INDIANAPOLIS (Jan. 21, 2007) -- Peyton Manning, it is time to exhale.
You have done what a growing number of critics had questioned you would ever be able to do. You have won the big one.
OK, maybe it is more accurate to say that you have won a big one. There still is a bigger one that you must win in order for the weight of so much regular-season success, followed by so much playoff frustration, to fully disappear.
But this was a large step toward vindication. A very large step.
Colts quarterback Peyton Manning has taken an important first step.
In beating the New England Patriots 38-34, the Indianapolis Colts did much more than earn the right to play in the Super Bowl. They exorcised the most menacing demon from all of Manning's January nightmares accumulated during a 6-6 postseason record since 1999.
And although he had quite a bit of help from his teammates, Manning did most of the heavy lifting himself. He rallied the Colts from an 18-point deficit in the first half with the poise and clutch throws that have long been his trademark. We've seen those qualities on display in countless games. We just hadn't seen them when it counted the most, such as in the AFC Championship Game.
Now Manning has a chance to end the he-always-chokes-in-the-postseason discussion once and for all. That will come on Feb. 4, when the Colts face the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.
There is plenty of time to ponder that challenge. What happened in the AFC title game is worth savoring for a while.
After two poor playoff performances that raised those familiar doubts about Manning, he put together a game for the ages. It wasn't perfect, but it ranked as a classic effort nonetheless: 27 of 47 for 349 yards with a touchdown pass and a 1-yard touchdown run. Sure, he had an interception returned for six points, but the Colts would not be denied. It was as if every player on the team was determined to get his quarterback to the place that he had never been.
In what will stand as one of the all-time great championship games, the Colts stumbled at the start and fell into a 21-3 hole from which they seemed unlikely to escape. Then they proceeded to stage the biggest comeback in AFC or NFC conference championship game history.
Along the way, Manning's legacy hung in the balance.
If this had been a loss, the ramifications for him were almost unthinkable. Manning would have been judged as a player who entered the NFL as the top overall pick of the draft ... who generated a lot of nice statistics ... who was paid a handsome salary ... who popped up in endless television commercials ... and who folded like a beach chair when it came to delivering in the biggest pressure situations of all.
It wouldn't have mattered if he put up nice numbers in a loss. It was win or face another long offseason of ridicule. It was win or hear talk that maybe Manning would never have the chance to play in the Super Bowl. How much longer would the Colts be able to keep together a very expensive roster to compete for the ultimate crown? The clock was ticking louder than ever.
But before the alarm sounded, Manning found himself getting ready to play on the largest stage of all for the first time in his nine NFL seasons.
Of course, he refused to acknowledge that there was, or is, anything for him to prove, or any ugly history to shed. Manning wanted nothing to do with any talk about whether he felt vindicated.
"I just don't get into that," he said. "I don't play that card. I thought this game was about two really good football teams and certainly the history we've had with this team. I can remember the disappointment three years ago when we lost up there in New England for the AFC championship.
"I know how hard I've worked this season. I know how hard I worked this week to get ready for these guys, and it's always nice when you can take the hard work and put it to use and come away with a win."
Several Patriots players -- including Tedy Bruschi, Kevin Faulk and Tom Brady -- certainly knew how special a moment it was for Manning. They made a point of congratulating him on the field after the game, during a wild mob scene on the field with the crowd roaring and blue and white confetti filling the air. They had their Super Bowl rings. They knew what it meant for Manning and the Colts to have their first opportunity to get theirs.
However, from the beginning, this did not seem as if it would be Manning's or the Colts' night. The Patriots' first touchdown, on their second possession, came when a fumbled exchange between Brady and Laurence Maroney somehow squirted under a pile of Colts defenders and into the end zone, where offensive guard Logan Mankins recovered.
Early in the second quarter, the Patriots then made a statement that showed the ultimate disrespect for a defense that had struggled all season but had been dominant in two playoff games. On fourth-and-6, they kept their offense on the field, and Brady threw a 27-yard pass to Troy Brown to the Colts' 7-yard line. One play later, Corey Dillon ran for a touchdown.
Two plays later, Manning threw a pass that Asante Samuel, the Patriots' remarkably opportunistic cornerback, returned an interception 39 yards for a touchdown. Samuel's second such play of the postseason gave the Patriots a 21-3 lead and had the look and feel of a knockout punch.
But Manning never buckled. His teammates never buckled. Coach Tony Dungy never buckled.
The Colts demonstrated as much by marching deep into New England territory just before halftime. Although they settled for a field goal, Dungy said he could feel a sense of "energy" within the team at halftime. He stressed to his players that, down 21-6, they were not out of anything.
Colts head coach Tony Dungy knows Manning's success is no accident.
Sure enough, the Colts caused a major momentum shift. It started when they took the second-half kickoff and drove for a touchdown, which came on Manning's keeper. It continued when they stopped Maroney at the New England 18 with a big hit on the kickoff return. It continued when the Colts forced the Patriots to go three-and-out. And it reached a crescendo when the ensuing drive ended with Manning's one-yard scoring throw to defensive tackle Dan Klecko, followed by a two-point conversion pass to Marvin Harrison to knot the game at 21-21.
From that point on, it was a new game, one that Manning was more than capable of winning.
With 2:17 left and New England clinging to a 34-31 lead, the Colts got the ball back at their 20 and the stage was set for Manning to be the biggest of heroes. Dungy insisted that no one on the Colts' sideline even considered the alternative.
"There is no doubt in anybody's mind that we were going to take that ball down and score," Dungy said. "Once our defense stopped them, I think we all felt good that Peyton was going to drive us in."
Which was exactly what he did. Despite playing with a sore throwing thumb resulting from a collision with a helmet, Manning threw an 11-yard pass to Reggie Wayne. Two plays later, he connected with tight end Bryan Fletcher for 32 yards. Then he hooked up with Wayne again for 14 yards, and with the help of a roughing-the-passer penalty, the Colts had the ball at the Patriots 11. Although the perfect scenario would have been Manning throwing for a touchdown, Joseph Addai ended up running for one from three yards to make it 38-34.
Marlin Jackson's interception with 24 seconds left sealed the outcome and knocked at least part of a massive albatross off of Manning's shoulders.
"I just think it's great for him to get to the Super Bowl with a drive like that," Dungy said. "It probably won't shut anybody up until we win one. It'll still be, 'Well, can you win the Super Bowl?'
"But Peyton Manning's a great player and anybody that doesn't know that doesn't know much about football."
I'm exaggerating to illustrate a point - it would take many Hester returns for TDs to work out for the Bears in that case indeed.GB you for calling me out on it though, it's nice to know I can't get away with anything around here EVER!!!! 
