NFL teams
Ian O'Connor, ESPN Senior Writer 8y

Peyton Manning's consolation -- postseason will determine legacy

Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos

INDIANAPOLIS -- Peyton Manning had his head down as he wheeled his small luggage bag out of Lucas Oil Stadium, the house that he built, maybe for the last time. As much as Manning wanted to get on the Denver Broncos bus as quickly as possible, people behind barricades on both sides of him just would not allow it.

Thank you, Peyton, they shouted in the tunnel. We love you, Peyton.

He suddenly halted his losing quarterback trudge and lifted that signature forehead marked by those signature red blotches. Before he would sign the flag of his Tennessee Volunteers for a fan on the right, Manning marched over to a small circle of Marines on the left to sign the No. 18 Broncos jerseys in their hands.

"He carries himself as a class act through and through, on and off the field," said Ben Diamon, a Marine and old Brett Favre fan from Wisconsin. "I'm a fan of Peyton's, too, because he's always been the consummate professional."

The Marine was asked if Manning had anything profound to say to the group. "Not a lot of words after a loss," Diamon said.

Especially after this loss, in this stadium, in this town.

The same Indianapolis Colts who fired Manning after 2011 turned his 7-0 season into a 7-1 season, and denied him a chance to break his tie with Favre for most career victories, and to supplant Favre as the league's all-time passing yardage leader (with an assist from Aqib Talib, who played the WWE fool with the eye gouge that sealed Denver's fate). Human nature being what it is, that had to hurt Manning more than any blind-side hit to the ribs.

In his postgame news conference, Manning tried his damnedest to act as if he'd just lost an early November road game to the San Diego Chargers. He sounded like he'd spent all week rehearsing his concession speech in front of a mirror, just in case, saying things like this about the emotion of his second return to Indianapolis, and his first since losing here in 2013:

"It was a road game playing a team that came out and played well, and when you don't play as well as you like on the road, it's hard to win against good football teams."

And this: "I guess I've been in enough situations like that in my career where I've been able to focus on the task at hand, trying to win the football game, and if anything happens along the way it's part of it, and you kind of accept it."

And this: "[I] kind of dealt with that a few years ago. Felt like this time coming back it was just playing against a good football team."

Manning had his story and he was sticking to it. But anyone who believed Manning wasn't dying to beat the Colts on Sunday also believed Tom Brady wasn't dying to beat the Colts here last month. His robotic responses aside, Manning had to be inspired by a flesh-and-blood desire to become the sport's winningest and most prolific passer at his former employer's expense.

He didn't forget that Colts owner Jim Irsay treated him as damaged goods and cut him after he endured four neck surgeries. He didn't forget that Irsay publicly complained in 2013 about all the one-and-dones in the playoffs and the failure to win more than one Super Bowl.

He didn't forget that, after Irsay ran away from his own comments, the owner celebrated that victory over Denver two years ago by pointing to his one Super Bowl ring and telling his Colts, "Anyone who doesn't want more than one of these shouldn't wear a horseshoe, because that's what it's about."

More than anything, Manning didn't forget that Irsay stole his dream of being a one-uniform icon like his boss in Denver, John Elway, and that in his actions and words the owner showed little gratitude for the fact the Colts might've ended up in Los Angeles if Manning weren't Manning. Truth is, as much as he supposedly supported the notion the Colts had to draft Stanford wonderboy Andrew Luck in 2012, Manning desperately wanted to return from his surgeries near the end of 2011 so he wouldn't get Wally Pipped.

So yes, Manning wanted this one badly against a franchise, his franchise, that seemed to be falling apart this year without him. He came out firing from the start, taking all kinds of shots down the field, before some near-misses and some outright drops left Denver facing a 17-0 deficit. Manning seized upon an incredible break -- Indy's decision to punt to Omar Bolden in the final seconds of the first half, and Bolden's decision to return that punt 83 yards for a touchdown with no time on the clock -- and made it anyone's game in the second half.

He avoided the rush and stepped into a 64-yard scoring pass to Emmanuel Sanders, and completed a bootleg-left, throw-back-across-the-field long ball to Owen Daniels. For a while there, the 39-year-old Manning was making like his 29-year-old self.

But Luck finally made some big plays for his team and took advantage of a running game Manning didn't have. Adam Vinatieri gave the Colts a 27-24 lead on a 55-yard field goal (of course he did), and then Manning took the field with 71,836 career passing yards, three shy of breaking Favre's record, with six minutes to go. On first down, he unleashed a 16-yarder meant for Demaryius Thomas, who was beaten to the ball by Indy's Darius Butler. It was the most impressive interception by a Butler since Malcolm's at the Super Bowl.

"Heck of a play," Manning called it.

At the time it seemed clear Manning would get the ball back and, if nothing else, set the yardage record in his house and save the victories record for next week. Joe Horrigan, a representative of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, stood by waiting to take possession of the historic ball.

But Talib negated what would've been a Colts third-and-long by inexplicably jamming his finger into Dwayne Allen's eye, leaving Manning on the sideline looking as if he'd just eaten a bad meal. As the Colts ran out the clock, Talib berated an official and earned one more 15-yard penalty for the road.

"We got beat by a better team today," Manning said afterward.

He remained stuck in his deadlock with Favre at 186 regular-season victories and stuck with a 1-3 record against Jim Irsay's and Andrew Luck's Colts, including his playoff loss last January. But Manning left his old stadium with plenty of sources of consolation.

He has a 45-11 regular-season record and one Super Bowl appearance as a Bronco; Luck is 35-20 with no Super Bowl appearances as Manning's replacement. Manning also has more career passing yards than Joe Montana and Aaron Rodgers combined, or Johnny Unitas and Aaron Rodgers combined -- take your pick. In other words, even if he goes down as the second greatest quarterback of Brady's generation, Peyton Manning is firmly established as the league's signature all-time regular-season player. And this leads to Sunday's most relevant source of consolation to a quarterback who was in no mood to enjoy a celebratory steak dinner at St. Elmo's.

Just as Elway had assured him, Manning doesn't need to accomplish anything else from September through December. Nobody will remember this lost moment in Lucas Oil Stadium. Nobody will care that he had to set his records against the Chiefs instead of the Colts.

Manning can only help himself, and his legacy, by winning three games in January and February, two playoff games and the Super Bowl. Nothing else matters. Not even a little bit.

In that context, by the way, Manning has looked better and stronger over the past two weeks, perhaps signaling a personal revival to come. Maybe he had that in the back of his mind as he stopped on his way out of the building to sign for some Marines and fans, and to wave and nod at others as he passed the elevator that carried the empty-handed Hall of Fame official, Horrigan, toward his Broncos-Chiefs assignment next week.

Maybe Peyton Manning took a minute to remind himself that he didn't just lose the Super Bowl, even if it sorta felt like he had.

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