By honoring former Vol Peyton Manning Friday, the Indianapolis Colts reminded us how the quarterback spent a career there turning scrubs to Hall-of-Famers.
Marvin Harrison, Jeff Saturday, Reggie Wayne, Edgerrin James, and Dallas Clark.
These are all Indianapolis Colts legends and potential Hall-of-Famers. And it is the most overrated list of football players ever.
As Manning was honored with a post-retirement press conference on Friday by the Indianapolis Colts, a way to remind the world that this was his main NFL franchise, he mentioned these names and many others for all the memories he had in that city.
But what he did not mention is the truth: that these were the names of average players who accomplished nothing without him.
Let’s start with Saturday. He spent his career with three teams, getting cut by the Baltimore Ravens at the start of his career and getting benched by the Green Bay Packers while blocking for Aaron Rodgers at the end of his career. But for a 14-year period between those two stints, he enjoyed a Hall of Fame career with the Indianapolis Colts. Why?
Because Saturday during that time blocked for the quarterback with the quickest release ever. Manning’s ability to avoid getting sacked himself allowed a mediocre, undersized center like Saturday to look amazing.
Let’s move on to Edgerrin James. James was a leading superstar rusher with the Colts for seven years. But he got released after the 2005 season. The Colts won their Super Bowl in 2006, and James accomplished little to nothing in three years with his new team, the Arizona Cardinals.
What about Reggie Wayne? He spent the first 10 years of his career with Manning putting up ridiculous stats. Then Manning left, and after one solid season during Andrew Luck’s rookie year, he became completely useless in Indianapolis…and completely unwanted by any team.
Should I dare to mention Dallas Clark and the massive failure he was with the Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Bucs? He and Saturday are both players who had no business playing in the NFL but became Hall-of-Famers because of Manning.
Now we move onto Harrison. To be fair, he is the best of all the Indianapolis weapons Manning had and was a solid receiver in his own right before Manning came along. But in two NFL seasons, one in which the Colts went to the playoffs, he never had more than 1,000 yards. Then, along comes Manning, and the two set passing records together that nobody will top.
So he was an okay receiver that Manning made a Hall-of-Famer.
And let’s not get started on how bad the defenses were during most of those years. The only time the defense was good was when Bob Sanders was healthy, and the one time Bob Sanders was healthy for the playoffs, the Colts won the Super Bowl.
All of these names dropped at Manning’s press conference Friday reminded us of one thing: that he single-handedly made the Colts a winning football team with little-to-no help during his career. With consistently bad defenses and offensive scrubs, he made his team perennial Super Bowl contenders.
It all came to fruition his final year in Indianapolis, the one year he missed due to injury. That one year without Manning, less than two years removed from a 14-2 record and a Super Bowl appearance with him, the Colts started the year 0-13, finished 2-14 and got the top pick in the draft.
One player was the difference between 2-14 and 14-2.
This alone is why, before ever setting foot in Denver and playing for John Elway and the Broncos, Manning had already solidified himself as the greatest quarterback to ever play the game. Everything he did in Denver was just icing on the cake.
Nobody in professional team sports history did more to single-handedly elevate a franchise into a title contender.
And before anybody drops Hall-of-Fame offensive weapons that Manning had during his time in Indy, remember that outside of Marshall Faulk, who was only there his rookie season, none of them accomplished anything without him. They weren’t Hall-of-Famers.
They were scrubs Manning made look good.