Manning Becomes True 49er

Twenty-one yards.

In a tunnel at the RCA Dome Sunday, Archie Manning squinted, nerves making it too difficult to watch. At the line of scrimmage, his son, Peyton, calmly surveyed the defense, decided a post pattern was his best option and signaled his receiver, Brandon Stokley.

In the San Diego Charger secondary, safety Terrence Kiel prepared to deny history.

And in the seats, a sellout crowd of 57,330 stood up to watch what they hoped would be a moment worth auctioning off their tickets and programs on Ebay after an eventual 34-31 Colt victory.

Twenty-one yards.

Manning took the snap, Stokley took off for the corner and cut sharply to the middle of the end zone, Archie, an NFL quarterback for 14 seasons, took a deep breath and opened his eyes, and Kiel took an awkward step and fell to the artificial turf.

And there it was, a simple 21-yard throw to a wide-open receiver, the kind of play Peyton runs every day in practice.

But this was not just another day. This was a day like no other quarterback has ever had or ever known. Manning, driving his team to the tying touchdown en route to the victory, drilled a spiral into the number on the front of Stokley’s uniform for his second touchdown pass of the afternoon and his 49th of the season.

That broke Dan Marino’s mark of 48, set 20 years ago with the Miami Dolphins.

Manning’s first reaction afterward, in a game in which his team trailed by 15 points in the fourth quarter, was, “I’m just happy we won.”

That was typical. As the touchdown count has mounted this season, Manning has been sensitive about the perception that he would put personal glory above team accomplishments. He has always said that, if he broke the record, he wanted it to be in the flow of the game.

“That was more than the flow,” he said. “It was tough.”

Although both teams had already locked up a playoff spot, each with an 11-3 record coming into the game, they were playing for the No. 3 seeding in the postseason.

Showing little respect for the historic occasion, San Diego quarterback Drew Brees and running back LaDainian Tomlinson hooked up on a 74-yard scoring play in the first quarter. A Brees to Eric Parker 19-yard touchdown pass was the only other touchdown of the half.

It was Brees who looked to be the superior quarterback in the first 30 minutes. Manning, on the other hand, appeared uncharacteristically out of sync. Aiming for Reggie Wayne in the end zone in the first quarter, Manning instead threw the ball right into the arms of linebacker Donnie Edwards.

An NFL record was established in the third quarter, but it wasn’t the one Colt fans had come to see. Brees, who completed 21 of 30 passes for 290 yards and three touchdowns, passed to tight end Antonio Gates with a four-yard touchdown pass.

That not only boosted San Diego into a 24-9 lead, but was Gates’ 13th touchdown catch of the season, a record for tight ends. Gates had been tied with five others, including Mike Ditka and George Halas.

Manning’s parents were not even on the premises at the time. They had tried to come from their New Orleans home Saturday night, but their flight was canceled because of bad weather. On Sunday morning, they were delayed because of a tardy flight attendant, causing them to arrive too late in Memphis, Tenn., to catch their connecting flight. Colt owner Jim Irsay sent his private jet to Memphis to bring the couple to Indianapolis.

At that point, they hadn’t missed a thing.

But then, in the third quarter, their son found his touch.

Manning drove his team 72 yards, the last three on a shovel pass to fullback James Mungro, who charged into the end zone through a gaping hole in the Charger defense for the touchdown pass that tied Marino’s record.

“It’s as legal as they get,” said Manning, assuring any doubters that he had indeed broken the record.

The Chargers responded with a 16-yard touchdown run by Tomlinson in the fourth quarter to build their lead back up at 31-16. It didn’t last long. Dominic Rhodes ran the kickoff back 88 yards for a touchdown that kept his team close.

With nine minutes to go, Manning’s parents finally reached the stadium.

With 3:42 left, Manning began the drive that would make their trip worthwhile. It started at the Colt 20 and was sustained by two key plays:

* On a third-and-15 from his 15, sandwiched in by several Charger defenders and seemingly about to be overwhelmed, Manning, who completed 27 of 44 passes for 383 yards, flicked a pass that somehow found Edgerrin James for an 11-yard gain.

