Over the following weeks Manning’s replacement – a rising young star called Brock Osweiler – shone. In his first career start, against the Chicago Bears, he lead his team to 17-15 win, completing 20 out of his 27 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns. A week later he triumphed over the undefeated New England Patriots. Four weeks later he hauled his side back from a 14 point deficit against the Cincinnati Bengals and into the play-offs. The pundits were in agreement. The Peyton Manning era was over. The Denver Broncos were now Brock Osweiler’s team.
The pundits were wrong. A week later, with Osweiler and the Bronco’s struggling in a game they need to win to ensure home-field advantage throughout the play-offs, Manning was ushered from the bench, and out onto the field. The crowd roared. The Broncos offence began to move the ball. And up in the press box, the assembled sportswriters could see an amazing new narrative unfolding before them.
On Sunday that narrative became embedded. In the biting cold, and against the swirling wind, Manning lead his team to another come-from-behind triumph against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The ageing quarterback was one game from the Super Bowl. The fairytale was coming true. It was written in the stars.
I’m not sure many people have ever drawn a mental link between Peyton Manning and Margaret Beckett. But as I was reading our former foreign secretary’s report into Labour’s 2015 election defeat, I did precisely that. The report covered a number of issues. Labour’s economic strategy. The party’s wider policy platform. Organisation. Its overarching political strategy.
The conclusions were laughable. Essentially, that Labour got it right in each of these areas, but still somehow lost. But then I got to the section on “The Leader”. And that’s when Peyton Manning popped into my head.
There’s one problem with the Manning fairytale narrative. And it’s a surprising one, given America is such a success-oriented country, and American football is such a success-oriented game.
Peyton Manning can’t throw the football. As quarterback, that’s his job. To throw the ball fast enough and far enough so that his teammates can catch it, and then run with it, and score touchdowns. There’s some other stuff – like calling the plays, and scrambling around when the offensive line breaks down. But ultimately, he’s there to throw the ball. And he can’t. His arm is no longer strong enough to send the ball downfield. Which means his opponents can compress the middle of the pitch, safe in the knowledge he can’t throw beyond them. He’s even struggling to throw short passes. “It’s been tipped!” one commentator exclaimed as the football wobbled, then fell to the ground, during one of Sunday’s key plays. The replay showed it hadn’t been tipped. There was an awkward silence in the commentary booth.
The reason the Denver Broncos won on Sunday wasn’t because of the magic of Peyton Manning. It was because their opponents the Pittsburgh Steelers dropped the ball – literally – just as they were about to score the touchdown that would have won them the game. The real heroes were the Broncos defenders and running backs. Denver didn’t triumph because of Peyton Manning. They triumphed despite him.
Narrative is great. Fairytales are great. But the fact is the Denver Broncos are trying to win the Super Bowl with a quarterback who can’t throw the football.
Which is precisely what the Labour Party keeps trying to do. It keeps trying to win elections with leaders who the British people know are not potential prime ministers. Leaders that fail on the fundamentals – like a capacity to take hard choices, or make the right decision in a crisis. Quarterbacks who can’t throw the ball.
When Peyton Manning was brought back in favour of Brock Osweiler, there was speculation about why Denver Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak had made the move. Was it sentimentality? Loyalty? Perhaps it was straightforward cowardice. Manning represented the “safe choice”. A gamble on a rookie quarterback like Osweiler would inevitably rebound on the coach if it failed.
Which again, is precisely what Labour keeps doing. It keeps choosing – and sticking with – leaders who are a clear electoral liability. It does so because of sentiment. It does so because of misguided loyalty. And it does so because of cowardice – a perennial fear of moving out of its own comfort zone. What it can never, ever bring itself to do is select – or even contemplate selecting – the person who is best suited to win a general election.
On Sunday, the Denver Broncos again take on the New England Patriots. In all probability, they will lose. The Patriots are lead by their own marquee quarterback, Tom Brady. Star receivers Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola – both of whom missed the game earlier in the season – will be back. As will power tight-end Rob Gronkowski, who withdrew from their previous confrontation with an injury.
The Denver Broncos, meanwhile, are relying on fate. The hope that another end of season miracle will see their broken champion raise himself to one final, Herculean effort. They are investing in a fairytale.
So it is with the Labour Party. The party that also continues to believe in fairytales. The faint hope that this time the desperate last minute Hail Mary pass really will end with a dramatic circus-catch in the end zone.
It never happens. Instead the line crumbles. The Tories blitz through. Another leader ends facedown in the dirt. Labour loses. Again.
Maybe Peyton Manning will defy his critics, and the years, and prevail this Sunday. Fairytales do occasionally happen.
It’s what the Labour party is relying on. It’s all they have to rely on. As they again attempt to steal the Super Bowl from a marquee quarterback, backed by a brutal defence, with a quarterback who cannot throw.
Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/579309/s/4d00ddbc/sc/13/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cnews0Cpolitics0Clabour0C12110A3950CDan0EHodges0ELabour0Ewont0Ewin0Ean0Eelection0Euntil0Eit0Estops0Ebelieving0Ein0Efairytales0Bhtml/story01.htm