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Indianapolis Colts QB Peytton Manning
(Darron Cummings/AP Photo)
In the first of a series, Indy Football Report Editor John Oehser breaks down to the Colts' roster entering the 2010 offseason . . .
PART ONE: THE QUARTERBACKS
Assessing the Indianapolis Colts' QB position doesn't change much from one offseason to another.
And if you're a Colts fan, or anyone associated with the team, considering the assessment begins and in a sense ends with Peyton Manning, that's OK.
Manning, who will enter his 13th NFL season next season, in 2009 remained perhaps the NFL's best player at his position, with the “perhaps” included because such things are never definite and because there are quality players such as Drew Brees (New Orleans), Tom Brady (New England) and Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh) currently playing in the league, too.
But few would argue that Manning is as good as any quarterback playing.
And a lot would argue he's the best.
That argument got significantly stronger this past season, with Manning not only making the Pro Bowl for a 10th time in 12 seasons, but turning in one of his most impressive seasons and earning an NFL-record fourth Associated Press Most Valuable Player award.
All that, and he also quarterbacked the Colts to the Super Bowl.
And while much of what Manning – and the Colts, for that matter – accomplished this past season has been somewhat lost in the chatter/buzz/noise that has dominated the blogosphere since the Colts' 31-17 loss in Super Bowl XLIV 10 days ago, that's an important truth that can't be overlooked heading into the offseason.
Is Manning the best quarterback of all-time? Who knows, and that debate – whether the Colts won or lost Super Bowl XLIV – was going to be debated and never fully resolved.
Are the Colts as strong as could be imagined at the QB position?
That's what matters to the Colts – nothing else; not legacy, history or debates – as they prepare for an offseason that Colts President Bill Polian said recently will be very much not about redemption or looking back but about preparing for the 2010 season.
Manning this past season won the MVP, and did so working with a receiving corps that was dramatically different than that which he worked in years past. The Colts released eight-time Pro Bowl WR Marvin Harrison last February, and while the team returned WR Reggie Wayne and TE Dallas Clark – and while the duo each made the Pro Bowl – the Colts also lost WR Anthony Gonzalez midway through the first half of the first game of the season.
Gonzalez, a first-round selection in the 2007 NFL Draft, spent much of the season on the active roster, but he did not play in the final 15 games of the season, making the development of rookie Austin Collie and second-year veteran Pierre Garcon critical to the offense.
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