February 1, 2012

Greg's Top Ten Favorite Peyton Manning Memories (#6-10) Continued From Yesterday:

6. November 7, 2005 @ New England (Monday Night Football): Before this game, the Patriots had made the Colts their bitch over and over again. This was the day the true rivalry began. The 40-21 victory over the Patriots in Foxboro was the event that helped fans realize that the Patriots were not in Manning's head and that the Patriots were mortal. Peyton's 3 touchdown performance was the catalyst for the win and the start of a streak of Colt victories over the Patriots, which brings us to...

7. November 5, 2006 @ New England (Sunday Night Football): If anyone thought the game from 2005 against the Patriots was an anomaly, this game quashed any idea that the 40-21 win was a fluke. Peyton Manning vastly outplayed Tom Brady by throwing 2 scores on 326 yards passing including a key touchdown pass to a very emotional Marvin Harrison who spiked the ball in front of Patriot defenders following the score. Tom Brady was completely ineffective throwing four interceptions and zero touchdowns en route to a 27-20 loss to the Colts.

8. August 8, 1998 @ Seattle (Preseason): Why is a preseason game on the list, you ask? This was Peyton Manning's first appearance as a member of the Indianapolis Colts and boy did he make a good first impression. First pass of his career would be a long touchdown pass to Marvin Harrison right up the seam. One pass, one score, thank you very much for coming. It would be a sign of things to come as the two would hook up for 112 scores in their regular season careers.

9. October 17, 2005 vs. St. Louis (Monday Night Football): Speaking of Marvin Harrison, this would be the game in which Manning and Harrison would break Steve Young and Jerry Rice's touchdown record for most score between a QB and WR in NFL history. It would happen on a textbook corner fade pass that helped the Colts beat the Rams 45-28. After catching the pass I'll never forget watching Manning try to give the ball to Harrison who was playfully pushing the ball back to Manning. Manning's response to Harrion's humility: "We'll split it! We'll split it!"

10. January 4, 2004 vs. Denver (Wild Card Weekend): The moment I knew this game would be special happened when Manning threw a perfect pass to slot receiver Brandon Stokley who was running a seam route up the middle of the field. Stokley would eventually take that pass to the house 87 yards. It was Manning's fourth touchdown pass of the game and it wasn't even halftime yet. Manning finished the game 22-26 passing for 377 yards and 5 touchdowns. It was the first postseason win of Manning's illustrious career.