| Andrew Perna. 26th November, 2008 - 11:07 am
 Earlier this season Peyton Manning, who many believe is the greatest quarterback of his generation, was on pace for the worst season of his storied career.
After seven games, the Colts were 3-4, and Manning had 10 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.
Four weeks later, Indianapolis is 7-4, and Peyton is playing like himself once again. Despite facing the tough defenses of the Patriots and Steelers, Manning has gone 104-for-159 (65.4 completion percentage) with 1,069 yards, 9 touchdowns, and just one interception in his last four contests.
Over that time period he has also posted a quarterback rating of 102.5, well above the 87.2 mark he still has for the 2008 season.
Thanks to his above-average play in the month of November, Manning's numbers are now on pace to match his career averages.
Manning's Key Passing Statistics
Stat: 2008, Career Average
Completions: 387, 347
Attempts: 617, 541
Completion %: 62.7, 64.1
Yards: 4,106, 4,162
Touchdowns: 28, 31
Interceptions: 15, 15
The struggling running game of the Colts has forced Peyton to throw the ball even more than he had in the past, but he is still posting productive numbers.
Even with his superlative four-game run, Manning is on pace to finish the year with his worst touchdown-to-interception ratio since 2002, his lowest completion percentage since 2001 and his lowest quarterback rating since that same year.
If he continues to play like he has as of late, he could easily finish with better numbers than projected. However, it's also worth noting that Manning's numbers over his previous five seasons were far-and-away better than those in his first four NFL campaigns, which has affected his career averages.
From 2003 to 2007, Manning averaged 4,201 yards, 34 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions while completing 66.4% of his passes.
It will be extremely difficult for Peyton to approach those numbers this season because of the rough start he had, but his play over the last four weeks has certainly confirmed that he hasn't lost a step. |
