When I was digging up Whitlock's article on Tebow to post I was looking at some of his other recent stuff, and some of it is off the wall. Just three days ago he called Peyton Manning a "choker":
NFL Truths: Peyton's a choker</font>
10. Now that the Colts' season has ended with another baffling playoff loss, it's time to play the blame game in Indianapolis. Peyton Manning or Tony Dungy? I'll point my finger at Peyton Manning, the best regular-season QB in NFL history.
If this is indeed the end for Tony Dungy, he accomplished exactly what the Colts hired him to do. He was resurrected from Tampa to make Indy's defense good enough to win in the postseason.
In Indy's last five playoff losses, the Colts surrendered 23, 28, 21, 20 and 24 points. The Jets bum-rushed Dungy's first Indianapolis squad 41-0 in the postseason.
Most of Dungy's Indy playoff losses played out similar to Saturday's heartbreaking, 23-17 disaster. Dungy and his defense stood along the sideline waiting for Manning and full-autonomy offensive coordinator Tom Moore to score points the way they did in the regular season.
Indy's lone second-half touchdown on Saturday came on a fluke, busted play when the Colts caught the Chargers unprepared for the snap. Reggie Wayne blew past a flat-footed San Diego corner who was staring at the sideline looking for a defensive signal.
Manning did nothing on Saturday. Well, he enhanced his reputation as the big-time QB mostly likely to choke in the clutch. His postseason numbers don't lie.
His record is 7-8. He's tossed 22 TDs and 17 INTs in January. His completion percentage falls to 56 percent (eight points lower than his career percentage). And in his eight playoff losses, the Colts average 13 points per game.
Also, let's not forget that in his 2006, four-game Super Bowl run, Manning threw three TDs and seven INTs. His Super Bowl MVP trophy was a gift from the media, probably a thank-you for the wonderful TV commercials.
I'm a Peyton Manning fan. His postseason play is indefensible.
[url]http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/9033410/NFL-Truthseyto n's-a-choker,-LT-is-done-in-S.D [/url].
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Manning played very well against the Chargers. The Coltshad virtually zero running game and a defense and special teams that let Darren Sproles rack up 328 yards against them. To blame Manning and call him a choker is ridiculous. What about Joseph Addai, a total bum this season. And if you want to call any Colt a post-season choker, Marvin Harrison has been as big a choker as the league has ever seen in the post-season.
Another huge factor in the Colts loss was the punting of Mike Scifres. He was brilliant, as good as it gets.
Peyton Manning was the only thing the Colts had going in that game and was the only reason they nearly won it. To write otherwise and blame Peyton for the Colts' lossis boneheadedness at its best.[/QUOTE]
Whitlock is clearly trying to deflect blame off of Dungy and place
it on Manning. In reality I think it is about half and half.
He's probably defending Dungy because:
1) He's black
2) Dungy is such a good person (as far as we know)
3) Whitlock is partially right
It's ridiculous to not give a major part of the blame to Dungy. He's
out of line confidently concluding that Manning is the primary reason
for the Colts post-season under achievements. Dungy is the friggen head
coach; he has responsibilities over the offense and defense. There is
a reason Dungy stands at the end of the field to view the opponents defense and relay that back to the O-coordinator. However, as a casual
viewer of Manning's career I always thought he played worse in big
games. He's no Tom Brady, Joe Montanna or even Marino (he carried
those teams).
It may be coincidence, but Manning never beat his high school rival or
college rival (Florida). But he's not bad enough in the big games (he had a hell of a
game to beat the Patriots in the championship game and decent Super
Bowl) to conclude the failures are Manning's fault. Dungy deserved credit for turning around the Bucs but it was Gruden who could win the big game--in his first year with the same team! Whitlock's race got the best of him here. He does seem though to allow race to cloud his judgment less than most journalists.