Archie Manning was a talented quarterback during his playing days, earning two Pro Bowl nods despite playing for a woeful New Orleans Saints team from 1971-1982.
Because the Saints didn’t have much success during his time with the team, Manning is perhaps most notably known these days as the father of Peyton and Eli, who each won two Super Bowl titles.
The dad deserves credit of his own, though.
In fact, Denver Broncos coach Vic Fangio might even go as far as to say Archie is was the best quarterback in the Manning family.
“Archie’s the old sage,” Fangio said after Archie and Peyton attended practice Wednesday. “Archie — the uncommon belief out there is that he’s the best quarterback in that family.”
Fangio will probably draw plenty of grief for that statement — Peyton is widely considered one of the best QBs of all time — but his next statement may have a more compelling argument.
“I always said if he was with the Pittsburgh Steelers back when he played instead of [Terry] Bradshaw (if him and Bradshaw switched spots), Archie would have had all those Super Bowl rings and Bradshaw would have had to go through the agony of playing with the Saints in the ’70s,” Fangio said.
Bradshaw won four Super Bowls during his time with the Steelers but he had a much better supporting cast than Manning did with the Saints. Bradshaw edges out Manning in every notable passing category except for completion percentage (51.9 percent compared to 55.2 percent) but one could make an argument that Manning was a better overall player.
We’ll never know for sure what would have happened if the QBs had switched teams, but it is an interesting alternate reality to ponder.
