Archie Manning for those who saw him play (1 Viewer)

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What was he like? If you had to make a comparison to the QB's of present time who would he most resemble in playing style? I was born in 1980 so never got a chance to see him play and appreciate it. Is he more like Eli vs Peyton.... He is a New Orleans treasure and I would love to get some feed back from those who actually saw him play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt-cPHgpjCk
 
I was born a year after you so I'm in the same boat.

I did ride in an elevator with him yesterday and he is shorter than I thought he'd be if that helps, lol.
 
It's hard to say which one of his sons plays more like him. I see characteristics of Archie in both of them.

If I absolutely HAD to pick one or the other, I would say probably Eli. Archie had some great games and great moments but I remember him being somewhat inconsistent, which is a characteristic shared much more by Eli than by Peyton.

Plus, Peyton is such an incredible student of the game trying to learn every little nuance there is to gain a competitive edge. I don't really recall that being said about Archie. I'm sure he "put in the time" and such, just not necessarily to the way Peyton or a guy like Brees does.

I want to say the '78 or '79 offense was our most potent attack in the Archie days (could be wrong). I would be more apt to liken it to the Giants under Eli than I would to Peyton with the Colts (too early to characterize Peyton with the Broncos yet, IMO).
 
he wasn't give the time in the pocket to see if he was like Peyton

honestly the first current qb that popped into my head was johnny manziel
maybe russel wilson??
 
He had a big arm, but was very athletic, legitimate threat running. More so than either of his sons (sorta like Rogers). If they had thought about it more may have been a different type of attacking offense. But our teams were so ineptly run then we would have never figured it out.
 
I have never seen him play, but after looking at some of the clips from Youtube I think he reminds me of Jay Cutler. They both have great athletic ability, huge arms and can either stink it up or look incredible.
 
He had a big arm, but was very athletic, legitimate threat running. More so than either of his sons (sorta like Rogers). If they had thought about it more may have been a different type of attacking offense. But our teams were so ineptly run then we would have never figured it out.

I was born in 76' and my first Saints teams of memory were the twilight of the Manning era and the brief and odd Stabler/Todd/Wilson era-- needless to say, I wish I could have seen Manning in his prime.

Anyway, to echo some of your sentiments -- I recently watched a couple of Manning era Saints games that I found on the web.
He was definetly a gifted athlete, but my lord, that man never had two full seconds in the pocket before he had to flee.
It's a shame because he really could have been something historically good if Mecom had put half a team around him.
 
It's hard to say which one of his sons plays more like him. I see characteristics of Archie in both of them.

If I absolutely HAD to pick one or the other, I would say probably Eli. Archie had some great games and great moments but I remember him being somewhat inconsistent, which is a characteristic shared much more by Eli than by Peyton.

Plus, Peyton is such an incredible student of the game trying to learn every little nuance there is to gain a competitive edge. I don't really recall that being said about Archie. I'm sure he "put in the time" and such, just not necessarily to the way Peyton or a guy like Brees does.

I want to say the '78 or '79 offense was our most potent attack in the Archie days (could be wrong). I would be more apt to liken it to the Giants under Eli than I would to Peyton with the Colts (too early to characterize Peyton with the Broncos yet, IMO).

Fully agree about Eli.. that is Archie except that Archie could run better, wobbly legs and all. Archie also perfected the side-armed pass which I really haven't seen either of his sons throw.

'78, '79, and even '80 were his best years.. he finally had a decent line and a bunch of weapons to throw to. '80 woulda been our best season had Nolan not switched to the Flex.
 
A completely different body type, but I'd compare him to Rothlisberger when improvising. I hesitate to compare him to Rodgers because AR is more fundamentally sound--Archie had a 3/4 delivery motion and he rarely had time to throw on balance. His ability to throw in awkward situations was both a blessing and a curse.

Archie was a better natural athlete than either of his boys, IMO. He and Abramowicz used to have a footrace every year in TC and Archie smoked him. He could outrun most of his receivers.

The only coach that had a clue of how to use him was Hank Stram, who built an offense that was just about to explode when John Mecom fired him for spending too much money. Thunder and Lightning in the backfield, Wes Chandler and Henry Childs catching it...sigh.
 
Good question, and kept me thinking. I will say Russell Wilson.
 
i watched him at ole miss and with the saints... it's safe to say that, back then, i was a bigger archie fan than i was a saints fan... that explains why when the rams tried to trade for him in his 2nd year, i wanted him to go... he was averaging about 1.5 seconds in n.o. and the rams, at the time, had the best O line in football... i'd have loved to see what he could do with that line

as someone said above, he's not like either of his sons... better arm than both, far more athletic than both... he's more like rogers or steve young, except faster than both... he could throw it 50 yds on a string, while rolling left mind you, and ran about a 4.5... iirc, he was drafter early for MLB but chose the NFL
 
He was pretty great in '78 and '79 when he had weapons and a half decent Oline. He was usually saddled with a really dismal Oline and spent most of the time running for his life.
 
both of his sons are better than him, he was ok, but even with a good defense couldn't win, he was consistant , nothing special, wish i could say different, but our defense back then was special, we had some good special teams too. not a great running team, back when teams ran a bunch.
 
Really hard to tell. Here's Archie's scenario:

- 1st Down: Hike, Archie drops back, his O-line falls on the ground and D-line has an all out jail break on Archie.
-2nd Down: Repeat 1st Down
-3rd Down: Repeat 2nd Down

Literally, this is fact. Many of the D-linemen after watching Archie's plight and his courage for a number of years truly had pity on him. And they would pull-up and not lay him out. Deacon Jones just could not bring himself to brutalize Archie after a few years. The physical brutal punishment Archie suffered game after game made his opponents have enormous respect and admiration as Archie picked himself up time after time and went back into the huddle with a positive attitude.

With a decent offense, I would guess Archie would have been more like Steve Young
 

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