Once again, Peyton Manning came up short in the first round of the playoffs. It was the eighth time Manning lost in his first playoff game, more than double any other quarterback in NFL history. And yet, it's still difficult to blame No. 18 for what went down.
Manning's playoff record -- an inauspicious and almost incredulous 9-11 -- is an ugly asterisk on an otherwise brilliant career. The notion that he can't finish in the playoffs is supported by the win-loss record, but it's a narrative not really worth pursuing.
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One thing we learned about the Colts in 2011 was that Manning is worth more than a few wins. We found out the same thing about the Broncos, as Manning led them to a 13-3 record and a dominant close to the season.
But Manning was held back in Indianapolis by a suspicious defense and the same thing held true on Saturday, as Baltimore embarrassed Denver's highly-thought-of defense over and over again. Torrey Smith and Joe Flacco had their way with Champ Bailey, an All-Pro cornerback and Rahim Moore shouldered the blame for the Broncos loss after giving up an inexplicable 70-yard bomb to Jacoby Jones with just over 30 seconds remaining in regulation.
“It was my fault," Moore said of the game-tying score. "If they wouldn’t have scored on us on the last play, we’d be in here rejoicing so if people don’t like me after that, I’m sorry. That is my fault and I am going to take full responsibility for it."
It wasn't all on Moore, though. Coaching held Manning back, too: As I chronicled in our weekly grades, John Fox refused to get even remotely aggressive on Saturday, passing on opportunities to let Manning try and drive the ball down to score, the most surprising being when the Broncos took a knee to end regulation instead of trying to drive and kick a field goal.
"You know, again, if you don’t win you get criticized on everything," Fox said when asked about the scenario. "So, that is par for the course. Thinking was with 30 seconds it is hard to go the length of the field and some bad stuff can happen as you saw at the end of the game with 30 seconds."
It's not surprising Fox shrugged off the criticism. He's heard plenty of it during his various tenures as a head coach, particularly given his conservative nature. And bad stuff can happen. But good things -- like game-winning field goals -- can happen, too.
Manning wasn't guaranteed a shot at a Super Bowl in his hometown of New Orleans this year, but the path to the Big Easy looked good for Denver. A home game against Baltimore and a home game against either Houston or New England, teams Denver could hang with. For whatever reason, the Broncos took all the momentum built up from the end of the regular season and threw it out the window.
You can't shove your chips into the center of the table in the offseason to get Manning and then not put the ball in his hands to win the game -- or at least you're not supposed to -- but Fox, offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, Manning and Denver did anyway.
Jacob Hester was more responsible for the fate of the Broncos than Manning. And the decision to run on third-and-7 late instead of taking a shot at having Manning end the game with a completion is questionable as well.
The result, though, was definitive -- another year with Manning bowing out of the playoffs in his first game, an uphill battle for a .500 record in the postseason and his final throw of an incredible season being an overtime interception that set up a Ravens game-winner from Justin Tucker.
“Yeah -- bad throw," Manning said. "Probably the decision [wasn’t] great either. I thought I had an opening, and I didn’t get enough on it, and I was trying to make a play and certainly a throw I’d like to have back."
Manning will reboot and fire things up for 2013. He committed to the next year in the press conference after the game, as you would expect from a guy who produced an MVP-level season coming off four neck surgeries and finding himself in a different uniform.
But for all the change Manning went through in the last year, things weren't that much different come January. That's not his fault entirely, but it's something that's hard to completely dismiss.
And it's certainly something that will gnaw at him in the months to come, as it has plenty of times before.
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