Since the Kansas City Chiefs have joined the "Where will Peyton go?" party at the national level we're going to take a closer look at how Peyton has faired against his would-be competition. We're looking at all of the games that Manning has played against the Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers since becoming the starting quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts way back in 1998. This does include playoff games but does not include games against the Kansas City Chiefs. (Also left out one game in which he only threw two passes against the Broncos)
Manning has an overall record of 13-8 against AFC West teams including a 3-2 record against Oakland, 3-5 against San Diego, and a 7-1 record against Denver. Now it's not something that you can take too much away from because there are so many variables that come into play that would affect the outcomes of these games. But it's still interesting nonetheless. It should be noted though that of these 13 wins and 8 losses, he did go 6-2 on the road. So he has had success with his former team while traveling to the same places he'll go if he joins the Chiefs. This may not factor into a decision when looking at it on paper, but if Manning is seriously considering Kansas City, he'll have found memories of most of the places he'll go to often in the AFC West division.
The one place and team he's not to found of in the AFC West is in the Southwest corner of the country. Manning has struggled against the San Diego Chargers recently. Manning has lost his last five games against the Chargers after winning his first three and has thrown just 9 touchdowns to 14 interceptions in those games. Including the November 11th, 2007 game in San Diego in which he threw six interceptions (three to Antonio Cromartie).
If you asked any Chiefs fan who their biggest rival is the majority of your answers would be the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos. Well it's good to know that Peyton Manning hasn't EVER lost in Denver or Oakland (5-0). Sure it's just five games, but he still hasn't ever lost in either place. In those five games he's completed over 64% of his passes and has thrown ten touchdowns to just four interceptions.
In the 21 total games that Manning has played against the AFC West he's completed 62% of his passes with an average of 283 yards per game. He's thrown 45 touchdowns and had 31 interceptions in those games as well. That's not a great TD/INT ratio but 17 of those interceptions were against the Chargers to just 14 TD's in their 8 games against one another. That means he's thrown 31 TD's to just 14 INT's against the Broncos and Raiders combined.
The Chiefs failed to score at least 20 points in 12 of their 16 games in 2011. In 21 games against the AFC West Manning has scored at least 20 points in 16 of those 21 games. He's averaged 26 points per game with his offenses in Indianapolis against the Broncos, Chargers and Raiders defenses. He's also thrown three or more touchdowns in 9 of those 21 games.
Manning has shown to be successful against the AFC West as a whole, although he has struggled recently against the San Diego Chargers. There's no question though that the Chiefs would be the favorites to win the AFC West if Manning were to join them heading into the 2012 season. The Chiefs were one blocked field goal away from back-to-back AFC West divisional titles with three of their best players on IR. It was arguably their best offensive and best defensive players in Jamaal Charles and Eric Berry. That's a pretty winnable situation that Manning would find himself with in Kansas City. We still won't know anything for a couple of weeks but with the March 8th deadline looming before the Colts have to decide whether or not they're going to pay him his $28 million bonus, at this point we can go ahead and add the Chiefs as a possible landing destination for the future Hall of Famer.