He’s still a top 10 QB. Easily. He’s not the Manning that single handedly took teams to 14-2 and to Super Bowls, as he’s physically beat up. He would still take every team in this league, except a handful, farther than they got this year. Put him on Arizona and they beat GB handily and would have made a game of the NFC championship yesterday. Put him on Houston or KC or nearly any team that didn’t make the playoffs and they are better. There are only a few exceptions of teams with top tier QBs. Peyton’s demise is a nice story, but not really true. He is one of the top 2 or 3 generals in the game’s history if not the best, and and game changer when it counts. The guy never had a riffle as an arm. He made it playing smart and preparing well. It’s why he broke NFL records after his neck issues and just two years ago. The guy looked terrible the second half of last year with injuries and a depleted team, and this year year was still undefeated halfway into the season, only losing two games with a bad foot. That healed, and now he’s had a comeback and two big wins against great teams. A comparison to Dilfer is ridiculous.
There’s still probably no better reader of defenses than Manning, yes physically he’s not what he was, but he’s still as sharp as ever.
That being said, I just don’t see how Denver beats Carolina.
Actually in pretty much every stat this year Manning was bottom third of the league, some closer to the bottom 10%. He had the second most interceptions in the league this year, missing it by one INT, but also missing 6 games. He is quite simply no longer a good QB. The Broncos have gotten this far because their defense is seriously vying for the best in league history, and they have a good running game. Basically this team is the 2000 Ravens, the team generally considered to have given us the worst QB (Dilfer) to ever hoist a Lombardi.
Peyton’s got the brain, but he no longer has the physical talent. The good news is with his brain he could be the best game manager in the history of the league. The bad news is he’s now a game manager. The comparison to Dilfer is spot on. Compare Dilfer’s 2000 stats, and Manning’s 2015:
Dilfer 59.3% completions 12 TDs 11 INTs 76.6 rating
Manning 59.8% completions 9 TDs 17 INTs 67.9 rating
That’s who Manning is now. But hey, you can win an SB that way.