* Next faced with a fourth and four, the Colts went for it and Manning connected with Wayne for 19 yards.

After Stokley’s record-setting catch, coming with 56 seconds to play, James scored on the ground on a two-point conversion to tie the score. The Colts won the toss to start overtime and Manning moved his team into position with two passes totaling 58 yards. Mike Vanderjagt kicked the game-winning field goal from 30 yards, his fourth of the day.

But the moment that would linger long after the final score had faded from memory was Manning to Stokley for 21 yards.

Manning said he thought of his father, of Marino who was his hero growing up, and of former Baltimore Colt quarterback Johnny Unitas.

“Unitas would have been proud of that drive,” Manning said.

“Mannings don’t get mushy, but we are just so proud of him,” Archie said.

Stokley said the team had never run the record-setting play in a game situation.

“He threw it so quick, I didn’t have time to think,” Stokley said.

Kiel will have to think to about it whenever he sees it, which might be forever on NFL highlight reels.

“He put an outside move on me, and turned back inside,” Kiel said of Stokley. “I kind of lost my footing.”

Manning had his own concerns.

“I was afraid I threw it too early,” he said, “or that he was going to be wide open and I would throw it behind him. It’s something I’ll always remember.”

Twenty-one yards. Who could forget?

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

MOST TOUCHDOWN PASSES IN AN NFL SEASON

49

PEYTON MANNING

Indianapolis Colts

2004

*

48

DAN MARINO

Miami Dolphins

1984

*

44

DAN MARINO

Miami Dolphins

1986

*

41

KURT WARNER

St. Louis Rams

1999

*

39

BRETT FAVRE

Green Bay Packers

1996

*

Game by Game

Comparing Peyton Manning’s 2004 game-by-game statistics with Dan Marino’s from 1984. Indianapolis has one more regular-season game, Sunday at Denver:

MANNING, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

*--* Date Opponent Cmp-Att Yards TD Int Sept. 9 at New England 16-29 256 2 1 Sept. 19 at Tennessee 24-33 254 2 0 Sept. 26 vs. Green Bay 28-40 393 5 0 Oct. 3 at Jacksonville 20-29 220 2 1 Oct. 10 vs. Oakland 16-26 198 3 1 Oct. 24 vs. Jacksonville 27-39 368 3 0 Oct. 31 at Kansas City 25-44 472 5 1 Nov. 8 vs. Minnesota 23-29 268 4 0 Nov. 14 vs. Houston 18-27 320 5 2 Nov. 21 at Chicago 17-28 211 4 1 Nov. 25 at Detroit 23-28 236 6 0 Dec. 5 vs. Tennessee 25-33 425 3 2 Dec. 12 at Houston 26-33 298 2 0 Dec. 19 vs. Baltimore 20-33 249 1 0 Dec. 26 vs. San Diego 27-44 383 2 1 TOTALS 335-495 4,551 49 10

*--*

MARINO, MIAMI DOLPHINS

*--* Date Opponent Cmp-Att Yards TD Int Sept. 2 at Washington 21-28 311 5 0 Sept. 9 vs. New England 16-27 234 2 2 Sept. 17 at Buffalo 26-35 296 3 1 Sept. 23 vs. Indianapolis 14-29 257 2 0 Sept. 30 at St. Louis 24-36 429 3 0 Oct. 7 at Pittsburgh 16-24 226 2 1 Oct. 14 vs. Houston 25-32 321 3 0 Oct. 21 at New England 24-39 316 4 1 Oct. 28 vs. Buffalo 19-28 282 3 3 Nov. 4 at N.Y. Jets 23-42 422 2 2 Nov. 11 vs. Philadelphia 20-34 246 1 1 Nov. 18 at San Diego 28-41 338 2 1 Nov. 26 vs. N.Y. Jets 19-31 192 4 0 Dec. 2 vs. L.A. Raiders 35-57 470 4 2 Dec. 9 at Indianapolis 29-41 404 4 1 Dec. 17 vs. Dallas 23-40 340 4 2 TOTALS 362-564 5,084 48 17

*--*