in his mouth -- and a target attached to his back. His first NFL contract, for $48 million over six years, marked him again as the type of Golden Boy some fans like to dislike while others wait for him to substantiate his royalty.
The Colts installed him as a starter as a rookie and the team slowly evolved, first under Jim Mora and now under Tony Dungy, as a competent, playoff-worthy franchise on a yearly basis. Yet in three previous playoff tries, Indianapolis was one-and-out to the dismay of its followers and the delight of Manning's critics.
Even objective media types were constantly belittling the Colts as a team that always peaked too soon, as if such a thing could be diabolically arranged. And when Indy opened this season 5-0 before completing the regular season 12-4, the howls were heard again.
Bettors were torn as this game with the Broncos arrived, the Colts having the advantage of the home field but having been routed, 31-17, by the same team at the same site two weeks earlier. Beyond Manning's 0-3 record (and Dungy's four consecutive playoff losses as a head coach), those who sided with Denver and took the 3 points the sports books in Las Vegas were offering did so with the justification that the Broncos had the better running game and the better defense.
Turns out they had neither.
And, just as important, the Colts not only had Manning but had Manning at his picture-perfect best. He had said the team had a great practice Friday -- "not one ball touched the ground" -- but even he couldn't have anticipated playing this well under such a bright light.
I couldn't help but think of Elway, and not just because it was the Broncos on the other side of the field. I never agreed with it or espoused to it, but I always felt bad for the heat he had to take and the torment he had to endure until the Broncos crossed the final hurdle and won their final game.
Maybe the Colts won't win next week and maybe Manning, who will be a free agent after this season, will never win a Super Bowl. But if he and they fail on either count, hopefully we've at least passed the point of thinking it's because the quarterback isn't up to the challenge.
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