Jacksonville Jaguars' Official Web Site Rips Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning

I agree with Ketcham. Peyton didn't have such a hot game...definitely not MVP caliber. He overthrew a few and the butter on Chargers' DB's fingers saved a couple of interceptions.

Yes, the defense sucked and Scifres got some great bounces on punts....but the defense and special teams didn't win MVP and probably don't get the bonuses and paychecks that Peyton does.

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Sounds like sour grapes after getting drubbed by Manning over the last decade. All QBs get wild until pressure-ask Brady about last years Super Bowl. The Chargers got to him in the second half and that was the difference. With time, he is as good as anyone and certainly a lot better than anything the Jags have or have had.

Perhaps Mister Bitterman should spend more time trying to figure out what to do with that bunch of quitters they have in a town that cannot support an NFL team.

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Let's see...Colts won 12 games, Jags won ??? thought so. Colts have been ahead of Jags for the past 7 years, Colts and Payton have won a Super Bowl, while Jags live in the toilet bowl. Yes, these kind of sour grapes does nothing to enhance the organization, but bet you one thing.. IF JAGS HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE PAYTON, THEY'D SURELY TAKE HIM..
Mr. Ketchman...would have, could have, should have..

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Wow. Ketchman's rhetorical question is spot on -- what IS it with you Peyton Mannning apologists?

You're going to blame the Colts' defense for this game? Seriously!? They gave up 17 points to the league's 3rd best offense (in DVOA.) They forced two turnovers. And what's more, all of the points the Chargers scored in regulation came on drives in which they started out in Colts' territory.

Every single Chargers score before OT came after the Colts' offense went three and out from behind their own ten yard line. So now it's the Colts' defense's fault that Manning and the offense can't manage a single first down to get from underneath the shadow of their own goalpost?

Oh, and before you start maligning the Colts' special teams for this one -- just what was anyone supposed to do w/ Scifres' punts? When an opponents' punter is getting the kind of bounces that Scifres was on Saturday, there's not really anything anyone on the Colts could do about it. Did you even take a second to think about that before throwing the Colts' STs under the bus?

Meanwhile, just how little does the MVP have to do to escape your blame? Sure, he didn't throw multiple picks, and his completion percentage was decent. He didn't exactly LOSE the game for the Colts... but shouldn't you expect more out of a star QB leading an offense that has had more 1st round picks and cap space devoted to it than any other in the league?

After a promising 1st quarter, the Colts' offense didn't do squat. They managed a quick score by taking advantage of a napping D, bust aside from that, they did nothing. As mentioned before, they couldn't even do their part to win the field position battle. And it's not like they were playing the Ravens or Steelers D here -- SD has one of the poorer pass Ds in the league. They were dropping should-be INTs left and right (as Ketchman pointed out.)

For the amount of cap space the Colts dedicate to Manning and his receivers, they have a right to expect actual GOOD games from them in the post-season, not just not-cover-your-eyes-awful ones.

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Plain and simple, Colts D got worked by the Chargers.

the Chargers did everything right at the end to keep the Colts offense off the field... and thats how they won. you cant blame a lose on the QB for that. how is he supposed to win if hes on the sideline. get off manning's nuts and move on to next week.

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What game were you watching? The Colts had about equal time of possession as the Chargers (29:11 v. 30:49) in regular time play. How exactly is that keeping Manning off the field? If anything, considering how many times Manning went three and out, it's amazing that the defense kept the game so close. The Colts D made the Chargers punt six times and forced 2 turnovers. That gave Manning more offensive possessions than the Chargers had. How in the world is that keeping the Colts offense off the field? If you are going to be a Manning-apologist, at least base your arguments on the reality of the game.

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Those punts were not lucky bounce's, that guy has been doing that all season. Peyton did choke, like he has in the past, If he would have called TAILS instead of heads the might have won the game, Get over it Colt fans, the Bolts beat the Colts AGAIN!

