Peyton Manning and his “idiot kicker” had a brief beef, but the football world never let it die

Peyton Manning spent most of his career in the spotlight carefully avoiding giving racy quotes to the press. But early in his career, he let his feelings get the best of him after one man pushed him too far: his own

kicker

. Wait, what now? 1998 was a season of big change for the Indianapolis Colts. They were led by a new general manager and led by a new head coach, who hired a new quarterbacks coach to work with the starting quarterback they had just taken No. 1 overall in the draft. Polian also gained additional competition as a

kicker

, bringing in Mike Vanderjagt from the CFL.

He ended up unseating Cary Blanchard, who had made the Pro Bowl for the Colts in 1996 and left as the team's all-time leader in field goal percentage. Blanchard was pretty irritated at being dumped by a guy who had

never

played in the NFL, but Vanderjagt said, "hey, kicking is kicking, buddy." 1998 was also a season of equality in one important area: team record. 3-13 in '97, 3-13 in '98. Part of that was Peyton struggling as a rookie. But Vanderjagt ended up being something of a bright spot, finishing sixth in the NFL in field goal percentage and first in field goals made from 50+ yards.

And both Peyton and the team's win-loss record improved MUCH the following season, with the Colts winning their division for the first time since 1987. The magic didn't last in the playoffs when the Colts lost a close game at home in the Divisional Round. , but the pieces were there and the future looked bright. Vanderjagt received a big payday the following season, and he wasn't shy about pointing out that he was being paid like the best kicker in the league because, well, that's exactly what he was. The Colts proved that the 1999 turnaround was no fluke and returned to the playoffs, but they blew a 14-point lead against Miami and then, with a chance to win in overtime, Vanderjagt did this. "Not good!" He took it very badly!

After a very bad 2001, best remembered for this legendary press conference moment that melted the Playoffs? Don't talk about playoffs! It's a joke? Ownership put the team in the hands of Tony Dungy. The 2002 Colts were a bit uneven in large part because Vanderjagt was struggling. But he finished the season strong and Indy did enough to earn a wild card spot. Good news: They didn't lose another close, winnable playoff game. Bad news: They were hit and suffered the worst postseason loss in franchise history. I want to stop here for a second and talk about my friend and colleague Jon Bois.

That's me. Jon, I'm going to give you the combined stats of an NFL quarterback in the first three playoff games of his career. OK. And I want you, based on those statistics, to try to guess which quarterback he is. Let's do it! Are you ready? Hmm! 1 touchdown 2 interceptions 48 percent pass completion rate 186 passing yards per game AND an 0-3 record. Jim Kelly? Jon, this quarterback is Peyton Manning. (laughing) It's bad! But it was a really good guess and you're a really good friend, so thanks for trying. Alright. Bye! I did that experiment because I want you to understand what Peyton's

football

reputation was, at least in some circles, in early 2003: an extremely talented quarterback who just couldn't make it in the playoffs.

So let's take those numbers, combine them with the terrible taste of losing by six touchdowns, add the security of getting a big contract, and Mike Vanderjagt says this on Canadian television a few weeks later. "The whole week before the Jets game I thought, '(No.) 18, we're going to handle it, you and I are going to win this game.' And he said, 'Yeah, yeah, okay.'" "And I said, 'Peyton, show some enthusiasm, you're the quarterback and we need to win this game.' I just don't see it in him.'' "We need someone to get in people's faces and yell and "Coach Dungy is just a mellow guy.

He doesn't get too excited, he doesn't get too depressed and I don't think that works either." "I'm not a big Colts fan right now, unfortunately, I just don't see that." Let's get better." These... are crazy things any NFL player can say about their head coach and their franchise quarterback. This is especially true coming from a kicker, even a very good kicker. Vanderjagt quickly apologized. in a public statement. Now, this was all happening while Peyton was in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. He didn't say much about it for the first few days, insisting that he would deal with the situation when he returned home.

And then, in the middle of the Pro. Bowl, during the game on the bench, did the opposite of that. “Here we are, I'm on my third Pro Bow, we're talking about our

idiot

kicker, who got drunk and his jaw dropped, so. What has the

world

of sports come to when we talk about

idiot

kickers? He has ruined kickers for life. Akers and Vinatieri, these guys are great and they've been killing it all week because our idiot spoke up. If he's still a teammate, we'll figure it out, you know, that remains to be seen. But the sad thing is, Lynn, he's a good kicker.

He is a good kicker. But he is an idiot.” Peyton ended up apologizing as well and Dungy said they would handle things internally in the future. Both players seemed to want to move on. But that wasn't how it was going to work. The 2003 Colts opened the regular season against the Browns and finished it in the last second with a game-winning field goal by Vanderjagt. Manning said everything was great, and Vanderjagt insisted that his status as a member of the team was solid. Indianapolis kept winning, starting the season 6-1 when this ESPN: The Magazine cover came out.

