pakowitz

June 15, 2004
By Pete Prisco
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Pete your opinion!


It's not the numbers. Nor is it the name, as some might think.

It's talent, pure and simple, that makes Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning the best player in the NFL.


If you threw the entire league into an open draft, you can bet that the majority of the 32 teams would take Manning first. For starters, he's a quarterback, which accentuates his value. More than that, though, he's a quarterback in his prime on his way to the Hall of Fame.

Injuries? He hasn't missed a game in six years. He's as clean as any player in the league from that standpoint.

There are no blemishes aside from the fact he still has not won a Super Bowl, but that will come. Manning was the choice as the top player in the SportsLine.com Top 50 in 2001, a pick ripped by many when it was made.

For whatever reason, Manning has a large group of haters. That makes anything written positive about him a sore spot, bound to generate nasty responses.

So get them ready. Manning is again the top-ranked player on our list of 50, a throne held by Ray Lewis in 2002 and then Derrick Brooks in 2003.

Manning's 2003 season, which included a searing postseason that left him a game short of the Super Bowl, is reason enough to put him atop the list.

Can he stay there? What's to think he won't?

There is an entire league of players ready to chase him down, especially at the running back spot. In doing this top 50, the one thing that stands out is the number of great backs there are in the league right now.

There are six in the top 20, eight in the top 50, and that doesn't include Seattle's Shaun Alexander or Carolina's Stephen Davis, who were close.

The top back is Kansas City's Priest Holmes, although San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson and Washington's Clinton Portis are close.

Holmes, fresh off another impressive season, is ranked fourth overall in the top 50, although a case could be made for him being at the top.

Not on this list. He has some work to do to get Manning, who earned the right to be looking down at the rest of the league's players in the list that follows.

1. Peyton Manning, QB, Colts: He has been the best quarterback, and now he's clearly the best player. The only thing missing is a Super Bowl victory.


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http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/7423842

WhoDat

Manning? THe best player in the NFL? I don\'t know. I associate the name Manning with the word LOSER. HA HA HA HA HA....

Billy, oh Billy, where fore art thou Billy?

GumboBC

I\'s be rite here, WhoDat....

Everyone knows what I was doing when I said I equate the name \"Manning\" to the word \"loser.\" I was simply trying to make a point and judge QB\'s the way you do, WhoDat.

According to you, wins are what determines a great QB. And up until 2003, Manning was a loser when it counted. And that\'s in the playoffs. It took him 6-years to win a playoff game.

And you know who was most responsible for them losing those playoff games?

It was none other than the great Peyton Manning. Who threw int after int in the playoffs. Just like he did in the AFC championship game this year against the Pats.

Then you throw in his dads win/loss record and what do you equate the name \"Manning\" with? Certainly not championships.............LMAO

It\'s a cruel world, WhoDat. A cruel, cruel, world.

See, I can use that WhoDat logic, too......HA~!!