Nothing Peyton Manning will encounter the remainder of these NFL playoffs will compare to the pressure he faced going into Sunday’s wild-card game against the Broncos.
Playing the Chiefs at raucous Arrowhead Stadium? The AFC Championship in Foxboro? The Super Bowl in Houston? Forget it.
Nothing. I repeat nothing will match the heat Manning was under Sunday at the RCA Dome. Not only was he trying to post the first win on his personal 0-3 playoff record, but he also carried the baggage of a franchise that hadn’t won a home playoff game since moving to Indianapolis 20 years ago.
There was the added pressure of being the co-MVP of the league and coming off a regular season in which he passed for an NFL best 4,267 yards and 29 touchdowns. Lose to the Broncos and all that would have been wasted. Eli might be judged the better Manning.
Yet, amid the pressure, Peyton “I Can Win The Big Game” Manning delivered a spectacular performance, completing 22 of 26 passes for 377 yards and five touchdowns in the Colts’ 41-10 domination. Bring on the Chiefs. The rest is gravy.
“We knew that when we got a good enough team around him and played well enough to win, that we would win,” said Colts coach Tony Dungy, who had suffered three straight first-round exits. “I hadn’t won a playoff game in a long time, but when you play well enough you win and hopefully we can play well enough and win [at Kansas City].”
To expect the Colts (13-4) to play as well against the Chiefs (13-3) as they did against the Broncos might be a bit much. But certainly Dungy’s crew will enter the 1 p.m. game with renewed confidence. Beating a team as badly as the Colts beat the Broncos will do that.
While Manning and the Colts deserve credit for the execution that led to scores on their first seven possessions, Dungy and his coaching staff can take a bow for devising strategies that baffled the Broncos.
The Colts closed practices to the media and made a change on their offense line, moving center Jeff Saturday to right guard and giving backup Tupe Peko his first career start at center. The goal was to have Saturday contain Broncos LE Trevor Pryce, who had a big day in the Broncos’ 31-17 win two weeks earlier. Pryce had but two tackles Sunday.
“I just blocked him man,” Saturday said. “Not a big secret.”
“I’m big into who’s dictating to who,” Manning said. “As an offense and defense you want to be the one dictating and I thought we ran the plays we wanted to run.”
It won’t be as easy to baffle the Chiefs, who enjoyed a bye week and are 8-0 at home. But the Colts, who were 7-1 on the road this season, welcome the trip to Arrowhead.
“That will be a great battle,” Manning said. “I have a lot of respect for the Chiefs.”
