Former Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne, a long-time teammate of Peyton Manning's, is not holding back on NFL GameDay Morning.
As a guest analyst Sunday, Wayne began talking about Manning's legacy heading into a much-anticipated 17th rendition of Manning vs. Tom Brady with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.
"It's a great legacy quarterback and I'm part of that, also. And when it comes to the postseason, he struggles. There's a lot of one-and-dones in there," Wayne said. "I just think this is a bigger -- it's bigger for him to get this. Seventeenth time going up against Tom Brady. If you look at the wins versus losses, it favors Tom Brady. So I think it's a bigger situation for Peyton."
On top of adding that a lack of Super Bowl titles eats away at Peyton, especially compared to the two Lombardi trophies won by his brother Eli, Wayne had this:
"It's a huge legacy for Peyton Manning because as we all know, he's on the back-end of his football career," Wayne said. "And then he's going against his arch-nemesis Tom Brady. The schedule during the regular season is built around these two great quarterbacks, and so now they're in the playoffs. So if Peyton can't beat Tom Brady, the stigma will be, well he's one of the greatest regular-season quarterbacks to ever play the game."
Wayne's opinion is not unique. Many of Manning's detractors point to his lack of playoff success despite playing in 25 postseason games heading into Sunday -- nine of which were one and done losses. People who want to measure a quarterback's greatness by his stats and contribution to the reshaping of football will elevate Manning. People who want to measure a quarterback's greatness by titles will prefer the Brady, Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw crew.
