Archie Manning was a great college football quarterback, and today he has a pair of sons starting at that position in the NFL. One of them, Peyton, is regarded as the best in the game, perhaps all-time, while the other, Eli, plays for the Giants. Time sometimes has a way of skewing how people are viewed, and for this reason many football fans remember Archie Manning as his generation’s version of Peyton. But truth be told, Archie Manning was much more like his son Eli, with obvious ability but inconsistent, prone to mistakes, a tad bit overrated, and unable to make those around him better. I’ll be the first to admit that with the pathetic Saints, the NFL equivalent then of the Raiders today, Archie Manning had an absence of talent all about him, but I watched him play and that, along with a look at his statistics, convince me that he was not as good as people remember him to be.
I by no means am here to say that Archie Manning was not an extremely gifted athlete. If he was coming out today from college, he would be just as coveted as he was in 1971 when the Saints made him the second pick of the draft. But his athletic ability would be put to much better use today. Archie Manning was born in 1949 in Drew, Mississippi, and he attended Drew High School where naturally he stood out on the football field. Archie went on to college at Mississippi, and while at Ole Miss he gained national attention on the gridiron with his passing and running ability. He threw for over 400 yards and ran for another 100 in an agonizing prime-time loss to Alabama in 1969, and over the course of his wonderful college career, Manning threw for over 4,700 yards and ran for 823. Archie had 56 touchdown passes while at Ole Miss, and scored 14 himself in 1969. But despite these gaudy numbers, Manning’s Rebels could only muster a 15-7 record, as the rest of his team was not on the same level talent-wise with such SEC powerhouses as Alabama, Auburn, and Georgia. Manning finished fourth in the 1969 Heisman voting, and his number 18 was retired by the school, where if I were to mention today that I thought he wasn’t as good as advertised, I would probably be used as a tackling dummy.
If the Saints had the first ten picks in the draft the year they chose Archie Manning they still would have stunk. Archie had little protection in the pocket, and the Saints had no ground game. The Saints went 4-8-2, and Archie split time with Edd Hargett at quarterback, throwing for 6 touchdowns with 9 interceptions. By the next year, Manning was the number one man behind center, and in 1972 he led the league in attempts and completions. Manning’s 2,781 passing yards were the most in the NFC, but his touchdown pass to interception ratio was 18 to 21 and New Orleans managed only two wins all year. In 1973, thing got a bit better in the bayou, as the Saints won five games, but Manning’s numbers were down. He tossed 10 TD passes to a dozen interceptions, and threw for only 1,600 yards. The next two years were perhaps the worst of his career as a pro while he was in his prime, as Archie had just 13 touchdown passes combined, while throwing 36 to the guys wearing the other uniform. His quarterback rating was in the 40s for both seasons, and the Saint went 7-21. Manning was out all of 1976 with an injured shoulder, and played in just ten games the next year, throwing 8 passes for scores.
Archie Manning had his best season in 1978, good enough to be named the NFC Player of the Year by the United Press International. He went to the Pro-Bowl on the strength of a 3,400 yard season with 17 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions, and the Saints finished 7-9. The next year they were 8-8, Archie had another Pro-Bowl year despite five more interceptions than TD passes, and things looked like they were turning around for the moribund franchise. However, 1980 was an absolute disaster. Manning himself had a career year, with 23 passes for touchdowns and over 3,700 yards through the air, but the Saints did not win a game until Week 15 against the Jets on the way to a laughable 1-15 mark.
Archie may as well have called it a day then and there. He once again found himself splitting time at quarterback in 1981 under new coach Bum Phillips, and had a dismal season. The Saints brought in Kenny Stabler to replace Manning in 1982, and he was eventually sent to the Houston Oilers where he played two rather unspectacular seasons. Archie Manning ended his NFL days as a member of the Vikings and retired after the 1984 campaign. Over the course of fourteen seasons, Manning threw for 23,911 yards, with 125 touchdown passes and 173 interceptions. Archie ran for another 2,200 yards, and his career quarterback rating was just 67.3. In comparison, a player like the Texan’s David Carr has a career rating of 75 and a journeyman like the Viking’s Brad Johnson has one of 83.
The combined records of Archie Manning’s NFL clubs while he was on their roster were 47-139-3! Seven times Archie Manning played on teams that lost at least eleven games, and he never had a winning season in the pros. Only twice in his fourteen years did Archie toss more TDs than picks, and although he is still the Saints’ all-time passing yardage leader, it didn’t take much to accomplish that. In his defense, Manning never played for a team that had a running back capable of taking the pressure off of him, and he played for nine different coaches over his career, with no chance to establish himself in one system under one coach. But the records and the numbers do not lie, and if Archie Manning was the great quarterback that he is remembered as, I just do not see it. He was, in my opinion, much like David Carr is today. Archie Manning was a guy with a lot of talent, with bad teams, but flawed himself as well, throwing lots of interceptions and making bad decisions on the field. It remains to be seen if his sons, especially Peyton, can win a Super Bowl. If one of them does, Archie Manning’s career could be recalled as being even better!
