Tennessee blog Rocky Top Talk may have a vested interest in Peyton Manning’s career, even in the many years since his Vols’ days. What they saw tonight was Bill Belichick paying Peyton Manning the ultimate compliment by attempting to go for it on 4th down rather than punt back to the QB.
Peyton Manning Gets The Ultimate Compliment
Facing 4th and 2 at their own 28 with 2:08 to play, leading by six points…Belichick decided to go for it.
He’d just seen Manning rip his vaunted defense – with apologies to Jerod Mayo, who’s awesome – in less than two minutes to pull the Colts within one score. And so the most successful coach of his era decides that Manning is going to beat him either way, and his best and most calculated move is to go for it.
If this is any other coach in the NFL, this move is laughed off. This was Belichick, the guy who will use any means necessary with no thought of legality to win This was Manning’s nemesis. And this was the ultimate compliment.
And Belichick was right: Manning was going to beat him either way.
Good point. Lost in all of this with the focus on Belichick and the Pats combusting is the fact that Peyton Manning might actually be in the midst of his best season yet. That’s a scary thought for AFC teams.
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