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Insider | Notebook
HAMMOND, La. -- The shirtless figure in the distance is orchestrating a workout that has three other men gasping for breaths in the thick, summer air. The Bayou is hot at this time of the year, but it's especially searing at midday as the sun beats down on the four men, three of whom look as if they would certainly rather be somewhere else.
But there will be no cutting short this workout, even if it is cayenne pepper hot.
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| The fingers are pointed at Peyton Manning -- unfairly -- after the ugly playoff loss to the Jets.(Getty Images) |
"Don't even think about your shoes off," Manning says as he moves closer.
Manning is here at Southeastern Louisiana University, an outpost some 40 swamp miles away -- isn't that how they measure things around here? -- from where he grew up in New Orleans. It's here Manning holds his passing academy each year, a three-day event where hopefuls come with a wing and prayer, dreaming of becoming the next Peyton Manning, while the fathers dream of retiring when they do.
His camp is a call to arms, and they all come.
NFL quarterbacks, college quarterbacks, high school quarterbacks and even some retired quarterbacks, such as his father, Archie, who was one of the NFL's best and the guy who puts on this camp with Peyton and his two brothers. Oh, yeah. One of those brothers is Eli Manning, the quarterback at Mississippi who happens to be a Heisman Trophy candidate and a potential No. 1 overall pick in next year's draft.
(By the way, it's a good idea to keep low around his camp because footballs fly all over the place).
It is Peyton Manning who is the star of the show, which is why seeing him working out in the middle of the afternoon, far, far away from the spotlight, might seem so surprising. He is the one pulling a workout card out of a bag, complete with an hour-long program designed for quarterbacks, a program he takes with him almost everywhere he goes.
To those who know him, it is vintage Manning. The guy is the hardest-working quarterback in the NFL, watching more film than a Hollywood screener and working out at a pace that would cripple others.
"A lot of guys, because they are at camp and it's hot and it's a hot field, might not go out there and do the workout," Manning said. "But I feel if I take a day off, that's where you begin to go the other way."
Said Archie Manning: "I always felt like I worked hard and that I maxed-out on the film study, but he works harder than I do. Peyton is a workaholic. He believes in preparation. He doesn't want anybody to outwork him."
At least on this one day he had some workout buddies to get through the drills.
Two days before, he did the same hour-long workout in the heat alone, no one or nothing to motivate him but the sting of his team's 41-0 loss to the New York Jets in the playoffs last January, a loss that all anyone seems to remember about his 2002 season.
That loss made Manning 0-3 in the playoffs during his career, which has set off a frenzy of sorts around the league that goes something like this:
Peyton Manning can't win the big one.
Those playoff failures have put plenty of heat on Manning, and we're not talking about the kind coming from the sun, but rather that piping hot kind that has made many an athlete melt away. Somehow, someway, it has become chic to find flaws with Manning.
Has any superstar passer been picked apart this much? And why is that? Are the fans tired of seeing a poised, pocket passer who gets the ball out on time and in rhythm when the new-breed like Michael Vick do it with far more pizzazz?
Have we gone so hip-hop and highlight-reel crazy we no longer appreciate a hard-working, do-it-the-old-way passer who stays clear of trouble and treats others with respect and actually likes talking to the media? Are good guys just too vanilla for most to like?
"It's a sad thing in our society when the guy who tries to do the right thing off the field and behave himself, that's taboo," Archie Manning said. "The guy who is controversial, the guy who stirs things up, he gets the attention. I always thought Peyton was playing in the wrong era. He's a good player in 2000, but he'd be a great player in the '50s because he's an old-school guy."
Peyton Manning is only 27, but he's mature beyond his years, and it certainly shows up on the field, where he is a coach masquerading as a quarterback. Nobody handles an offense at the line of scrimmage like Manning does, his hand signals and line checks the stuff of those old-style passers who played before the coaches reeled in the quarterbacks.
Off the field, Manning is just as mature. He handles himself with a grace that belies his 27 years, which Archie said might have been a result of his being in the spotlight so soon as a prep star. Dan Marino might have summed Manning up best when he told Archie Manning this:
"Peyton is 27, but it seems like he's 40," Marino said.
That's why Manning allows most of any and all criticism talk to slide, even though you can see through his facial expressions it does truly bother him.
Even nice guys get miffed when all that's brought up is the negative, especially a player as competitive as Manning.
Manning threw 27 touchdown passes last year, but all anyone wants to talk about is his 19 interceptions. The skeptics are quick to point out he has thrown 42 interceptions the past two seasons. But does anyone stop and think for a second those interceptions come because he plays in one of the NFL's most-aggressive pass offenses, where risks are taken and 4-yard dumps to the receiver on third-and-14 aren't commonplace?
