.jpg) Peyton Manning (AP Photo) The Top 10 . . .Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning turned 33 last week. To commemorate the occasion, the NFL Network put together its Top 10 Manning Moments. It was a good piece, covering the obvious, but over the coming days on Examiner, we'll discuss the Top 10 underrated Manning moments -- the ones that don't include Super Bowl XLI or the 2006 AFC Championship Game. What were the Top 10 best Manning moments maybe a lot of people don't remember? Or don't appreciate as they should? What are the 10 that don't jump out as obvious? Here's . . .
No. 4 . . . Colts 24, Baltimore Ravens 7 . . . September 12, 2005 Of all the games on this list of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning's Top 10 underrated career moments, this may be the one that causes most fans to say, "Huh?" His statistics were, for him, average. The headlines afterward focused on a Colts defense that nearly shut out the Ravens, and that barely missed its first shutoutt since 1997. But those close to the Colts will tell you this: That victory over Baltimore, the one that set the tone for the 2005 season? It was about Manning as much as anyone else -- just in a different way than Colts fans were used to seeing. Manning, the NFL Most Valuable Player in 2003 and 2004, completed 21 of 36 passes for 254 yards and his third-quarter touchdown passes to wide receiver Marvin Harrison and tight end Ben Utecht pushed a 3-0 halftime lead to 17-0 entering the fourth quarter. Said Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy afterward: Our defense had to play well until we figured out the looks they were going to give us. We just had to hang in there. That has been the Colts' strategy in recent years against the Ravens in a series that has become one of the more intriguing, lesser-known rivalries in the NFL. Manning and Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis have become friends through numerous Pro Bowl appearances together, and on the field, each is a thinking-man's player. Manning is as good as there is in the NFL at audibiling at the line of scrimmage and Lewis is as good as there is at knowing what an opposing offense is going to run. Couple that with the Ravens' complex blitz system, and the Ravens are as mentally challening an opponent as Manning says he faces in a given year. And that's where Manning excelled in the 2005 season opener. The year before, he threw a then-NFL record 49 touchdown passes, but this game wasn't about statistics. It was about Manning doing as Dungy said above, figuring out the looks the Ravens were giving. It took a half of patience and intelligence and faith in a defense that was playing as well as it had in years. The most telling statistic of the game, Dungy told me the next day, wasn't the defense's near shutout or Manning's two touchdowns. It was that Manning played an entire exhausting game against a mind-bogglingly aggressive complex defense and not only didn't throw an interception, but also didn't take a sack. Translation I: he never put the Colts' offense in a bad spot. Translation II: he kept the Colts in a position to win until the opportunity to go win it was there. In the third quarter, the Colts did that, taking a 17-point lead they extended to 24 before a late Ravens touchdown. Manning said afterward: We stuck to our plan and it worked. We just had to keep plugging and plugging, and we got into a little groove in the second half. It was a style of play fans hadn't seen often from the Colts before that night, but one they have used by necessity often since. Teams have been reluctant in recent seasons to let Manning beat them and often have their defenses play back, forcing patience. Manning has adapted to that approach, and as a result, the Colts have won 14, 12, 13 and 12 games in the last four seasons. One of the first times they had to play that way was against the Ravens early in 2005, and on that night, Manning showed a nationally-televised audience he could do more than throw deep and beat a blitz. He could play patient, and by doing so, helped the Colts set the tone for the season. Up next . . . Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JohnOehser
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