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Did Peyton Manning Struggle Against the Buffalo Bills Defense?

By Dennis Moody

Dec 7, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (18) throws the ball over center Manny Ramirez (66) under pressure from Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Marcell Dareus (99). The Broncos defeated the Bills 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 7, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (18) throws the ball over center Manny Ramirez (66) under pressure from Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Marcell Dareus (99). The Broncos defeated the Bills 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports /
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Future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning announced his retirement today. We were shocked to find when checking his stats versus the Buffalo Bills that their defense might have been one of the most challenging for Peyton throughout his career.

Peyton Manning finished his time in the NFL with an 8-4 record versus the Buffalo Bills. That’s a pretty good record but that does not tell the story of the challenges he faced versus Buffalo.

To prove how incredible of a career he had, there were only five teams in the league that Manning had a losing record against. They were the New England Patriots, Chicago Bears, Seatle Seahawks, Miami Dolphins and ironically the Indianapolis Colts (1W – 2L vs Colts). The Bills finished with a better winning percentage against Manning than over half of the teams in the league.

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According to ProFootballReference.com, Manning completed 223 passes on 358 attempts for 2,518 yards against Buffalo. His 62.3 percent completion rate against the Bills was the 6th worst percentage he had against any NFL team.

He threw 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions when playing Buffalo. Those 12 interceptions were the 8th most against any team in his career. His quarterback rating against the Bills was 81.4 which is the second worst against any team besides the Cleveland Browns. He won all seven games that he played against the Browns so it would be hard to argue that they were his greatest challenge.

He had the 6th lowest yards per attempt against Buffalo with an average of 7.03 yards per pass. His total passing yards per game against Buffalo averaged out to just under 210 yards which was the second lowest of any team. For comparison, the Dallas Cowboys were the worst in this category with an average of over 319 yards (50% higher than Buffalo).

Based on the previously mentioned stats you can see that it was the Bills offense holding them back from having a better record versus Peyton. Anyone who has watched Bills football before the 2015 season could confirm that the Bills have struggled in recent years on offense more than they have on defense.

Manning was incredible to watch throughout his career and put up extremely impressive statistics. He will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and it was a true pleasure to watch him play.

Peyton Manning would probably admit that New England was his toughest challenge. He had his worst winning percentage against them but Buffalo Bills fans should feel a little extra pleasure knowing that one of the best to ever play the game struggled against their team’s defense more than he did against the other teams in the league.

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