The interception talk, like the playoff talk, is obviously annoying to Manning as he sits in a dorm room he's using as camp headquarters, leaning back in his chair, trying to make sense of why he's the quarterback that has become the league's whipping boy.
"It's something I'd like to cut back on, and I don't consider myself an interception thrower," Manning said. "Not to make excuses, but we usually lead the league in attempts. We are an aggressive down-the-field offense. That's how we eat teams. We're going to attack and make throws that other teams don't attempt. It requires you to make some high-risk throws. At the same time, I do have to protect the ball better. I know that."
Nobody wants to remember he's the only passer to throw for 4,000 yards in four consecutive seasons. Nobody wants to note he has started 80 consecutive games, a testament to his toughness.
It's always about the interceptions and the playoff losses.
The reality is in his three playoff losses, the Colts were outplayed in two of them and kicker Mike Vanderjagt missed a potential game-winner in another. Coach Jim Mora also played safe in that loss to Miami in 2001.
Yet somehow, it's all Manning's fault. Combine Manning, Joe Montana, Dan Marino and Johnny Unitas and that quarterback wouldn't have beaten the Jets last January. The Colts were terrible, and Manning didn't deserve all the heat.
Quarterbacks are defined by their playoff victories, right or wrong, which is something Marino lives with everyday and something Manning will take with him when he retires if he doesn't get a ring. But, hey, he could be Ryan Leaf?
"It's a legitimate factor," said Manning of his playoff criticism. "It's my sixth year. I've had some individual success, the team has had some success.
"But the facts are facts. We haven't advanced in the playoffs. If we win a first-round playoff game this year and get eliminated in the second round, I won't go around bragging. To me, it's so bottom line. It's Super Bowl or bust.
"I'm very aware of where we are. We're knocking at the door. I do feel a sense of urgency in my sixth season. So, I understand why people might make a big deal out of that. But do they think we're not trying?"
Manning remembers a story he recently read about NBA players John Stockton and Karl Malone, two future Hall of Fame players who never won a championship when they played together for the Utah Jazz. The story struck Manning for an obvious reason.
"The story was about all they accomplished and all I could think about was how the real fan would look at what they did and think it was amazing," he said. "But the average fan will say they didn't win a championship, so it doesn't mean as much. You can't win the battle going around saying you accomplished this, this and this but didn't win a championship.
"Dan Marino can't say he led the league in passing, led the league in touchdowns and led in yardage because he didn't win a championship. You don't think he didn't bust his butt every day in the offseason, give everything he had for 17 years, to win a championship? It just didn't happen."
Manning's hours of film work make him the best at the line of scrimmage. Yet, at one point last season, he started to hear criticism about his work at the line of scrimmage. They said it might be too much for the offensive players, that it was hurting the offense. And then he went out and carved up the Philadelphia Eagles on the road in the best quarterbacked game some have seen -- he gets the vote in this space -- and that talk subsided.
The criticism has not.
When Manning was put in the top 10 players in the SportsLine.com Top 50, the e-mailers went wild, in not-so-nice words, saying he doesn't belong on the list. There is even talk in Indianapolis the fans are questioning him some, too.
That all begs this question: If you could have any quarterback right now, age being a factor, who would you take for the long run?
Vick or Manning? I'll take Manning. Manning or Favre? I'll take Manning based on age. Steve McNair or Manning? Manning, even though McNair played better last season.
"I just think the (criticism) is a sign of the times in sports a little bit," Archie Manning said. "You have a few people in the media who sit there and take their shots and it spreads to the fans. And then the talk-radio thing. And then it's about this guy can't do this and that."
Can't be a good leader.
Can't cut down on the mistakes.
Can't move outside the pocket.
Can't win the big game.
Manning has heard them all, probably even louder since the loss to the Jets. But he just brushes it aside, with his usual class, proving he is 27 going on 40.
"I love playing and I hope I get to play as long as Marino and Elway did," Manning said. "I have to stay healthy. I don't like to get into career summaries when I'm a third of the way into what I hope is my career.
"It's not for me to make judgments about where I am. I've experienced a lot of positives, but I've also dealt with my share of the criticism. I just don't get angry about it anymore. Why should I?
"If somebody is in the production truck telling the on-air guys to take a shot at Manning, whether he wants to or not, what's he going to do? I have to be able to handle it. I know for us to win a championship, I have to do my job well. That's the only thing I can worry about." The next day, as his camp began, it was back to work.
There was Manning working on his drops, throwing to some 16-year-old kids who will have something to brag about when they return to school this fall -- they were lucky enough to have caught passes from the best quarterback in the NFL.