the end of an era in Indy

football:  Ok, so i know this is a few days late coming but its time to talk about Peyton Manning.  I don't really want to talk about whether it is right that he is leaving The Colts or not.  I more want to focus on my memories and the greatest quarterback rivalry since Marino and Montana.
It is a sad day for me.  Manning has been released by The Colts.  I know he expects to play elsewhere and he probably will.  But this is officially the end of an era.  The days of those classic Brady vs. Manning confrontations seem to be over.  And It really was a Montana vs. Marino kind of situation.  The only difference was we got to see them play each other pretty much every year; and often in the playoffs.  It was always the showdown of the consummate winner and the best technical quarterback maybe of all times.  I know that Brady has racked up stats the past few years but that to me is how it will be remembered.  The Super Bowl champ and the on field surgeon.  Classic battles won and lost based on little more than conditions and will to win.  We saw Brady for a few years in a row best Manning in the snow in Foxborough and then Manning turn the tables in Indianapolis on the turf.  The physical play (pass interference on the Patriots part) besting the ultimate maestro in terrible weather.  The master of the pass moving the ball in the fourth quarter to take the lead only to be followed by a route run short on fourth and two by the Patriots.
These images are not only the things great rivalries are made of, but the defining images of the past decade of the NFL.  I always have said I am a fan of The Patriots in this era.  But lets face it, when they met The Colts, fanfare barely mattered.  History was always about to be witnessed.  A true battle was always about to be fought.  The two greatest quarterbacks of their era, and possibly of all time, were about to leave everything they had on the field to show who was the real number one.  The hopes of two Super Bowl caliber franchise always hung in the balance, whether in the playoffs or fighting for home field advantage in the regular season.
I think I have been hyperbolic enough.  All I have to say at this point is this:  That game five years ago when both the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts were 8-0 and chasing perfection, which at least for the regular season New England achieved, was on of the most intense regular season match-ups I think I have ever seen.  It was all on the line.  New England knew if they could get past Indy that they could finish the perfect season.  Indy knew this was there only chance at home field advantage in the playoffs, which probably decide which of the two of them not only went to the Super Bowl, but won it.  That of course didn't happen.  But considering it was only week 9 of the regular season, I don't think I have ever seen such an intense atmosphere for a game.  Every play was important.  Every pass held these two teams fates in the balance.  I guess I wasn't done with hyperbole.
Thank you Peyton for giving me a couple weeks a year where I knew I was about to watch not only a rivalry for the ages but a game that I would never forget.  My only hope at this point is that you sign with a team from the NFC, stay healthy despite your neck surgeries, and draw New England in the Super Bowl after a sublime season.  That would be a fitting end to the ultimate quarterback debate and match up of all time.  Not your release without ceremony and replacement with the next big thing.