The game ended up being a really exciting one, but what drew me to the screen most was Peyton Manning’s face, and not because I think it’s particularly good looking.  No, I had a sort of bet with myself after a while to see if at any time the camera would catch him with any other face other than the pouty, surly, someone-stole-my-lollipop face that he always wears.  I also had a good time coming up with what he might be thinking at any given time the camera caught him.  It turned out that I had a lot of chances to do this because the camera was on Peyton Manning a lot.  A whole lot.

Here’s what his face looked like before the game…

“I am so mad!  I just found out that one expert out of 247 picked the Saints to win.”

Here’s what Peyton looked like during Carrie Underwood’s singing of the National Anthem…

“Why didn’t they ask me to sing the National Anthem?”

Here’s Peyton walking onto the field while his teammates are still on the sidelines, in a huddle, chanting and getting pumped up for the game…

“Silly, pagan rituals.  They should spend their time watching more film and studying play books instead of jumping around like fools.”

While not a shot of his face, this was taken right after he threw a touchdown pass, giving the Colts a 10-0 lead…

“Nice catch, chump.  Next time, though, I’m going to both throw it and catch it, so I only need you to block for me.  Got it?”

Here’s Peyton right after the Colts kicker missed a field goal attempt…

“I told them to let me kick it.  Now look what has happened.”

And then here’s Peyton, in the locker room, after they lost…

“Shoot.  I probably lost at least three commercial deals over this.”

Finally, here’s what Peyton is going to look like for the entire off-season…

Poor Peyton.  It almost makes me want to send him some of the BBQ Jalapeno Poppers.  Almost.