Record season ends without ring

FOXBORO, Mass -- Peyton Manning is many things. He is his team's emotional leader and its focal, star player. He is the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year, its nearly unanimous Most Valuable Player and its newly anointed record holder for most touchdown throws in a season ever.\nBut for Manning, it is what he is not that seems to matter most. And he is not Super. Not this year, anyway. \n"It was an excellent run, a fun run," Manning said. "But obviously when you finish with a loss in the playoffs, it's disappointing. That's not the way you want to finish it."\nThroughout the playoffs, Manning's regular season accomplishments -- throwing for a record 49 touchdown passes -- seemed to dwarf his postseason ambitions. He constantly answered questions about what the record means and its value if the team did come up short. Sunday, he pondered that question for the first time knowing his many accomplishments would not be accompanied by a Super Bowl title. \n"As far as what happened this year and some of the things we've done, maybe when I retire a long time from now you'll look back and think about," he said. "But right now, it's hard to look back and think about anything but losing this game."\nColts coach Tony Dungy was quick to defend Manning after the loss and to note that the team didn't play well as a whole, not just the quarterback. Manning finished with 238 yards, completing 27 of 42 passes. He did not throw a touchdown, but he did have one interception.\nDungy said there are plenty of places the Colts could have performed better.\n"I don't think we can look at it that way as Peyton's got to do this or do that," Dungy said. "We'll look at the tape and we'll see a lot of ways that we can play better. And I know that's what's going to be said and written, but you win as a team and that's the only way you can beat these guys, with a total team effort."\nTight end Marcus Pollard echoed those sentiments after the game. He said Manning is just one part of a bigger team and that heaping criticism on him isn't right. \n"(It's) totally unfair. He gets a lot of credit, and when we lose, he gets that too. But I think it's totally unfair to put the brunt of the weight, all of the weight on his shoulders," he said. "This is a team -- defense plays, I play, special teams play. To say he is the reason we lost this game is totally ludicrous."\nManning, who has a career 92.3 passer rating, just finished his seventh season in the NFL. Though winning has not been a problem for Manning in the regular season -- the team has advanced to the playoffs four of the last five years - advancing from there has not come as easily.\nWith seven years played in the NFL, Manning said he plays every game like it's his last, but that mentality is no different from how he played as a rookie. Dungy said it's hardly time to start worrying that Manning will end his career like the man whose touchdown record he just eclipsed. Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino was never Super. \n"Being a historian, I can remember some other guys where it was said," Dungy said. "(San Francisco quarterback) Steve Young was in our building the other day. The same thing was said of him for a while and now he's going to go into the Hall of Fame. I can remember when (Denver quarterback John) Elway couldn't quite win a Super Bowl, and we all hoped he'd win one. Looking back, he had a great career, and he didn't win his until way down the road."\nAt the opposite end of the spectrum is Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Brady inherited the starting job in New England as a rookie and immediately led the team to a Super Bowl title. Two years later, he did it again. This year, with the win Sunday, he is another victory from going back there for a third time in four years. \nBrady, though, complimented Manning's effort and said he expected the two would meet again.\n"The defense made it very tough on him (Sunday)," Brady said. "But he stayed in there and played well in some tough playing conditions. When you see him you, just say 'good game, great year and we'll see you next year.'"\n-- Contact Staff Writer Gavin \nLesnick at glesnick@indiana.edu.