In the 1970's, my friends and I spent a lot of happy hours sitting around a table, playing Strat-O-Matic football.  Sometimes only myself and one other player would set up an entire league (with maybe 12 teams) and play through a season.

Archie Manning was a super fun QB to play with, but he played on teams that won 1 and 2 games a season, the Saints, so his S-O-M card didn't get used much.

For the young dudes out there who hadn't yet heard, Peyton and Eli are sons to one of the really fine (South'n) quarterbacks ever to play in the NFL.

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Archie Manning was good friends with Jim Mora Jr's dad, who (later) coached the Saints for 10 years.

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Jim Mora Jr. also coached in the deep South, of course, with the Falcons.  So when a reporter asked him today, "What about #18?", Mora kind of laughed.

Archie Manning was good friends with Jim Mora Sr.

Mora has known Peyton since he was a boy, and used to take time out to watch Peyton play high school football on Friday nights.  "A man among boys," Mora called him. 

Now that's not surprising -- all NFL quarterbacks would have been men among boys in high school.  But Mora went on to explain that when Peyton Manning was 17 and 18 years old, he would come out and play 7-on-7 passing drills ... with the NFL Saints!   And crush Jim Everett in the 7-on-7 drills.  At 17!

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Mora opines that it was the same at Tennessee -- to watch Peyton manage a game, compete against college players, was "just a JOKE."

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Mora further opines that nowadays, in the NFL, nothing is changed -- that Peyton dominates NFL athletes, is a "man among boys" even there (!), as he has always been too good for his leagues since he was 17. 

He goes out and just has a blast playing the game, throwing touchdowns and coming over and high-fiving celebrity fans.

Peyton is, we're told, a football Trekkie of sorts, keeping paraphernalia around his house on all kinds of players around the league... going home and watching football video just for fun... talking nothing but football and geeking out about it all the time.

Manning is supposed to be, like his dad, a super-charming, super-likeable South'n gennelman.   Yada yada yada.

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Mora's worship of Peyton got so thick and syrupy that a reporter broke in.  "What do you DO against him?"   The reporter was thinking the same thing that I was:  how do you beat an opponent you view as a semi-deity?  You've lost before the week started, right?

Mora snapped us back to earth:  well, it's going to take some plays (a lucky pick or fumble or two, a couple of penalties).  The Colts don't have a serious running game right now, so if you lock that down early you can pin your ears back and go after the passer, and try to disrupt him.

We'll edit to add, supposing the Colts score 27 points, that doesn't mean that you can't try to score 28.   Peyton Manning isn't undefeated in the NFL.

Although right now there is no line in Las Vegas.  :- )

Cheers,

Dr D