Ben Humphrey
I'm not actually telling you what you have to do. I'm especially not telling you who you have to root for in a game of sports, even if the word "Super" is in the title. But I want to tell you why you should be rooting for the Denver Broncos to win the championship if you, like me, have no real horse in this race. The odds are pretty good that you aren't a huge fan of either team. The odds are pretty good that you, for whatever reason, have selected a team that you would prefer to see win. The odds are even better that, if you're watching this game, you enjoy watching the best compete at the highest level. They really are the best, and that's what we need to remember.
We have the #1 ranked defense, in the Seattle Seahawks, matching up against the Denver Broncos and their #1 ranked offense. Putting all subjectivities aside, that's all you can really ask for in a Super Bowl. Yet still, these subjectivities creep up on us. These narratives. Narratives that feed our opinions, regarding who deserves to win, and it isn't just based on playing the game. Actually, the narratives usually reinforce information that has little or nothing to do with the actual game.
In some instances, narratives can be overblown and beaten to death; It isn't enough that Richard Sherman is the best corner in the league, we need to play up that he likes to trash talk. Richard Sherman says mean things to players he's playing against! In other cases, narratives can be heartwarming and meaningful; Derrick Coleman has a hearing disability and that is inspiring to a lot of people (and he knows this.) For what it's worth, the more I learn about both Sherman and Coleman have made me want to root for them. There's a good chance that if I didn't have to be rooting for Denver, I would be rooting for Seattle*.
The reason I have to root for Denver is Peyton Manning. I'm not rooting for Peyton because he's a class act, or because he just gets it. This is ultimately sportswriter jargon for "he's white and he gives us the time of day." No, I'm rooting for Peyton because he is, as an athlete, closer to being the media's portrayal of a quarterback as anyone has ever been. That may seem a bit confusing, so I'll put it this way: In all of professional sports, no single position is as scrutinized as the NFL quarterback. While it's somewhat understandable, it's just as ridiculous to imply (if you're the media) and infer (if you're the audience) that one guy can be the only real make or break element for an entire football team.
Now, I'm not crazy. I realize that the quarterback is (usually) the most important player on the football field. He touches the ball on virtually every offensive snap, and therefore has the most opportunities to be the goat or the hero. But football isn't a game like basketball, where one Jordanesque player can literally change the fate of an entire teams 'W' column. The quarterback can range from Brady to Tebow and still be part of a successful (albeit relatively) campaign. There are a lot of guys on the field, and a really good quarterback still needs support from all of them. Despite this, people still flatten the conversation into some variation of "the QB is the team."
You should root for Peyton Manning because he's as close to being the entire team as a quarterback can be. A guy like Tom Brady may have more rings, but he also has had the same coach his entire career and an offensive line that has remained elite for over a decade. Brady does not call his own plays. Brady has never had to start from scratch with a new team. I don't want to sell Brady - an all time great - short, I want to convey to you how unreal Peyton Manning is.
Sure, Peyton needs time in the pocket too. And he did inherit a team that managed to get Tim Tebow to the playoffs. And he even has had more weapons to throw to than Brady over the past year or two. But keep in mind that one weapon, Demaryius Thomas started out as an undisciplined and often confused route runner before Peyton arrived. And another weapon, Julius Thomas was a backup tight end that nobody had heard of before he became a part of Manning's system. We can also note that Denver's defense has injured themselves into being much worse than the one that supported Tebow. It's too late to say that I don't want to compare Manning to Brady, but the two are rightly considered to be on different levels than any other active QB's. I guess you could throw Brees into the conversation, but my argument there would be that his success relies a lot on Sean Payton. Manning is the only one who implements his own system.
Sure, Peyton needs time in the pocket too. And he did inherit a team that managed to get Tim Tebow to the playoffs. And he even has had more weapons to throw to than Brady over the past year or two. But keep in mind that one weapon, Demaryius Thomas started out as an undisciplined and often confused route runner before Peyton arrived. And another weapon, Julius Thomas was a backup tight end that nobody had heard of before he became a part of Manning's system. We can also note that Denver's defense has injured themselves into being much worse than the one that supported Tebow. It's too late to say that I don't want to compare Manning to Brady, but the two are rightly considered to be on different levels than any other active QB's. I guess you could throw Brees into the conversation, but my argument there would be that his success relies a lot on Sean Payton. Manning is the only one who implements his own system.
This is all just to say that Peyton Manning runs an offensive system like no one else ever has. I couldn't even tell you the name of Denver's offensive coordinator. Manning is the offensive system, so much so that we sometimes get surprised when we see him throw a strike. He's become such a coach-like figure that we sometimes forget that he's still one of the most accurate quarterbacks to ever play. If there has ever been a single football player who has carried their average defense(s) through his own individual efforts over the span of a hugely successful career, it's Peyton Manning. I have to root for Peyton Manning come Sunday because, subjectively, there are guys who deserve to win on both sides. Objectively, we'll only know after the game has been played. But a loss won't change a players character, or ultimately make them less inspiring. For that matter, a loss won't change the fact that Peyton is far and away the most complete embodiment of the term "quarterback" to ever play the game. Because he's the one player on the field where - as it's been he's entire career - if he plays to his full potential, the entire team will reap the benefits. A win just might help more people realize that.
* I wouldn't be. I hate Pete Carroll. But that's a story for a different time.
Submitted by Ben Humphrey
@humpnotes