Victory can seal Manning’s legacy

MIAMI (AP) — Peyton Manning was stuck in the back seat of the family car. His terrible T-ball team had lost again.

The coach, keenly aware of how important it was to pump up morale no matter what, always told his tender young charges their games ended in a tie.

“Dad,” Archie Manning, sitting up front, heard his son say, “the coach must think we’re pretty stupid.”

By the time he was 6 or 7, young Manning fully appreciated the difference between winning, losing — and tying.

Eventually that drive and determination led him to win a Super Bowl and become the league’s best quarterback. Tonight the middle boy of football’s First Family will try to win another and transform the Super Bowl into Peyton’s Place.

A victory would do more than cement a legacy that’s been a lifetime in the making.

“If he wins the Super Bowl, you have to initiate a discussion of whether he’s the greatest player to ever play the game,” former QB Joe Theismann said. “Not just the greatest quarterback, but the greatest player.”

There are plenty of contenders for top quarterback.

Tom Brady, Joe Montana and John Elway won multiple Super Bowls. Johnny Unitas and Otto Graham were champs. Slingin’ Sammy Baugh was so good in the 1930s and ’40s, he was an ace passer, punter and defensive back. Throw Dan Marino and Brett Favre into that mix.

“I don’t like to say greatest because it’s too hard to compare eras,” said Mike Ditka, a Hall of Fame player who later won a Super Bowl coaching Da Bears. “You can judge on a whole lot of categories, but I like leadership. Who do you want in that foxhole with you?

“That’s what makes Manning stand out. He runs that whole offense. No other quarterback does that in this day and age,” he said.

On 31 teams, a coach signals in the plays. On the Colts, Manning calls them. He sees it as “controlled chaos” — a no-huddle set where he decides run or pass, puts his teammates in position and makes adjustments at the line.

At 33, he is already a four-time Most Valuable Player. Famous for watching film of his opponents, Manning hardly views himself as a finished product.

“You are always learning different situations. Two-minute drills, third-and-1s, red zone,” he said.

Leave it to Eli Manning, the New York Giants’ quarterback and MVP of the 2008 Super Bowl, to place his big bro at the top.

“Yeah, he’s getting close. At this point, he’s kind of considered an old-timer when it comes to age in the NFL, but he keeps getting better every year,” he said. “I don’t get jealous. He sets the standard for what I want to become, where I want to raise my level of play to.”

The only real rub between them came when they were kids. Eli ended a particularly rugged game of 1-on-1 backyard basketball by dunking over Peyton, and the boys hardly spoke to each other for days. Archie played peacemaker; he took down the hoop at their New Orleans home.