Keeping Up With Mannings

The Houston Texan defense, Tampa Bay Coach Jon Gruden and New York Giant quarterback Eli Manning all had comebacks Sunday.

But that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

The Texans came back and made a game of it after two first-quarter touchdown passes by Peyton Manning.

Gruden and the Buccaneers came back to San Diego, site of their 2003 Super Bowl victory, and wound up the latest road kill on Drew Brees’ personal comeback tour.

As for Eli Manning, he’s coming back whether he wants to or not. He looked miserable in three-plus quarters against Baltimore. Mercifully, the Giants replaced him with Kurt Warner in the fourth quarter. But after the game, Coach Tom Coughlin announced Manning will start Saturday against Pittsburgh.

Starting at quarterback for the Steelers is Ben Roethlisberger, who Sunday ran his record to 11-0. But that’s OK, nobody in New York is going to draw comparisons between the two rookies. And, regardless, New York fans are especially forgiving when it comes to their struggling sports stars.

Whereas Eli Manning had three turnovers and no touchdowns, his older brother had two touchdown passes, no turnovers and helped his team clinch the AFC South title.

Still, the question is, which Manning had the more disappointing Sunday?

That’s easy: Peyton.

Hey, we know the Giants are lousy and their rookie quarterback was put in a nearly impossible spot three weeks ago when he replaced Warner, who had been sacked 24 times in the previous three weeks. But the switch didn’t help. Until the Giants went back to Warner in the fourth quarter Sunday, their offense had gone 12 consecutive quarters without reaching the end zone.

As for Peyton, we’ve come to expect roughly one touchdown pass per beer commercial.

That’s why everyone showed up at Reliant Stadium on Sunday -- his dad, his older brother and the largest national media contingent in Texan history -- waiting to see him break Dan Marino’s 20-year-old record of 48 touchdown passes in a single season.

Manning needed five to claim the record and looked as if he might have it by halftime after throwing two in the first quarter. After that, things didn’t look so easy. Houston’s defense got some push up the middle, got in Manning’s face and wound up keeping the Colts out of the end zone for the final three quarters.

“We’ll critique this and we’ll be a little disappointed in our performance, not finishing things off, having a few more penalties than we normally get, not making some throws that we normally make,” said Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy, whose team was limited to its lowest point total of the season. “But when you play good defenses, you’re not going to get 50 points every week.”

Speaking of scoring points, that’s exactly what New Orleans receiver Joe Horn was trying to do after making an acrobatic touchdown catch against the Dallas Cowboys. Horn celebrated by running his finger under a sign reading “Remember Our Troops.” Maybe that character comeback worked for some, but most people still think of the cellular-wielding Horn as the NFL’s biggest phone-y.

The best comeback story in the NFC South concerns not the Saints, but the surprising resurgence of the Carolina Panthers, who have won five in a row since falling to 1-7. Remarkably, after their 20-7 victory over St. Louis, they’re still alive in the playoff chase. They got 108 yards rushing from Nick Goings, who was their sixth-string tailback before injuries forced him into a starting role.

Carolina’s John Fox deserves some coach-of-the-year consideration, although the leading candidates for that honor are Pittsburgh’s Bill Cowher and San Diego’s Marty Schottenheimer.

One coach who won’t be coming back next season is New England offensive coordinator Charlie Weis -- unless you consider it a comeback that he’s returning to Notre Dame, his alma mater.

The way the Denver Broncos have been playing lately, it makes you wonder if Mike Shanahan will be coming back next season. One of his former players, Shannon Sharpe, said on his radio show last week that owner Pat Bowlen should “look deep into” giving Shanahan the boot.

It was the boot that saved the Broncos on Sunday: A 50-yard field goal in the fourth quarter by Jason Elam that spared Denver the humiliation of possibly losing at home to the down-and-out Miami Dolphins.

Like the Panthers, Buffalo has stormed back after being left for done at 0-4. The Bills have won four in a row and are in position to make the playoffs. They barely budged against Cleveland, limiting the Browns to 17 yards of offense in 46 plays -- that’s 0.4 yards a play.

“I know it’s tough on every player. It’s demoralizing,” said Terry Robiskie, the Browns’ interim coach. “I got a sense standing on the sideline that it was too big a game for us.”

Ah, but the Bills are hospitable. You can almost imagine what the Buffalo players said as their dejected Cleveland counterparts boarded their bus.

“Y’all come back now, ya hear!”

Mike Penner is on vacation.

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Record-Breakers

Dan Marino records that have been or can be broken or tied this season (*denotes tied or broken):

*--* Marino Record No. Player No. Most touchdown passes, season 48 Peyton Manning 46 Highest passer rating, rookie 96.0 Ben Roethlisberger 97.6 year Highest completion 58.45 Ben Roethlisberger 66.13 percentage, rookie year Most passing yards, season 5,084 Peyton Manning 3,919 Most seasons with 3,000 yards 13 Brett Favre *13 (3,160) passing Most career 4,000-yard 6 Peyton Manning 5 (3,919) passing seasons Most games in a season, four 6 Peyton Manning *6 TDs or more Most consecutive seasons, 20 10 Brett Favre *11 TD passes

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