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Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976 in
New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American football
quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts National
Football League|NFL franchise.

He is the son of former New Orleans Saints
quarterback Archie Manning and Olivia Manning, and
the older brother of current New York Giants
quarterback Eli Manning. Peyton played college
football for the University of Tennessee and was
selected by the Indianapolis Colts as the first
overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft.

Manning is one of the most prolific quarterbacks
in the NFL today.  His quick release and ability
to read defenses is reveled and feared by his
opponents.  Despite his high level of play, he has
yet to win a Super Bowl, and is winless in seven
attempts in Gillette Stadium against the New
England Patriots.

==College career==

Because of his father's legacy at University of
Mississippi|Ole Miss, as well as his own status as
the most highly recruited high school quarterback
of his class, Peyton Manning stunned many when he
chose to attend and play for the University of
Tennessee.  Manning would become Tennessee's
all-time leading passer with 11,201 yards, 863
completions and 89 touchdowns, while compiling a
39-6 record as a starter.  In his college career,
he threw 33 interceptions in 1,381 attempts, still
an NCAA record for best all-time interception
percentage.

Although he completed his degree, a Bachelor of
Arts|BA in speech communication with a 3.61
GPA#Grade_point_average|GPA, in three years, and
was projected to be the top overall pick in the
NFL Draft, Manning returned to Tennessee for his
senior year.  He put up even more impressive
numbers in his last season (3,819 yards, 36
touchdowns) and would be the only player in
Tennessee History to have his number retired.

==Professional career==
Manning has started every game in his NFL career
and has missed only one snap due to injury.  He
has missed many other snaps due to large leads. He
was the NFL co-NFL Most Valuable Player Award|MVP
in 2003. He shared the honor with Tennessee Titans
quarterback Steve McNair. After many football
insiders criticized Manning for being 0-3 in the
playoffs, he won his first NFL playoff game
against the Denver Broncos on January 4,
2004_in_sports|2004. Manning's Passer Rating in
the Colts' playoff games against the Broncos and
Kansas City Chiefs was a perfect 158.3. However,
he had a difficult AFC championship game against
the New England Patriots, throwing four
interceptions in a 24-14 loss.

In 2004_in_sports|2004, Manning became the
highest-paid player in NFL history at the time,
signing a $99.2m contract for seven years with a
$34.5m signing bonus, which averages out to
$14.17m annually.  Under the contract, Manning is
also eligible to earn an extra $19m in incentives.
 

In addition to his individual achievements,
Manning also led the Colts to a 12-4 record and
their second consecutive AFC South division title.
As a result, he was a near-unanimous selection for
the 2004 NFL Most Valuable Player Award|NFL MVP,
was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year
Award|NFL Offensive Player of the Year and Pro
Bowl MVP.  However, the Colts' 2004 season ended
in Gillette Stadium|Foxboro for a second straight
year with a 20-3 loss in the AFC Divisional
Playoff game against New England.

In some sports circles, Manning has taken on a
reputation of not being able to win big games due
to his futility against the Patriots and his 0-4
record against University_of_Florida|Florida in
college. People of this thinking usually make
comparisons to Dan Marino, a prolific quarterback
who never won a Super Bowl. Others make the case
that it is still too early in his career to make
that claim and that the Colts' oft-shaky defense
is a bigger factor in the losses. It could be said
that this is one of the most contentious topics in
football today.

==Records==
*The following season Manning had a spectacular
campaign and broke several major NFL records.
These include:
** Most touchdown passes in a single season, 49
(previously held by Dan Marino with 48 in 1984)
** Passer-rating in a single season, 121.1
(previously held by Steve Young (athlete)|Steve
Young with 112.8 in 1994)
** Four touchdowns or more in five consecutive
games
** Five touchdown passes in four different games
in less than twelve months (previously held by
Marino)
*Manning is the only NFL player to pass for 4000
yards in 6 consecutive seasons
*Manning, with wide receiver Marvin Harrison, has
the record for QB/WR completions in the history of
the NFL.  They topped the tandem of Jim Kelly and
Andre Reed at 664 completions in 2004.

==See also==
*List of NFL first overall draft choices

== External links==
* http://www.peytonmanning.com/ Official web site
* espn nfl|id=4256|name=Peyton Manning
* pro-football-reference|id=MannPe00|name=Peyton
Manning
*Peyton Manning fantasy news and stats from
http://fantasynews.sandbox.com/2005/news/content/p
layerpages/player_main.asp?sport=NFL&leaguenum=&id
=4256 Sandbox Fantasy News