Driven Stronger: Peyton Manning one step closer to immortality

Just two years after we thought he might never play again, Peyton Manning is headed to his third Super Bowl following a win 26-16 win over the Patriots in the AFC Championship game. Mike Florio says Manning is now one step closer to solidifying his status as the best quarterback ever.

In a masterful performance to get his Broncos to the Super Bowl, Manning threw for 400 yards, didn’t turn the ball over and was in complete control of a Broncos offense that New England simply couldn’t stop. He was just about flawless throwing the football.

Manning’s entire career is a testament to hard work, and he said after the game that it was the hard work he put in the week before that made Sunday go so well.

“I prepared hard. We were playing a good football team that was well coached, and I thought we executed our game plan, and that’s what I was focused on all week,” Manning said afterward.

According to Florio, that preparation is the reason that Manning is, in my opinion, the best play caller in the NFL — better even than masters like Saints head coach Sean Payton. Although the Broncos have an offensive coordinator, Adam Gase, the reality is that the offense is run by Manning, who makes the calls at the line of scrimmage. And Manning was a step ahead of Bill Belichick’s defense all day. My favorite call by Manning was actually a handoff: He saw room to run in the middle of the Patriots’ defense on a third-and-10 in the first quarter so he handed off to Knowshon Moreno, who ran through a huge hole for a first down. I also loved the pass Manning called to Jacob Tamme with three minutes left in the fourth quarter, while the Broncos were trying to conserve their lead. Some people would have played it safe and handed off there, but Manning picked up a big first down through the air.

Manning was better than Brady on Sunday, but too much is made of the head-to-head competition between those two, mostly because it isn’t a competition at all. Manning wasn’t playing against Brady on Sunday. The competition for Manning is the opposing defense. And this season, from Week One through the AFC Championship Game, Manning has riddled opposing defenses like no other quarterback in NFL history.

Manning was the best player on the field in either game on Sunday.

- ProFootball Talk