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Football is a wonderful game and I admire those with the physical ability to play it. It is also a team game. A team wins and a Team loses. One player does not win the game or lose the game.

The criticism of Peyton Manning by Vic Ketcham is unwarranted.

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While I generally agree with the sentiment that a loss is a team loss, singling out particular people to criticize isn't wrong. No one is saying that Manning was the only one at fault, but when you get a disproportionate amount of the credit, as Manning usually does, he'll also get just as much criticism when he comes up short (which he has on many occasions). The fact that this was following his MVP award, and the fact that most of the criticisms were knee-jerk reactions to those blaming the Colts defense (which did its job and did it well), makes the criticism understandable and appropriate.

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Maybe there's just an expectation that the NFL MVP will be able to light up the #31 ranked pass defense (by yards) for more than 1TD when the defense isn't paying attention? Or maybe people don't see how you can blame a defense that held the Bolt's O to 10 points under their season average?

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I disagree with this author. Manning is just as much responsible for not getting the job done as other elements of the team who did not as well. Ketchman breaks it down very well..

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MDS never ceases to amaze me with his ignorance of football. His conclusion as to why it wasn't Mannings fault? Scifers and Sproles had a big game, so it obviously had to be special teams and defense that failed. That's his reasoning. Unbelievable. Watch the damn game before spouting nonsense.

The reason Scifers was able to be showcased at all is because the Colts D forced Scifers to punt 6 times. 6 damn times. In addition to forcing two turnovers. Sproles was able to be showcased because Manning couldn't stay on the damn field. His defense gave him plenty of opportunities (more than the Chargers offense got) and he couldn't get any drives going.

From all those offensive possessions, Manning 3 and outed 3 times, turned the ball over on downs 1 time, and failed to finish drives at the end of the half and regulation, in addition to a couple of punts inbetween. In the fourth quarter, he needed all of one score to seal the deal, but could only muster 34 net yards of offense despite 3 possessions.

And in case MDS wants to pull that likewise ignorant Peter King's card about how bad the field position was for Manning, let me also dispel that bit of BS. Out of 12 offensive possessions that Manning had, only 5 of started under his own 19. What happened on those other 7 offensive possessions? Frankly, not much. That's why they lost. That's why it's on Manning's head.

And even if Manning had ALL of his possessions under his own 10, that doesn't even really matter. You realize that bad field position for the offense doesn't effect the defense's formation at all, right? The reason why drives have a high failure rate with field position under their own 20 yard line is because most teams don't have enough faith in their quarterback to throw, so they try to get some breathing room with a conservative run game instead of chancing a turnover deep in their own territory in automatic field goal range.

Quarterbacks of Manning's caliber are trusted enough to throw from any position on the field. He protects the ball well enough that his offense doesn't go conservative. However, on all the coffin kick field positions, that Manning had to deal with in that game, he simply did not convert downs when he threw. Deep in their own territory, they had a 2-1 pass-run ratio and still failed to convert. That's on Manning.

The defense doesn't have any special magical advantage against Manning just because it's the 9 yard line instead of the 20. It's just a propensity by offenses to play conservatively, which is not the case with Manning under center. That's why last year's Patriots team, you'll find that they scored touchdowns from sub-20 yard line field position at the same rate as they did from above their own 20. Because Brady was allowed to throw and convert downs and pull them out of the gutter.

So MDS and Peter King can spout their nonsense all they want. But they don't know what the hell they're talking about.

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Sad thing is that a lousy 8-8 team got home-field advantage,Manning and company at home would have tore that Charger arse up,it's even sad a team that won 8 games is in the playoffs,what a crock. Pitt will crush them so bad you will understand why they had 8 wins.

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Ok, if you are a Colts fan, which I happen to be, watching that game last Saturday would have tore you up. It was a terrible performance from a team that had 9 straight, kick-ass wins, and they just couldn't pull through at crunch time. It was really really hard to swallow. And I can't even imagine what the team members themselves felt after such a tough loss...But what people are so quick to do is judge the quarterback for a loss. It's the easiest thing to do. But why would those people vote in Peyton Manning as the MVP if they think he didn't deserve it?! They are the experts here....not some damn blogger for the Jacksonville Jags. You guys only wish you had Peyton out of your conference so you didn't have to face him! Say what you will about Peyton's playoff statistics....we all know that Peyton is and will always be one of the greats.

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George, you sound like a total idiot. The Chargers won their division, regardless of wins and losses, something that the Colts did not do. When you only get into the playoffs as a wild-card team, you have to go on the road. If you don't like the system, change it before the season starts, don't cry about it later. As for the Colts beating the Chargers if it was in Indy, you have a short memory. The Chargers knocked the Colts out of the playoffs last season in Indianapolis, and the Chargers have had the Colts number for years.

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It's not Peyon's fault? Sure, it takes more than one man. to lose a game, but he BENEFITTED from team play by winning the MVP, right? he probably would not have won if his team had the record of, say the JAGS. So the apologists call him great when it suits them, and let him off the hook when he can't lead his team to victory, something he is supposed to do.

But he's not as bad as LT, who always seems to find himself on the staionary bike when the big game is on....

Oh, by the way, as a Pats fan, just something I like to chuckle over...A PHILLIES star CHEATED, and his team won the championship. Oh, Arlen Specter, time to start the investigation...LOL...Oh, but he didn't cheat, he thought we was following the rules! Sound familiar? LOL.

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The team played ok ,but the problem was that the Chargers always play the Colts hard all the time . If they would of played any other team,yall wouldn't b saying anything.They have the Colts #. P.Manning is still the man!!!!!!

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Jenni, no doubt Peyton is a great QB. As much as I dislike the guy personally, there isn't much knocking his skills. I certainly would take him over most anyone but Brady. However, it's not unfair to call him out on what was a poor performance. Unfortunately for him, many of his poor performances happen to happen in the playoffs, so he catches extra heat for it.

He cannot even blame his offensive line for it. They were terrible getting push for the running game, but they were rock solid when it came to pass protection. The only time the Chargers even got a hand on Peyton was when he double-clutched, held on too long, and allowed Dobbins to sack him on the critical play in regulation.

He's a good QB, but greatness often eludes him when he's given the chance to show his stuff -- in the playoffs. Is Peyton a Hall of Famer? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean he doesn't also deserve a little criticism for his playoff choking. That's only fair. I am a Brady fan and I'm on his case when he plays poorly too.

As for someone else's comment about how we should bow down to Peyton because so called "experts" gave him the MVP ... let's get something straight. The Associated Press decides the MVP. Press people. Reporters. There's nothing expert about them. They digest sports in the same way fans do. They just happen to write about sports for a living. In fact, there are very few so called "expert" writers who I think knows a god damn thing about football, despite having written about it for 20, 30, 40 plus years. Some people just never bother learning about the game, and spout typical cliches and "conventional wisdoms" that they pull from the cesspool that is ESPN.

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While I have to admit the Chargers outplayed Colts this past weekend, the Bolt fans that think they have been better than the Colts the last couple of years need only look at both teams record over the last several years (10 to be exact) to find out who the real chokers are, yes I mean the Bolts. With the talent they have had themselves they have nothing to show for it. Indy has a ring. Also I was in S.D. for the game in NOV that we won on the last second FG and to be honest I had my 10 year old son with me and the ignorant Bolt fans sitting around me were not only rude to us by cussing at us every play that the Colts made, they showed a severe lack of I.Q. I would take a Hoosier anytime over some of the low life scum I witnessed at that game. Indy and Manning have more class than most Charger fans. Steelers will put you where you belong next game. You Bolt fans only wish you had Teams like Indy has had for a long time now! Eat S#*! Charger Fans!

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