The home arena of the Indianapolis Colts is officially named Lucas Oil Stadium, after the petroleum company owned by Forrest Lucas. To many residents of Indianapolis and the surrounding area, however, the stadium is simply known as “The House that Peyton Built.” The “Peyton” refers, of course, to Peyton Manning, the Colts’ long-time quarterback who won four MVP awards and broke countless NFL passing records in 14 seasons in Indianapolis before being released in 2012.
Manning’s significance for the city of Indianapolis goes far beyond the numbers and awards that will almost surely make him a first ballot Hall-of-Famer. The Colts’ former signal-caller took a downtrodden team with one playoff win in 14 seasons in town (the team moved from Baltimore in 1984) and catalyzed its transformation into a league power that made the playoffs 11 times in 14 years and won Super Bowl XLI.
Manning not only played the leading role in turning a losing team into a championship team, but also put a small-market NFL city on the map and into the American consciousness. With all of that history between Manning and Indianapolis, it seemed unlikely that the quarterback would ever enter “The House that Peyton Built” as a member of a different team.
That is, however, exactly what will happen on Sunday when Manning’s current team, the undefeated Denver Broncos, travels to Indianapolis to face the 4-2 Colts. The events that led to Manning’s homecoming began in Sept. 2011 when Manning underwent spinal fusion surgery. The procedure forced him to miss the entire 2011-2012 season and led to doubts that he would ever play in the NFL again, let alone dominate the league as he had for the previous decade.
Those doubts were strong enough — and Manning’s forthcoming $28 million bonus was large enough — that Colts owner Jim Irsay decided to move on from the Manning era and draft precocious Stanford passer Andrew Luck as Indianapolis’ quarterback of the future. On March 7, 2012, Irsay released Manning and the former No. 1 overall pick was left without a team barely more than three years after playing in Super Bowl XLIV.
“Circumstances created this decision,” Irsay said of the decision this week. It’s just impossible, where our salary cap was, having him stay at the type of number that he expected and deserved to earn and all those things.”
Plenty of teams were willing to see how much the Tennessee product had left in the tank and Manning eventually signed with Denver after considering a list of teams that included the Eagles, Chiefs and Dolphins, among others. A season and a half into his tenure in Denver, it’s safe to say Manning had a lot left in that tank. Denver went 13-3 a season ago and enters Week 7 at 6-0, one of only two remaining unbeaten teams in the NFL (the Chiefs are the other).
Now the Manning-led Broncos will play their quarterback’s former team in a matchup of two of the AFC’s best teams. Homecomings on this level are truly rare in sports, but Manning’s return is not completely unprecedented. Just four seasons ago, long-time Packer Brett Favre returned to Green Bay in a Vikings uniform and threw four touchdowns against his former team. Favre, however, was booed continuously by fans who felt he had betrayed them with his flip-flopping retirement antics. Manning is likely to get nothing but love from Colts fans.
“A lot of people still root for him, so I think there will be a big pro-Manning presence,” said Indianapolis resident Gary Knight, who’s been a season ticket holder since the Colts moved to town in 1984. “I’d be surprised if there were any boos.”
That type of adulation recalls a reunion from a different sport. On January 19, 2002, Michael Jordan revisited Chicago wearing a Washington Wizards uniform and fought tears as the Windy City faithful gave him a three-minute standing ovation before tipoff. His Airness, however, at age 40, was a shell of his former self and scored just 16 points in the game. Manning returns to his beloved city at the height of his powers and in the midst of arguably his greatest season. The man the Colts drafted in 1998 arrives riding a tidal wave of success; he leads the league with 22 touchdown passes and is the runaway favorite for league MVP at the season’s midway point.
Manning’s return is unique among homecomings and sentiment will be running high on Sunday. Irsay, always looking to make headlines, created a new dynamic this week when he made some comments that could have been construed as a shot at Manning’s inability to win frequently in the playoffs, the biggest flaw on the quarterback’s superstar ledger.
“We’ve changed our model a little bit, because we wanted more than one of these [a Super Bowl ring],” Irsay said. “[Tom] Brady never had consistent numbers, but he has three of these. Pittsburgh had two, the Giants had two, Baltimore had two and we had one. That leaves you frustrated.”
For his part, the Colts’ owner believes his words were taken out of context, but the fact remains that he added a layer to the already complex drama that will play out on Sunday. The situation is so complicated that the man in the eye of the storm has not even tried to make sense of it.
“I think I’d be wrong to try to predict or guess,” Manning said. “It’s certainly a unique game.”
It might be wise to take a page out of Manning’s book. We can’t know how emotions will develop on Sunday, but, regardless of how the game unfolds, Manning will always be the favorite son in “The House that Peyton Built.”
Dylan Sinn is a freelance contributor for CraveOnline Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSinn or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
