“HAVE NO FEAR of perfection. You’ll never reach it,” is an oft-repeated quote from the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí. That the man who designed the Chupa Chups logo — and painted all those melting clocks — was of that opinion should come as no surprise.
Surrealism, of course, is the expression of unconscious thought without reason. As a cultural movement, it could never account for anything as reasoned, mechanical and all too conscious as Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos offence.
Last night, the Broncos moved to 5-0 and are now unbeaten in 16 regular season games. Manning has thrown 20 touchdowns in five games and, in a move that fooled the Cowboys defence, the crowd, the cameraman and pretty much the whole world, even ran in for a rushing touchdown — his first since 2008 — on a cleverly disguised bootleg.
GIF: Business Insider
Manning’s league-leading statistics of 1,884 yards, 20 touchdowns and just one interception through five games are all the more remarkable when you consider he’s 37-years old and just two seasons removed from potentially career ending neck surgery that saw him part ways with the Indianapolis Colts.
That the Broncos lead the league in points scored (230), total yards (2,449), passing yards (1,869) and total touchdowns (29) should also come as no surprise. The Broncos have been lights out when in possession of the football.
So, right now, it’s really difficult to see what can stop Denver from winning the Super Bowl next February but there are a few chinks of light for opponents.
The defence is one. Last night they gave up 522 net yards and 48 points to a Cowboys offence that had ranked 19th in yards per game (341) and 11th in scoring (26 points per game) before the shoot-out in Dallas.
The run game is another cause for concern. Though Knowshon Moreno ran for 93 yards on 19 attempts Sunday, they still average just 116 yards per game on the ground which only makes them a mid-ranking NFL team in that department.
The main concern for Manning though will be his continuing struggles in the postseason, especially in the cold. While the future Hall-of-Fame-quarterback has a nearly 70% win percentage in the regular season, that drops dramatically to 45% in the postseason including eight one-and-done visits to the playoffs.
Manning’s postseason record is even worse when you only include cold-weather games. Indeed, the former Colts playcaller has never won a playoff game when the temperature has dropped below 40 Fahrenheit (4.4 Celsius) and, given that the Broncos will almost certainly have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, it must be a significant worry that the average temperature in Denver for January is 29.7F (-1.2C).
Oh, and Super Bowl XLVIII will take place in the outdoor environs of Met Life Stadium, New Jersey where the average February temperature is 33.8F (1C).
However, these are all questions for later in the season. Right now we should just sit back and admire the cool, calm and controlled way Manning is marching the Broncos offence up and down the field. If they ever design a football robot, Peyton Manning will surely provide the prototype.
We should enjoy it while it lasts too, at 37 years of age we won’t have too many more seasons to see him lift a second Vince Lombardi trophy.
Speaking of the former Green Bay Packers coach, he once said that if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence. The first five weeks of this season have shown that if you chase Peyton Manning, you see the ball fly over your head for a touchdown.
He’s our generations Dan Marino. We are so lucky that we also have our generations Joe Montana too in Tom Brady. However it’s true about Mannings failures in the playoffs, but that was when his Colts were all used to playing indoors. Now he’s surrounded by guys who should be used to playing in the cold.
Needs to prove himself in the play-offs still for me. Won the Superbowl against a very poor team when they did win and every time he’s come up against really high quality opposition he’s been beaten and sometimes looked like his fault.. The INT against NO in that Superbowl was an error on his part for example.
Sounds like I’m being harsh but if he was able to convert his/The Colts regular season into post season performances over the years he’d have a lot more rings.
That bootleg was sick!! Have him as my Fantasy QB so delighted with that. I’m not a big Romo fan but he deserves props for going 500+ passing in that classic game yesterday. I know Denver aren’t putting up big numbers on the ground but I still think Moreno made some hard yards and important first downs for them yesterday. I guess with such a potent pass game, the run is always going to be complimentary rather than predominant.
Agree with u Rory, would be great to see Manning and Brady head to head in the superbowl but the Broncos need to play this one smart and start to ease up on Mannings game time the guys 37 and has had two neck ops , the reason for his poor post season performances is generally a series of niggly injuries rather than the cold.
The Broncos and Patriots are in the same conference so can’t meet in the Superbowl unfortunately. Hopefully that game will at least be the conference final but can’t see the Patriots get that far. The only reason they have a 4-1 record this year is because they have had an easy start to the season, they were absolutely brutal yesterday!
No offence but the fact that you said you would like to see a Manning/Brady Super Bowl really makes the rest of your comment redundant because if you don’t even know the conferences, how can you know enough about the game to pass comment on one of the greatest QB’s in the history of football?
as a pats fan id like to see two of the best qb of my generation play each other on the biggest stage there is,its not going to happen but it still dosnt mean that nfl fans wouldnt like to see it
You better hope one of them moves conference so or you will never see it!
I think it’s looking like Broncos vs either the Pats or the Colts in the AFC. Both NE and Indy have the defences to work against manning and the offences to cut his time on the field. This year might be too soon for NE though. The receivers are dropping balls like hot spuds!
I’d agree, probable AFC final of Broncos v Colts.
NFC final of Saints v Seahawks.
Superbowl of Broncos v Saints.
Winnes Broncos.
Long way to go yet though
To start I should probably be honest. I hate manning. I hate his brother. I hate his da. I even hate the brother who’s shite at football. The Giants this year are giving me endless pleasure to the pain the Broncos are causing. Pats are worrying me, Gronks head isn’t there allegedly but we badly need him back on the pitch. Hernandez murdered a LOAD of people (allegedly) and Wilforks Achilles has us without 3 of our 4 best players from last year. Brady needs to get his thumb out of his ass…. In the pocket he is the best, no comparison. Although if we’d kept Tebow I would have had him in there in the last quarter last night, Brady is just not agile enough for a running game.
rb – you were doing great until the last line….
“Although if we’d kept Tebow I would have had him in there in the last quarter last night, Brady is just not agile enough for a running game.”
Gas that Eli has 2 rings and Peyton has 1…
Did you not see the rain? The ball flew sideways out of Brady’s hand 4 or 5 times when we were within distance. That’s Tom Brady, probably the best QB of his generation! The rain made it impossible to play a passing game for the last couple of minutes. A back up QB who can offer plays that the defence can’t read would be good. It’s just that Brady is usually that good they might read it but they can’t do anything about it?
Steven, is the phrase not “strive for perfection, accept excellence?” Just wondering is all. It’s what I say anyway!