Yes, that actually says BUTT. The inside story said, well, pretty much a lot. He highlighted how much the "drunken" part of Peyton's response really bothered Vanderjagt, to the point that his family

brief

ly considered suing Manning for defamation. Again, this is a lot of butt talk. He introduced Vanderjagt as the kicker who didn't consider himself simply a kicker and who his teammates treated as a kind of leader. But the boldest claim this story offered was the central one: What if Vanderjagt's public comments had woken up the Colts and actually helped them become a better team? Manning was only quoted once in this story, and he basically said, "This is no big deal, all you media people are just bored." Which is a very Peyton Manning approach!

What made this story so big at the time was that, after a lifetime of giving measured feedback and avoiding giving bulletin board fodder to her opponents, Peyton broke down in Hawaii. It turned out that Vanderjagt was NOT happy with this story, insisting that the author misled him about what the article would be about. Dungy said the same thing and Peyton... was unavailable for comment. Although no one claimed that anything about the story was false. Meanwhile, Indy continued to win. Peyton had one of his most productive years and Vanderjagt finished the season perfect: without missing extra points or field goals.

Both maintained that level of play in the postseason, when the Colts beat the Broncos and Chiefs to advance to the AFC Championship Game. The weather was bad, Peyton struggled, and the Pats won, but it was still progress. Manning returned to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl, and this time Vanderjagt was able to go with him. Did the media use this as an excuse to talk about what happened a year earlier? Dude, you KNOW they did it. Things were pretty quiet during the 2004 season; if you were talking about the Colts, you were probably focused on the historic numbers Peyton was putting up.

Indianapolis opened the playoffs with a win over Denver to set up a rematch with New England. I should point out that the Patriots had their home field for this game in part because Vanderjagt missed a 48-yard game-tying attempt when these two played each other in Week 1. Anyway, Mike Vanderjagt felt like talking again, specifically about how the Patriots were doing. They weren't as good as they used to be and were "ripe for the picking." Pats safety Rodney Harrison jumped on that, reminding the

world

that this was the same guy who had talked about Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy.

Vanderjagt backed up his trash talk by accounting for every point the Colts scored. By this I mean a field goal in a 20-3 loss, and he didn't stay to chat with the press afterwards. For Manning, the public boogeyman had gone from "Peyton can't win in the playoffs" to "Peyton can't beat Tom Brady." But that changed in the 2005 season, when the Colts faced the Patriots in Foxboro. Things got even better in the playoffs when Indianapolis got a bye, guaranteed home-field advantage, and no New England to worry about after the Broncos defeated the Pats. And with time running out at home against the Steelers, all they needed was Mike Vanderjagt to deliver to keep them alive and force overtime.

He gave them one of the worst misses of his career, and the idiot kicker label came up again, although this time in a very different context. A few days later, Vanderjagt ended up attacking Letterman, attempting the exact same kick that had ended the Colts' Super Bowl dreams. And although he spoke in defense of Manning, this television appearance did not sit well with some people in the organization. So, strangely, that became the last field goal attempt Mike Vanderjagt made in a Colts uniform. His contract expired and Indianapolis decided to sign his New England counterpart, Adam Vinatieri. One of the first phone calls he received?

From Peyton Manning, naturally. True to form, Vanderjagt also didn't stay completely silent about the organization on his way out. But leaving the Colts didn't put an end to questions about the time the "idiot kicker" got drunk and trashed Peyton on TV. The Colts traveled to Dallas that season, and the week before the game, Peyton was asked about Vanderjagt. He did what you'd expect: he offered praise and compliments to an opponent, because that's what Peyton Manning usually does. Vanderjagt declined to comment, although he had previously said he was eager to prove some in Indianapolis wrong. The Cowboys won, but Vanderjagt missed both of his field goal attempts that day and about a week later, he was waived.

Peyton Manning won his first Super Bowl, and many outlets noted how decisive and unproblematic Indy's new kicker was along the way. And that was it for Mike Vanderjagt's NFL career, even though at the time he was the career leader in field goal percentage. Years later, he did not say that Manning's comments in 2003 had prevented him from continuing his career. But he certainly wasn't happy and the drinking accusations still bothered him. Looking back, it seems that what Mike Vanderjagt wanted was to be seen as more than just a kicker, to be respected as an equal. He believed that his achievements and his devotion to winning deserved it.

But the diamond earring, the magazine cover and the perfect season didn't change the fact that the league has a hierarchy, and franchise quarterbacks from one of the NFL's largest families are very close to the top. Peyton Manning probably didn't think a few harsh words at a Pro Bowl would stick with Mike Vanderjagt for years, but they did, imprinting every moment Vanderjagt stumbled like an embarrassing tattoo. Thanks for watching this episode of Beef History. If you want to see another example of teammates fighting that is much worse than this, watch TO vs. Donovan McNabb. If you're worried that Beef History is bad for your soul, well, go see Rewinder and be blessed!