Peyton fast-tracking to Canton, but best ever? Not so fast

MIAMI -- Peyton Manning doesn't need another Super Bowl victory to punch a ticket to Canton. If his career were to end tomorrow he not only makes it -- he makes it on the first ballot.

So that's not an issue. But this is: Let's say he wins Sunday, what does another Super Bowl victory do for the guy's legacy?

It depends on who's doing the talking.

There are some people out there who can't wait to anoint Manning the best quarterback who played the game, but they must have missed Johnny Unitas. And Otto Graham. And Joe Montana. And John Elway. And Roger Staubach.

While Manning is moving up the charts of the all-time greats -- and might get another bump with a victory Sunday -- does anyone really believe he is or could be the best quarterback in NFL history? The answer is yes, says former New Orleans and Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Mora.

"When he's done," he said, "he'll be known as the best who ever played."

Maybe. But he's not done, and he's not the best who ever played. Not yet he's not. That doesn't mean he can't be. Or won't be. It just means that we should keep things in perspective.

Peyton Manning is a gifted quarterback who is smart, accurate and incredibly successful, and he's could win his second Super Bowl in four years. But he's also a guy who is 9-8 in the playoffs and lost as many conference championship games (2) as he's won. So what? So Tom Brady is 14-4 in the playoffs -- including 2-1 vs. Manning -- and won three Super Bowls in four years.

Furthermore, Brady appeared in twice as many Super Bowls as Manning.

So before we start anointing Manning the best of all time, maybe we should consider whether he's the best of his generation. It's not Manning who holds the league record for touchdown passes in one season -- it's Brady. It's not Manning who went 16-0 through one season -- it's Brady. It's not Manning who is second to Montana in playoff wins -- it's Brady. And it's not Manning who won three Super Bowls in four years -- it's Brady.

So maybe the question should be: Manning or Brady?

"Wow," said former Baltimore coach Brian Billick, now a TV analyst, "that's a Sophie's Choice, at best. People will point to Tom Brady's three Super Bowls compared to Peyton's one and now possibly two. But if I have to pick a guy, it's probably Tom Brady only because as we saw the style of offense you create for Tom Brady is sustainable with another guy, a Matt Cassell, if you can get the right one. But nobody can duplicate what Peyton Manning is doing right now.

"So, to answer your question: Who's the better quarterback? Peyton Manning. But if you're saying, 'Whom would I pick?' I would pick Tom Brady because with Peyton and what he does -- taking nothing away from Tom and what he does -- but it's Peyton. You put anybody else in there, and what happens to that offense? You can't duplicate it.

"That's a convoluted answer to your question, but it's saying that Peyton Manning is the better quarterback, but I choose Tom Brady because in the event that the quarterback goes down I'm not out of business."

That tells me Billick puts Manning ahead of Brady on the Hall of Fame leader board, though both are slam dunks. What it doesn't tell me is where Manning ranks today. I know where he sits on my list, and it's somewhere after Unitas, Graham, Montana, Staubach and Elway. But I'm not on the Hall of Fame committee, so what I think doesn't matter.

What the 44 selectors think does, so I polled them, and what I found is that Sunday's game has little or no bearing on where they rank Manning. All make him a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but less than half of those I consulted put him in their top five -- with one, Jacksonville's Vito Stellino, excluding him from his top 10.

"Hey," said Stellino, "he's 9-8 in the playoffs. It's like Herman Edwards said: 'You play to win the game.' But if this is all about stats, he's your man."

Of course, this isn't all about stats. It's about winning, and nobody won more Super Bowls than Pittsburgh's Terry Bradshaw. Few would argue that Bradshaw was more talented than Manning, but Stellino states that if he had one game to play, he'd take Bradshaw over Manning because he knew Bradshaw wouldn't lose.

OK, I'll buy that. But let's say this is about winning AND stats. Then how do you put Manning ahead of Montana? Like Bradshaw, he won four Super Bowls, but he didn't throw a single interception in those four games. Manning has 18 interceptions in his playoff career, including one in Super Bowl XLI -- and the last time the Colts circled the bases, he had three touchdown passes and seven interceptions in four playoff victories.

"I can see your point," said Billick. "With all the winning and all the numbers and the opportunities they [the Colts] have had, they have one Super Bowl. Of course, in that case, you've got to go with Otto Graham, even though it's a different time and all that. I love these conversations because there's no one right answer."

Another victory by Manning makes his case stronger vs. Brady, but it doesn't make his case stronger vs. the top five in Canton. When Manning retires, he leaves as one of the game's best, and that's terrific. But the question is: When he leaves, does he do it as the best quarterback ever? It's going to take more time and more Super Bowls to include him in the conversation, and the clock is ticking.

"At some point," said Billick, "you reach that saturation point when the question comes up: Is he a first-ballot Hall of Famer? The answer is duh. You know, yeah. And he's reached that.

"I don't know that a second or a third or fourth Super Bowl changes that. It may change the discussion at the bar when you guys decide who's the greatest quarterback of all time. But is he going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer? Absolutely."