Peyton Manning can kill two narratives with one stone
“The upcoming Super Bowl offers Peyton Manning the chance to kill two narratives with one stone. It’ll be a big game. There aren’t games any bigger. And it will be cold.”
Read More …
Remember when the Tennessee Titans came to Denver on December 8th and the Broncos hung fifty-one points on them in the cold?
That game was presumed to put to bed the narrative that Peyton Manning could not get in done under those conditions. It didn’t – not by any stretch of the imagination. If it had why would folks have been so relieved that it was beautiful for the AFC Championship game? That story line lives on as does the one that says number eighteen doesn’t get it done in big games. His 400 yard performance against the Patriots didn’t put that one to bed either.
The upcoming Super Bowl offers Peyton Manning the chance to kill two narratives with one stone. It’ll be a big game. There aren’t games any bigger. And it will be cold.
Forecasts are calling for yet another storm to whip through the eastern seaboard beginning Monday of next week. By the time game day rolls around the high temps are expected to be in the low thirties – but let’s remember that the game will be played in the late afternoon and into the evening – after the sun goes down. Most of the Super Bowl will be played at under twenty degrees.
It’s going to be miserable at Metlife Field – both for the fans in the seats and for the players on the field and the assembled media throngs are going to talk about the weather a ton throughout next week. That means that the topic of Manning and his performances in the cold are going to be beaten like a dead horse. Naturally, his failings in the playoffs will be a ripe topic as well. 5,000 talking heads have to talk about something during the week leading up to the game. You can rest assured that Manning will be the subject of much media blathering.
It’s ironic that, of all the seasons for him to make it back to the Super Bowl, he happened to do it in the only year the game is being held in a frigid climate. And while Broncos fans have bemoaned that fact since the pre-season it really could not set up any better for him.
By toppling Seattle in Eli’s stadium in the elements Peyton Manning can dispel the myths surrounding his effectiveness in the post-season and in cold weather. He can wave his middle finger at all of it and enter the last couple seasons of his career burdened by none of it. Everyone will finally have to shut up and just watch one of the greatest ever quarterbacks do his thing.
