The Archive

Monday, January 21, 2013

Part Three: Peyton Manning's Four-Stage Playoff Career

Stage One
Adjective: Bad
Years: 1998-2002
Stats: 50-105 (47.6%) 558 yards (5.3/att) 1 TD 2 INT 59.1 rating
Team: 0-3
Notes: Manning was okay in the 2000-01 playoff game, but mostly just did not get it done in this time period.

Stage Two
Adjective: Inconsistent
Years: 2003-2005
Stats: 143-216 (66.2%) 1904 yards (8.8/att) 14 TD 6 INT 104.0 rating
Team: 3-3
Notes: Manning had three absolutely ridiculous games, two bad games that fit in better with the first stage above, and then an okay game in 2005-06 vs. Pittsburgh. In this period, the Colts only won when Manning was great, and lost when he was anything less. The standard deviation of his passer ratings in these six games was a quite high 49.

Stage Three
Adjective: Winning
Years: 2006
Stats: 97-153 (63.4%) 1034 yards (6.8/att) 3 TD 7 INT 70.5 rating
Team: 4-0, won Super Bowl
Notes: Other than the remarkable comeback vs. the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, Manning was mostly unremarkable. However, each of his performances in this postseason had something to them: he completed 30 of 38 vs. Kansas City, led 5 scoring drives and made a great third down throw to finish off Baltimore, led the frantic comeback culminating with an 80 yard drive that took one minute vs. New England, and won Super Bowl MVP in a downpour vs. Chicago.

Stage Four
Adjective: Unlucky
Years: 2007-present
Stats: 191-287 (66.6%) 2183 yards (7.6/att) 14 TD 6 INT 96.8 rating
Team: 2-5
Notes: See part two of this series. Whereas Manning's good-looking stage two numbers came with a standard deviation of 49, these numbers come with a standard deviation of 14. Despite the infamous throw vs. the Saints, Manning has been consistently good since 2007, and yet has nothing to show for it.

No comments: