Peyton Manning's Greatest Games - #6

by mgrex03 on Jun 26, 2008 6:08 PM EDT in Analysis Comment 5 comments

Game #6 takes us back to January 11, 2004, where the #3 seed Colts traveled to Kansas City to take on the 13-3 Chiefs, led by my fantasy football workhorse, Priest Holmes. Peyton Manning had just won his first Playoff game the week before, and (again), nobody was giving him and the Colts any chance to win out in the elements. Manning decided he'd have one of the best games of his career.

(As an aside real quick, I'm really glad the Colts switched from the blue facemask to the grey one they wear today. It just doesn't look right.)

Manning and the Colts had 8 possessions on the day: 6 scoring drives, 1 drive that ended the half, and 1 drive where they were running out the clock at the end. It was an offensive clinic by the Colts, led by #18. Here's the drive chart:

Plays	Yards	Time of Poss.	1st Downs	Score
10	70	5:40	4	Stokley from Manning, 29 yds
6	76	3:01	4	James 11 yd run
9	71	4:06	5	Lopienski(!) from Manning, 2 yds
3	-14	1:05	0	End of Half
11	51	5:08	3	Vanderjagt 45 yd FG
7	64	3:38	4	Wayne from Manning, 19 yds
10	76	5:21	5	James 1 yd run
8	40	4:14	2	Downs (0:08 left in game)

I have a soft spot for our old FB Tom Lopienski, as I got to see him up close and personal in college. Not one legitimate drive had less than 2 first downs, and none of the drives took less than 3:00. Manning controlled the clock throughout the entire game, and it was obvious early on that the team who got a stop on defense would win the game. David Macklin forced a fumble on the first drive of the second half, which gave Manning and the offense the stop they needed to put the game away.

The Colts were fantastic on 3rd Downs, going 8-11 on the day. Manning, in particular, was "perfect":

Comp	Att	Yds	Y/A	TD	INT	Rating
7	7	89	12.7	1	0	158.3

All 7 completions resulted in first downs, keeping drives alive. It was Manning at his best. His final stat line:

Comp	Att	Yds	Y/A	TD	INT	Rating
22	30	304	10.1	3	0	138.8

A hostile Kansas City crowd, and the Chiefs defense, was no match for Manning and the Colts. He, again, shut up his critics in his 6th greatest game of his career.

Here is the NFL.com Gamebook:

In Game #5, Manning has a sweet homecoming...

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Comments

In my fantasy league, I traded for Peyton the week before this game. Sucker.

http://naptownsfinest.com

by Colts Homer on Jun 26, 2008 7:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Your Fantasy League went into the Playoffs?

I’ve always wondered how that worked, other than redraft at the start. How did you guys do that?

by mgrex03 on Jun 26, 2008 7:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Does #5 star Jason David?

If it does I’d recommend this picture (less I know we hate PFT, but the picture is great).

I got Summer hatin' on me cuz I'm hotter than the sun
Got spring hatin' me cuz I ain't never sprung
Winter hatin' on me cuz I'm colder than y'all
And I will never, I will never, I will never fall
-Lil' Wayne "Mr. Carter"

My Blog

by shake n bake on Jun 26, 2008 11:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Great Picture, but no

Right team, wrong year

by mgrex03 on Jun 27, 2008 10:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oops

I actually thought this was the KC-Indy game where Peyton threw for like 400 yards and 5 TDs in 2004. I knew the stats didn’t look right. I remember this game now. Lopienski’s TD and the final play was a screen pass to Holmes.

http://naptownsfinest.com

by Colts Homer on Jun 27, 2008 7:26 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs