Manning's Legacy Takes a Hit after Super Bowl Thumping

Peyton Manning may say last night's Super Bowl wasn't an embarrassment, but it was.

The five-time NFL Most Valuable Player was almost shut out by the Seattle Seahawks, which would have been the first whitewash in Super Bowl.

It was bad enough that the Denver Broncos lost, but the fact that the best offense in football this season could only put up eight points was downright embarrassing.

Even comedian Chris Rock joked that Tim Tebow could have put up eight points. Possibly so. No one would argue that his Super Bowl performance was better than Manning's:

Papa John that while you're driving your Buick.

So, where do you lay the blame?

How about squarely on Peyton Manning? After a safety 12 seconds into the game and then his first 'duck' resulting in a turnover by the Broncos, they never seemed to recover.

Manning tried, but you could tell he was pressing, and the Seahawks took full advantage of it, as a worthy champion should.

This is his team and the fact that he couldn't calm them down to get back track can be attributed to him. He seemed panicked, nervous at times with happy feet, and that's not like him. Neither is committing the most rookie of errors, telegraphing his passes. But he did, and Seattle's defense had already cracked that code.

The knock on Peyton Manning coming out of Tennessee was he underwhelmed in big games, and that tendency continued last night.

It's probably not a deserving label especially knowing that he has already done what Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, and Fran Tarkenton couldn't, which was win a Super Bowl, but critics are now saying Manning is a choker and will never win another Super Bowl.

Even ESPN's Colin Cowherd said Manning looked "old" to him. He didn't look old, he looked confused.

"He had the best year of his whole career at 37, so I wouldn't say he's slowing down," said wide receiver Wes Welker. "He's going upward, not downward

Manning is coming off one of the best seasons any NFL quarterback has ever had. It's unfortunate we're going to judge his career strictly based on Super Bowl performances. He's contributed so much more to the game than I think most fans and critics realize or appreciate.

It may take him leaving the game for good to understand how great he really is. And that's a shame.