When Peyton Fricking Manning brought the Colts back from that 21-3 deficit in the 2006 AFC Championship, he did something no other quarterback has ever done in a game of that magnitude. It's the greatest clutch performance in a playoff game in the Super Bowl era. Montana, Brady and Staubach have nothing that rivals what Manning did that night. And Manning did it against the best franchise of the last 12 years and maybe the top defensive coach of all time. The rap on Manning is that he beat up on bad teams while playing in the comfort of a Dome, but he won the Super Bowl MVP outside in a hard rain against a splendid defense. There isn't anything you ask a QB to do that Manning hasn't done.
Finally, Manning is one of the few players who regularly makes good coaches panic. No one has prompted as many fourth down gambles and onside kicks. He frightened the very good Bear linebackers so badly in Super Bowl 41 that they weren't even in the same area code as the line of scrimmage. If you ever why the Colts silly running backs ran so well in that game, it was because there only were four guys in the box all day long. Everyone else was dropping back in fear of Manning.
Finally, Montana's coach was Bill Walsh. Staubach's coach was Tom Landy. Brady's coach is BB. Manning's coach was himself. I think we just agree to disagree on this one. I certainly respect the consensus about Harrison. This was just a different point of view.
