Week of November 2 - November 8, 2012
SPORTS
37
What Peyton and Eli Mean to the Rest of the NFL
Damian Fantauzzi
This past weekend, I was in Chicago with my wife, Ann, visiting our daughter and her husband, Caitlyn and Anthony. Anthony is an avid sports fan, especially football. He played during his high school days in Denver, Colorado, at one of the state's biggest schools. Anthony's dad was his coach, a former lineman for Syracuse during the Jim Brown era. Anthony was his dad's starting quarterback and later went onto Colgate in central New York to quarterback for the Red Raiders, before he was injured. Since Anthony is from Denver, he's naturally a Broncos fan. So last Sunday, we were watching the Broncos play the New Orleans Saints right after we watched the New York Giants edge out the Dallas Cowboys. The Broncos did a number on the Saints and Drew Brees; but the Giants in the first quarter made Tony Romo and the rest of his Dallas team look like a group of high school players. The Cowboys managed to turn it around, after being behind 230, where three Giant interceptions resulted into two touchdowns. Ultimately, it was in a losing effort, resulting in a 2924 Giants win. Denver, on the other hand was in total control throughout the game, winning 34-14, after the Saints had what resulted as an insignificant rally. Okay, I want to express what I saw. The two Manning brothers played like they were well-trained surgeons, know-
ing where to make cuts and what their strategy had to be for a successful operation. Eli is an impressive passer with the uncanny ability to make the necessary changes, while in position, as he sees the defense in their positions at the line of scrimmage (an audible). Brother Peyton is back from missing an entire season as the “master surgeon.” I watched him do the same as his younger brother, changing plays at the line of scrimmage. But this guy is more than just a quarterback, he is Michelangelo reincarnated, consistently carving another brilliant work of art. Both of the Mannings are probably the best of the best in their profession and let’s face it, the NFL is about the quarterback. Peyton's teammates are like his apprentices. They are learning from their tutor on where to be, how to read defenses, as well as knowing what their leader wants from them. At the end of each series, on the sidelines, Peyton Manning meets with the whole offensive team including the linemen, running backs and receivers to discuss what just happened and what needs to be done and corrected before they return to the field. I see that Eli has the same style but he uses a more subtle approach with his team members, taking a more cerebral approach to analyzing football. My son-in law is a walking football encyclopedia. As we watched Eli first and then Peyton second, he was saying how similar the two are and he feels that Peyton was the best gamble the Broncos made. He also said that as the season progresses, he can see Peyton getting back to being his old self again. But what amazed me was how the players respect their quarterbacks. It is an obvious confidence that can't be ignored. I like Eli a lot - to me he still looks like a kid - but instead he is a veteran of unmatched leadership. I'm pretty much a Giants fan but I have always liked the Broncos. I went to college at New Mexico Highlands
University and one of our former defensive ends played for Denver. His name was Lionel Taylor and during the early AFL days in the late 1960s, Taylor set many reception records in the AFL and for the Broncos. If there is a chance that any of you get to see the Broncos play, watch Peyton - a wizard of quarterbacking - perform his magic. That Denver team has a group of players who were traded from other NFL organizations and Peyton is giving them new life and purpose with goals to play professional football again. It's a real treat for me to watch these two brothers do what they do best, and 90 percent of the time they can make decisions to change that makes the game so interesting and exciting. I like what has been developing in professional and college football. The huddle is becoming a thing of the past and as the game has picked up steam, the offense sets up on the line and the defense has to rush into position, it makes this game even more exciting for the fans. The Manning brothers are a breed of quarterbacks that fit perfectly in this new style of football. The Manning's fame is not a coincidence; the other outstanding football player of the Manning family is the Hall of Fame patriarch, Archie. Archie played his college days at Mississippi and had a very good NFL career for 12 years with the Saints, Houston Oilers and the Minnesota Vikings. He accomplished a lot as a, you guessed it, starting quarterback. There is yet another brother, Cooper Manning, the oldest of the trio, but his accolades from the sport are a bit different. He was an all-state high school receiver, catching touchdown passes from little brother Peyton and was a hot commodity headed for Mississippi. But then came the numbness in the hands and fingers, tests showing that he had spinal stenosis, which is a narrowing of the
spinal canal, causing his football career to come to an end. Cooper says that he is content rooting for his younger brothers and has no regrets. There is no self-pity. Life needs to be lived and it's too short to dwell on things that are out of your control. What a fami-
ly history the Mannings have. It’s one thing to have one successful quarterback in the family, but with three Super Bowl championships and two Super Bowl MVP awards between Peyton and Eli, the apples sure didn’t fall too far from the tree.