The Mannings

It's Super ride for Mannings

Archie Manning never made it to the Super Bowl in his long NFL career. He was never one game away, as his son Peyton is now. Not even two games away."I never made the playoffs," he said. "We weren't even close." The Saints made Archie Manning the second overall pick in the 1971 draft, after the Patriots selected Jim Plunkett. Manning played the next 14 seasons for the Saints, Oilers and Vikings and may be the best NFL quarterback never to make the playoffs. He had the misfortune to be on some pretty awful teams. That's why the ride the Colts are on is so special to him.

"I'm living through Peyton a little bit," Manning said. "I'm not resentful of anybody in my day who made the playoffs because I didn't. I'm real happy for Peyton. This is fun. I can tell how much fun he is having.

"In his second season, when they went from 3-13 to 13-3, I was up for a game against the Redskins when they clinched the playoffs. I was waiting for him and in those days he asked my advice. But he was in unchartered waters. I had no advice for him. I knew nothing about it."

It's been quite a year for Archie Manning. His other quarterback son, Eli, just finished up his career at Mississippi, Archie's old school, as the offensive MVP of the Cotton Bowl - and is the likely first pick in the draft, just as Peyton was in 1998. The morning of the Cotton Bowl, Peyton was named the NFL's co-MVP, sharing the honor with Tennessee's Steve McNair. Two days later, the Colts beat the Broncos for Peyton Manning's first playoff victory.

"It doesn't get much better than that," Archie Manning said.

And now, in two playoff games, Peyton Manning has thrown eight touchdown passes with no interceptions, and Indy has scored 79 points in beating the Broncos and Chiefs. Manning's QB rating is 156.9, which is 1.4 points away from perfect.

But to get to the Super Bowl, he must decipher whatever defense New England coach Bill Belichick throws at him Sunday in New England in the AFC Championship Game.

No quarterback has ever been hotter in January. Each week, the trip to Houston keeps getting shorter.

Manning came into this postseason with the reputation of not being able to win the big game. He never beat Florida and Steve Spurrier when he was at Tennessee. And he was 0-3 in the playoffs. No matter what numbers a quarterback puts up in the regular season, he is ultimately judged by one thing: What did he do in January? Until this year, Manning had not done anything.

Archie Manning went to Indianapolis for the first playoff game this year. "I felt so nervous for Peyton," he said. "He helped get his team to the playoffs for the fourth time in five years and to me that's an accomplishment. He's going out there for everybody to say he failed again if he doesn't win a playoff game.

"That's about as happy as I've ever been about a football game, to get that over with. The playoff thing was something that was irritating to him."

After that Denver game, the Manning family went out to dinner at an Indianapolis steakhouse. Was Peyton Manning as relieved as his father was to have that burden lifted?

"We were in a big room with the national championship game on television," Archie Manning said. "He was very mellow. I saw him as relieved, but also thinking about Kansas City. He didn't want that one game to be, 'Okay, I got this off my back.' It was, 'Okay, we won the first of four games we have to win.'"

Archie Manning never pushed his sons to be quarterbacks. It's what they wanted to do.

"My kids have given me a lot of joy," he said. "I didn't have aspirations for them to be players. I didn't mold them. I didn't drive them. I didn't try to make them into college or pro quarterbacks.

"I get accused of it. I wouldn't be ashamed if I did. They wanted it. They worked hard at it. I'm sure it had something to do with me playing."

Peyton Manning has a deep understanding of the history of the sport. He wanted to wear black high-top shoes to honor Johnny Unitas after the Colts great's death in 2002, but the league wouldn't allow it.

Archie Manning says Eli has no interest in the game's history. So after Eli got to Ole Miss and heard so much about his father and what a great player he was, he went through some press guides and called Archie. "Dad," he said, "your numbers weren't very good."

Every father wants his son to do better. And now Peyton Manning is so close to the Super Bowl. His father was in Denver and Kansas City and will be in New England. Can he envision the thrill of sitting in Houston watching his son play in the Super Bowl? "I really can't imagine," he said.

He may have to start thinking about it.

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-Credit NY daily news