[sammyg2]

If you talk to the players on defense that line against petyon, they'll almost all say he's the best. Not the best athlete, the best QB.
He's the smartest and knows what the defensive coordinator is going to do before the coordinator does.
He anticipates the defense and exploits their weaknesses better than any other quarterback.
His head coaches and offensive coordinators place high praise on him, saying that you better do your homework and have all your plays worked out before you walk into the room, because you know darn well payton already does.


Manning played on a weak team for years and still won a superbowl. He led a weak team to the playoffs year after year, usually getting beat by a much better patriots team.

In 2011 Payton missed the entire year due to his neck injury, and the colts turned into compost without him. Went 0-12 before finishing 2-14.

As a comparison, in 2008 Tom Brady blew out his knee in the first game and missed the entire season. The team went 11-5 with a near-zero NFL experienced backup QB in Matt Cassel.

At NE, Brady has an entire team to help him.
At indy, Manning WAS the entire team.

I'm a big Tom Brady fan, but even I would have to say that Brady is a close 2nd.