Why is Peter King so respected? Pieces like this.
To understand Manning’s 2009 performance, you need to know a few tales—about a Colts charter flight in 2002, the scouting job the team did on Collie, and a pass from Manning to the rookie receiver last month. But mostly you need to know about the text message Manning sent to Brown on the Sunday of draft weekend, before they’d ever met. The message read: “Meet me at the facility at 8 a.m. tomorrow. Warmed up. Ready to go.”
Manning, simply, has made Indianapolis slump-proof. The Colts have gone 112 games—seven full seasons—without losing three straight. Indy isn’t the winningest regular-season team this decade (109 victories, one more than New England) by accident. Anytime Manning steps behind center and starts gyrating and pointing, history tells us, good things are about to occur. “To understand why he hasn’t struggled,” Dungy says, “you have to understand the way his mind works. It drives him every day that the offense will be better, not just as good as it was. The new guys will fit in. He’ll make them fit in.”
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