Kansas City, Mo. ? He coached against Archie Manning and broadcast the last college game Peyton Manning played at Tennessee.

Knowing the Manning family as he does, Kansas City coach Dick Vermeil scoffed Monday at the notion All-Pro Peyton Manning’s spectacular performance in Indianapolis’ playoff victory over Denver might have given him a renewed sense of self-confidence.

“I don’t believe Peyton Manning was ever influenced by what other people say — other than maybe his dad, or Tony Dungy, or Jim Mora,” said Vermeil, whose Kansas City Chiefs (13-3) will play host to Manning and the Colts (13-4) in a second-round AFC playoff game Sunday.

Before throwing five touchdown passes in Sunday’s 41-10 victory against Denver, Manning never had won a playoff game. He was starting to be labeled in some circles as someone who couldn’t win the big game.

“I’ll enjoy it tonight, and at the same time Kansas City doesn’t care we won a playoff game,” Manning said after the game. “It’s good to get that little monkey off my back. I’m sure by Wednesday it will be something else that will be created, and I’ll try to have an answer for you.”

Nevertheless, Vermeil doubts the “monkey” on Manning’s back ever was much of a worry.

“We all have a tendency — and I was in the media business — to put too much importance on what’s said in the paper and on the radio and television,” Vermeil said. “I’ve been around him for a long time, and I coached against his dad. He is such a competitor. There are certain attributes that people of this nature have that are inbred, that are not influenced by anything other than their own personal makeup.”

But Manning’s lack of mobility could become a factor against the Chiefs, especially since the noisy pit that is Arrowhead Stadium can deafen linemen and cause them to miss the snap count. That can blow up plays and force opposing quarterbacks to scramble.

Scrambling is not what Manning does best. The two most recent teams to beat the Chiefs — Denver and Minneapolis — each have mobile quarterbacks.

“What he does in the pocket is better than anybody else,” Vermeil said. “So you better make sure you do an even better job at home.”

Also lacking mobility, but also enjoying a Pro Bowl year, is Chiefs’ quarterback Trent Green. He and Manning were the league’s only two quarterbacks to post a “perfect” 158.3 passer rating in a regular-season game. Green had seven games with a 100-plus rating, tying Cincinnati’s Jon Kitna for the NFL lead.

Manning hardly could have been better against the Broncos, hitting 22 of 26 passes for 377 yards and five TDs to again record a “perfect” rating.

“We still have some things to clean up defensive-wise, but offensively, we can’t be much sharper than that,” Colts coach Tony Dungy said. “We had a fumbled snap, an offside penalty for lining up in the neutral zone, we had a holding penalty, and those are things you can’t have.

“But (Manning) was playing with a new center, so we’ll give him a pass.”

Green and Manning also were the only quarterbacks in the NFL to top the 4,000-yard passing mark. The Chiefs led the NFL with an average of 30.3 points per game, while the Colts were right behind at 27.9. In total offense, the Chiefs were second with 369.4 yards per game and the Colts third with 367.1.

“We’ve averaged slightly more points per game. But in terms of efficiency … they do a real good job,” Vermeil said.

“If you study Peyton you realize how they do it. Very, very efficient in throwing short passes — six yards or less, 10 yards or less. They’ve had to attack from an offensive standpoint third and extremely long less than anybody else in football. They stay out of those situations.”