Lucas at Large: Did Peyton Manning morph into Brett Favre?

By MIKE LUCAS

We can now take a roll call of Super Bowl ring bearers who have came up short against the New Orleans Saints.

Eli Manning? Check.

Tom Brady? Check.

Kurt Warner? Check.

Brett Favre? Check.

Peyton Manning? Checkmate.

Now check out Drew Brees vs. the aforementioned field.

Brees (23-30-369, 4 TDs) vs. E. Manning (14-31-178, 1 TD, 1 Int.)

Brees (18-23-317, 5 TDs) vs. Brady (21-36-237, 2 Int.)

Brees (23-32-247, 3 TDs) vs. Warner (17-26-205, 1 Int.)

Brees (17-31-197, 3 TDs) vs. Favre (28-46-310, 1 TD, 2 Int.)

Brees (32-39-288, 2 TDs) vs. P. Manning (31-45-333, 1 TD, 1 Int.)

Brees played five games against these elite quarterbacks, each of whom has won at least one Super Bowl. Brady has won three.

In these five games, Brees threw 17 TD passes.

In these five games, Brees did not throw an interception.

In these five games, Brees became an elite quarterback.

There's no question that Brees has elevated his profile.

But here's the question du jour: How did Sunday's loss in Super Bowl XLIV impact Peyton Manning's legacy, if it did at all?

This much we know: Manning is a .500 quarterback in the postseason. As opposed to Brady, who's 14-4.

This much we know: Manning's allegedly defining postseason moment, to this point, was winning a Super Bowl over the Bears.

This much we know: If Favre threw the same lame pass that Manning threw -- the pass that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Saints cornerback Tracy Porter in the fourth quarter -- the national pundits would be killing Favre today for the mistake.

Make no mistake, either, it was a huge faux pas on the part of Manning, who was driving the Colts into position to tie the game. Unlike Favre, who was also picked off by Porter after he made the cardinal sin of throwing late across his body, Manning seemingly had a clear passing lane to his intended wide receiver Reggie Wayne.

Granted, you can make the case that Wayne stopped on the route and quit on the play. So it appeared. Wayne, at the very least, should have done a better job of preventing Porter from stepping in front of that pass. You can also make the case that Manning morphed into Favre at the most inopportune time of the game.

If you're going to kill Favre for his careless blunders, then, you have to put this ill-advised pass by Manning in the same dubious category. Especially since Manning's meltdown took place on the biggest stage of all, the Super Bowl. (In truth, maybe Manning morphed into Neil O'Donnell, the former Steeler journeyman who was picked off twice by Dallas' Larry Brown in Super Bowl XXX.)

Maybe none of this matters. Peyton Manning, after all, is destined for the Hall of Fame based on his regular-season numbers alone. But obviously he did nothing Sunday to enhance his postseason resume, which has been ordinary to below-average (sort of like the uninspiring lineup of commercials for Super Bowl XLIV), save the lone championship entry against the Rex Grossman Bears.

Manning will always be in the discussion of Greatest Quarterbacks Ever. But until he wins another Super Bowl, he will be well down the list. Particularly since Brees has drawn even with both Mannings. Interestingly, Brees not only owns a super victory over Peyton Manning, but he has one over Peyton Manning's caddy, too.

Who dat?

In 2000, Brees threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns in Purdue's 30-24 overtime victory over the University of Wisconsin football team at Camp Randall Stadium. The UW starter was lanky Jim Sorgi, who hit on 21-of-29 throws for 243 yards. He was sacked seven times.

Sorgi, who was in street clothes Sunday because of an injury, has been Peyton Manning's faithful understudy in Indianapolis.

"It's obvious that he does a great job with pre-snap reads,'' the opposing coach was saying. "He reads what the coverage is, what you're trying to do on defense, and he knows where to go with the football. And he's very hard to sack. First of all, he's mobile, more so than you think. Secondly, he's going to get rid of the ball quickly.''

This is what everybody has been saying ad nauseam about Peyton Manning. Except in this case the speaker was former Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez and he was talking about Brees.

"I never had a whole lot of confidence in myself playing football,'' Brees said prior to playing the Badgers in 1998. As a 12-year-old, he was the No. 1 ranked tennis player in his age group in Texas. Football was then an afterthought -- after tennis and baseball.

"I was the fourth-string quarterback of my freshman class,'' Brees said. "It's really odd how things worked out. I wound up being second-string my junior varisty year. I even considered giving it up and going straight to baseball. But the starter got injured my sophomore year and I wound up playing.'' And winning.

And winning, and winning, and winning.

I will remember two things about Super Bowl XLIV: the Manning interception and the picture of Drew Brees holding his young son in his arms on the awards platform. Baylen was wearing headphones to block out some of the noise (a recommended accessory for anyone who's forced to listen to Jim Nantz broadcast football. But that's another blog for another day).