Former Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning has led some of the NFL’s greatest teams over the span of his Hall of Fame career.
He won the Super Bowl with the Colts in 2006 and the Broncos in 2015. His 2005 and 2009 Colts also posted unforgettable seasons for that fanbase in Indianapolis.
Bill Barnwell picked two that stand out the most in his career, though. In a recent list for ESPN, Barnwell gave his picks for the Top 25 teams of the last 25 years in the NFL. Manning’s Colts and Broncos made a few appearances on the honorable mention list, such as the ’06 and ’15 teams, but Barnwell picked out two Manning-led teams that landed in the Top 15 of his rankings.
The first pick was Manning’s 2013 Broncos, coming in at the No. 15 spot. While Denver didn’t win the Super Bowl that year – in fact, they got completely blistered by the Seattle Seahawks in one of this century’s least-competitive championship games – the Broncos still put together a fearsome and successful roster. In just his second season back from injury, Manning climbed to a new level alongside weapons Knowshon Moreno, Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, Wes Welker, and Julius Thomas.
“(The 2013 Broncos offense) ranks as the second best of the past 25 years behind the 2001 Rams, driven by what still might be the greatest quarterback season we’ve ever seen,” Barnwell wrote. “Peyton Manning threw for 5,477 yards with 55 touchdowns. He took sacks on only 2.6% of his dropbacks. The Broncos had four different receivers catch at least 10 touchdowns, which is ridiculous given that only one other team in history (the 2004 Colts) had as many as three receivers make it to double-digit scores.”
No team in NFL history has ever scored 35+ points 10 times in a regular season, except for the 2013 Denver Broncos.
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The second Manning-led team that Barnwell chose was the 2007 Colts at the No. 12 spot. An interesting pick because this team didn’t win a playoff game, especially compared to the championship-winning team from the previous season. Still, though, Barnwell has the ’07 squad on the list and the ’06 team as an honorable mention.
“On a full-season basis, this team was significantly better than the 2006 one that won the Super Bowl, perhaps a product of having Sanders for an entire year as opposed to solely for a quarter of the regular season,” Barnwell wrote. “The Colts just happened to be stuck in a conference with one of the best teams the NFL has ever seen.”
Indy’s 2007 team lands in the 89th percentile in offense and the 93rd percentile in defense.
“Overshadowed by (the playoff) loss and the legendary season by the Patriots was the best team of the Peyton Manning-Tony Dungy era in Indianapolis,” Barnwell writes. “The Colts ranked third in the league on offense, but with Bob Sanders winning Defensive Player of the Year in his final full season, they led the NFL in scoring defense.”
It’s interesting to see Manning’s two Super Bowl-winning teams not on the list, but it’s hard to discount just how good the two teams that Barnwell did pick out were. It couldn’t have been a legitimate list without the Sheriff on it somewhere, though.
Check out Bill Barnwell’s full Top 25 NFL teams in the last 25 years list here.
