At first glance, comparing a sixteen-year NFL veteran and former Super Bowl MVP to a sophomore gunslinger on a run-first team seems like a bit of a stretch. But do your homework and this battle, at least from a statistical standpoint, is much closer than many would imagine.
Iridescent amongst the game’s greats is Peyton Manning, the pinnacle of excellence at the NFL level. His opponent, while certainly a rising star in today’s NFL, is not yet in the running for greatest of all time. Russell Wilson has an opportunity to leap into the spectrum of the elite on February 2nd in Northern New Jersey; should he beat Manning, a rising star will have a big ticket item on his resume.
Though Seattle’s favorite son is just two seasons into his NFL career, the mobile Wilson has made a significant impact on the game itself. In what many media members call “the era of the mobile quarterback” Wilson is the new gold-standard. While making the pro-bowl in his first two seasons, Wilson has passed for over 3,100 yards and 26 touchdowns and added 1,028 yards rushing and five touchdowns in that same span. This type of dual threat is giving defensive coordinators nightmares, so one can’t imagine that Jack Del Rio will get his beauty sleep leading up to the grandaddy of them all, Super Bowl Sunday.
What Wilson does so well as a passer is staying within his lane. The Seahawks’ quarterback stays squarely in his role: short effective passing. Wilson averaged 7.9 yards per pass attempt his rookie year, and 8.2 yards per pass attempt in his sophomore campaign; the young gunslinger knows how to read a defense and does not take any unnecessary risks. Heck, he even threw one less interception this year than Manning did! In addition for his tenacity for the “safe play” Wilson has a thrill for the dramatic. The former Wisconsin Badger has 10 career game-winning drives, and eight comebacks in his short career. A budding superstar, Wilson will go up against the man who has written and re-written the rules of the quarterback position over the course of his 16 seasons as a professional.
Peyton Manning is the epitome of a franchise quarterback in today’s NFL, and a blast to the past due to his statue-like demeanor in the pocket. In fact, Wilson has more rushing yards in his two seasons than Manning has in his 16, which could become a factor depending on the weather in Newark come February 2nd. But this lack of mobility rarely slows down the eldest Manning-brother, as Peyton’s lightening-quick release and “lazer-rocket arm” make opposing secondaries part like the Red Sea.
With such an extensive sample size, it would be erroneous to compare numbers between Manning and Wilson from a career base.
But in Manning’s two seasons’s as a Bronco we can see a picturesque image of the passer Archie’s eldest son is today. In 2012, Manning led the Broncos to a 13-3 record while tossing 37 touchdowns, 4659 yards, and just 11 interceptions.
Remarkably, Peyton improved in 2013 with the addition of longtime rival and former Tom Brady boy-toy Wes Welker. Manning threw for 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns, both of which were NFL records.
Match that with his career 65.5 completion percentage, which currently stands at 68.4 during his tenure in Denver, and you have a flawless portrait of passing excellence.
So who has the advantage in this aerial duel? Can Wilson’s mobility help him overcome possibly the greatest pocket-passer of all time?
Perhaps, but it is Manning’s superior passing capabilites that set him apart form the young Seahawk. While Manning’s yards per pass attempt is similar to Wilson’s at 7.7 yards per clip, Manning can read an NFL defense with the ease of a children’s novel; something Wilson will have to improve on.
Manning’s versatility enables him to stretch the field at will or audible to something more creative; leaving opposing defenses resembling the New Orleans levees pre-hurricane Katrina: porous and out of position.
Wilson simply does not have the awareness gained from over a decade of play at the pro level that his opponent will in this year’s championship.
Manning’s presence between the hash-marks is second to none,and this gives him a distinct advantage over his youthful counterpart.
Yet football is a team game and while one player’s decision making will certainly impact a game’s outcome, it will not be the only deciding factor.
If talent on offense is the question, Manning’s weaponry is far superior, at least in the passing spectrum.
Eric Decker, Demaryius Thomas Julius Thomas and Welker are one of the game’s elite arsenals for vertical dominance, and far surpass the talent levels in the Seattle receiving corps; even with the potential return of Percy Harvin. While Marshawn Lynch is a tremendous Yin to Wilson’s Yang in the rushing game, “beast mode’s” impact on the game will be determined by the effectiveness of Seattle’s defense on stopping Manning: something no team has been able to do thus far in 2013.
Potential meteorological events aside, the passing advantage in this contest is crystalline; Manning has a chance to add another notch to his extensive resume, and Wilson will be left in his dust.
There is no more dominant quarterback in the game today, allow the man’s resume speak for itself. Manning has one Lombardi Trophy and Super Bowl MVP, has been a First-Team All-Pro seven times, a Pro Bowler 13 times, has won the league MVP four times, won NFL comeback player of the year once, was the Walter Payton Man of the Year once, and offensive player of the year once.
On top of this illustrious history, the passing records he set this season will likely net him his fifth league MVP award. So the answer is clear, Peyton Manning has the edge over Russell Wilson in Super Bowl 48, and it is not even close.