You said the Colts never once had the best offense ever, but they had PFM when he broke the TD record the first time. So they certainly had one of the absolute best offenses ever. They got blown out in the SB because of what? Manning couldn't throw the deep ball anymore and the Hawks admitted they could cheat on basically everything the offense had to do. John Elway was able to sign all those great defensive players to some nice deals for the team BECAUSE of PFM. You're not getting all those guys without PM because those guys wanted a ring. If you can't see the link between those FA signings and Manning, since Manning left when was the last time a FA gave us a discount? It's not a lazy argument so much as it's one that accounts for what happens. So sure, give JFE credit for landing Manning, but he didn't do shit after Manning.
I'm so ******* tired of sacred cows. If that GM's last name wasn't Elway so much slack wouldn't have been given. So until John can land another Hall of Famer at QB, or build a great defense without a stud QB to be a FA attraction, Wave's point stands.