Quick postgame Super Bowl thought

One think I like about Simmons is that he always has an athlete's big picture in mind when he watches them; he always talks about what a win or loss can do for a guy on the all-time list. He makes it far more cut-and-dry than I think it is, "If Kobe wins another title, he vaults up 7 spots" for example. But that was what I was thinking the whole game about Peyton Manning.

If Manning wins that game, not only does he run away with the title of best QB on the planet right now, he starts making an argument for being included in the Montana, Elway, Marino, Favre class of best QBs ever. More than just having two rings, the ring he would have this season would come essentially solely because of him. He's the first ever player-coach in the NFL I can remember (used to be popular in the NBA), and when the Colts went for it on 4th down in the 3rd quarter, he didn't so much as look at Jim Caldwell. He just decided they were going for it and called a play. And they got it.

It's likely he's gonna get a lot of crap over the next week for the pick for a TD that he threw, the play that essentially decided the game. And he deserves some of it. But let's not forget he played an almost flawless game up until that point, and an almost flawless season up until the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl.

Problem is, he needs that ring to vault himself up the Pantheon of all-time QBs. Nothing else matters except getting that second title. His greatness was matched, if not surpassed, by Drew Brees in that game.

If he next season is just like his last, except that it ends with a Super Bowl win...then he's right back up there on the all-time list. But I can't help but think that this was a chance to move himself several places up the big board and that the interception cost him that opportunity. I don't think he's a choker. I don't think he's "un-clutch." I don't think he shrinks on the big stage. But the hardest part, for him, will be that it will be a full year before he has another shot to prove it.