Peyton Manning’s father, Archie, was the first from the family to play in the NFL. A star for the New Orleans Saints for over a decade, Archie made two Pro Bowl appearances. With such an accomplished mentor at home, Eli and Peyton’s football education would have been perfect.
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However, there was one thing Archie couldn’t teach Peyton as a quarterback — a specialized pass that the elder Manning had mastered. Well, it’s hard to believe Archie had a passing skill that his son didn’t.
Archie’s NFL career spanned over 14 seasons, mostly with the New Orleans Saints. However, it wasn’t until he joined the Houston Oilers that he discovered a unique way to throw a pass.
It happened during a broken play in the game against the Philadelphia Eagles in 1982. As the veteran QB scrambled for his life, he threw an underhanded pass out of desperation, hitting receiver Mike Renfro perfectly in stride.
Had Renfro been able to run it in for a touchdown, it would’ve gone down as one of the greatest highlights in NFL history. Fast forward a decade, and when Archie was training Peyton to be a quarterback, he showed him the smooth mechanics of his underhanded pass. However, Peyton could never quite master it.
“My dad taught me everything about being a quarterback. But one thing always escaped me,” Peyton revealed in an Omaha Productions video. “I never could get it. I never could get the underhanded pass.”
And then, old footage of Archie and Peyton playing catch in the backyard was shown in the video. When the elder QB attempted his underhanded pass, it was a perfect spiral, landing right on the chest. Peyton’s attempt, on the other hand, left much to be desired.
“He can’t do it,” Archie is seen joking in the clip.
Perhaps, for Archie, the throwing action came naturally. In fact, the first time he pulled off the pass, it was an effort to avoid re-injuring his groin.
“We had to end the round to Dave Casper, and all of a sudden, he’s in trouble. And he tries to throw [the ball] back to me [as a lateral]… I didn’t want it. Now I’m running to my right,” Archie recalled that famous play in the video.
“I had a pulled groin, and my body just told me: If I throw it like this, it’s going to hurt my groin. So, it was just underhanded. And Mike Renfroe just ran right through, and if he could’ve just broken one more tackle, he would’ve scored a touchdown,” he added.
Archie’s mind raced with the possibilities of how we’d remember the play. Would it have been the greatest touchdown pass in NFL history? Maybe. But we’ll never know.
When you compare Archie and Peyton’s careers side by side, the son would blow the father out of the water. One’s a Hall of Famer and one isn’t.
But Archie will always have a leg up on his son when it comes to pulling off unique passes. You have to wonder if he still gives his son a hard time about it.
