Numbers pretty, but Manning still stuck with Miss Congeniality
"I was a backup quarterback in high school as a freshman, on a team that lost every game," Brady said. "I was seventh string at Michigan. I was fourth string at the Patriots, barely dressed the first year I played. Had to compete every step of the way.
"Because of that, I've had to compete. And I still feel like I'm competing every time I step on the field. I compete against other quarterbacks, I compete against myself, because the expectations continue to go up. I wish I was satisfied at some point, but I don't think any part of my life I'm satisfied. It's a blessing and a curse. A blessing in this career."
Manning and Brady are both intelligent. They both work hard. They study more film than Spielberg. The difference is that there is no silver spoon with Brady. He does not come from NFL family royalty. Brady has had to work hard for every little thing he has gotten.
You cannot define what a winner is. It is not something that can be concocted on a blackboard or diabolically designed in a test tube. Like a Supreme Court justice once said of pornography, you just know it when you see it.
Brady is a winner. So far, Manning is not.
Manning is a huge talent and box office draw but his 3-6 playoff record makes him Adam Sandler. Brady's multiple Super Bowl wins mean he is Denzel or De Niro. He's been da bomb. He takes his shrimpy receivers and tells the stats to shove it.
Several years ago, after the Jets shellacked Indianapolis in a wild-card game 41-0, former Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt took Manning to task.
"All week before the Jets game I'm like, '(No.) 18, we're going to handle it, me and you we're going to win this game.' And he's like, 'Yeah, yeah, OK,'" Vanderjagt said. "And I'm like, 'Peyton, show some enthusiasm, you're the quarterback and we need to win this game.' I just don't see it from him."
Manning blasted Vanderjagt as the "idiot kicker" that was liquored up, and the mainstream media, many members of which have been apologists for Manning, beat Vanderjagt over the head with a baseball bat. The beefy ex-jocks on TV said kickers aren't real football players and dismissed his words.
But wasn't Vanderjagt right?
Wasn't he?
Maybe this will be the Year of Manning.
Or maybe we will see the same old Stat Boy.
