Manning again comes up short in big game

INDIANAPOLIS – Peyton Manning looked like a lost child in the mall. Again. He wore a gray suit, open collar, no tie, and he looked so much younger than 29, and he tried to explain to the cameras and recorders and bright lights how he lost again.

“It’s football,” he said softly. “I know those words have different meanings.”

For Manning, that mystical phrase “it’s football” is the only explanation for the painful losses that tail him like private eyes. Sunday’s loss was probably the most painful loss of them all. Manning and the Indianapolis Colts were granted reprieve after reprieve. They were given gift after gift. This was supposed to be their charmed season, the season they started by winning 13 in a row.

The details change, but it’s always the same sad song. The Colts always lose the big games with Peyton Manning at quarterback.

“I’m disappointed,” he said. “And I can’t give you more of an explanation than that.”

Manning has been the most spectacular quarterback of his time. The numbers blow you away. Manning’s team wins. No quarterback, not even New England’s Tom Brady, has had as good a record the past four seasons.

He’s the whole package, great player, great person, the man you want your son to be, the perfect storm …

Except …

“I cannot argue with the truth,” Manning said.

The truth is, Peyton Manning has played in five huge NFL games – those would be second week of the playoffs or later. His teams have lost four of them.

Sunday was supposed to be different. This was to be Manning’s breakthrough. His kryptonite – New England – had been knocked out of the playoffs by Denver. This game was in Indianapolis. The red carpet was out for Peyton Manning.

And Manning tripped on a seam. His final numbers look good enough – 22 completions, 38 attempts, 290 yards, no interceptions – but numbers deceive. Manning was brutal the first three quarters. He missed open receivers, he danced nervously in the pocket, he seemed confused. That’s the big reason why Pittsburgh opened a 21-3 lead.

Plus, Manning did throw a critical interception with about 5 minutes left in the game. Steelers safety Troy Polamalu stepped in front of a Manning pass and caught the ball. Polamalu made a complete roll on the ground with the ball in his hands. Polamalu and the ball were together longer than Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney. Only after he got up to run did the ball squirt out of his hands, a clear fumble. Polamalu fell on the ball. The defense ran off the field. That should have put the game away.

The referee bizarrely overturned the interception. Referee Pete Morelli’s explanation has to be printed in full so you can fully appreciate it: “(Polamalu) never had possession with his leg up off the ground doing an act common to the game of football.”

That was Manning’s first gift.

His second gift came in the final 2 minutes, with the Colts down three. Manning was sacked twice, the second sack coming on fourth down. Again, that should have put the game away. But then Pittsburgh’s legend, Jerome Bettis, fumbled the ball at the goal line, giving Manning and the Colts yet another chance.

This time, Manning did complete a couple of passes, and he moved the Colts to within reasonable field-goal range. He could do no more, though, and Indianapolis’ kicker Mike Vanderjagt did not come close to making the 46-yard field goal. There were no more miracles left. Manning lost again.

Manning had to see that missed kick as a symbol of his football life. Manning lost five games at Isidore Newman High in New Orleans, but three of those losses came in the state playoffs. He did not win a state championship.

He lost only five games at Tennessee, but famously, three of those losses were to Florida, and the Volunteers did not win the national championship until after he left.

“It’s not a lack of effort,” Manning said. “I’ve never stepped on a field more prepared … I studied these guys for two weeks… . I’ve never accepted losing … We spent so much time studying and preparing… . It will take time to make peace with the football gods… . It’s hard to swallow.”

And then he said the words that follow him everywhere.

“All I know to do is keep trying,” he said. “I get tired of saying that.”