Peyton Manning is often known to have taken the final weeks of the season off before heading into the playoffs. And Roger Goodell did not shy away from bringing this up.
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Peyton Manning had one of the most prolific careers in NFL history. His accumulated list of accolades is lengthy and includes items like 5x MVP, 7x first-team All-Pro, and 14x Pro-Bowler.
But Manning’s playoff record wasn’t as great as his regular-season career accolades would project. 2 Super Bowls with 2 different teams is a stellar feat. But a 14-13 playoff record isn’t as good as one would expect from one of the greatest players to take the field. And people often believe that this is because Manning and his teammates would often take the final weeks of the season off with their playoff spots cemented.
I see it both ways. Name a starting QB who got injured in a meaningless Week 17 game? I can’t think of any. But I can think of a lot of times Peyton Manning rested and lost. Peyton lost in Divisional Round after a playoff bye in 1999, 2005, 2007, 2012, 2014 https://t.co/0dbpR3xiMu
— Dave Schroeder (@SchroederWBAY) January 5, 2022
Manning took Week 17 games off 4 times and could not make a serious playoff run. But The one year he put in a full shift during Week 17, the Colts went one to become Super Bowl Champs in 2006.
Roger Goodell blasts Peyton Manning for sitting out in Week 17 games.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the Manning’s were talking about trying to make the final week more competitive during the final Monday Night Manning broadcast of the season. Goodell said that the NFL started scheduling all divisional games to add some drama to the final week of the season.
Goodell stated that in 2007 when Eli’s New York Giants upset the 18-0 New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, the Giants first beat the Pats in Week 17 and rode that momentum to the Championship. Then he took aim at Peyton:
“On the other side, Peyton, you guys — the Colts — you were famous because you were out so far in front, you would sit for the last couple weeks. And you would rest a lot of players. We wanna see guys play. We wanna see teams compete. And I actually think momentum has a lot to do with it.”
Goodell did make sense. And 5 years after his retirement, it looks like if he could, Manning would do things differently if he could go back in time.
