On Monday, Peyton Manning officially called it an NFL career after 18 seasons. Manning played for both the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos, bringing both franchises a Super Bowl. There are numerous memories of Manning and here are mine.
Manning is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game. His stats tell his story. When he was a Colt, I never enjoyed when my favorite team, the Denver Broncos, faced him. The Broncos would lineup on defense, thinking it was the correct play call to get Manning. He looked at the defense while the play clock was running down and audibled. I thought the play would take forever. He managed to get the Colts into the right formation and torched the Broncos. Manning was an offensive genius for the Colts for 13 years and little did I know he would become a Denver Bronco.
I’ll never forget when the Colts cut him after the 2011 season when he sat out because of neck surgeries. It came as a total surprise. This is a sure Hall of Famer and yet they let him go. It made no sense to me but Colts Owner Jim Irsay drafted Andrew Luck, a young quarterback, to lead the franchise. I was hoping that Manning would stay as a Colt to help Luck grow but the Colts felt they couldn’t keep two franchise quarterbacks. This forced Manning to look at new options for the 2012 season.
I really thought he would sign with the San Francisco 49ers. They were 13-3 that season. They had an adequate defense that could make a Super Bowl run. Sure they had a young quarterback in Colin Kaepernick but I figured Manning would go there to win another Super Bowl.
News broke on March 21st, 2012 that Manning chose to play for the Broncos. I wasn’t excited about it because I had no idea how healthy he was. The moment I knew Manning was back to being the same quarterback as he was in Indy came in week 6 on Monday Night Football. Denver trailed the Chargers 24-0 going into the second half. I am not sure what happened in the locker room but they came back to score 35 unanswered points to win 35-24. That win propelled the Broncos to win 11 in a row to end the season 13-3. There was no Super Bowl for the Broncos, but it showed Manning was back.
The 2013 season was historic. The first game Manning tied an NFL record with 7 touchdown passes against Baltimore. That was a start to his record setting 55 touchdown passes. Manning led the Broncos to a 13-3 record yet again. Denver’s offense rolled all the way to the Super Bowl. They were the favorites against Seattle but the Seahawks drummed them 43-8.
The next year was Super Bowl win or bust. The Broncos went 12-4. The playoffs were a different story. The Colts defeated Denver in the Divisional Round 24-13 and Manning looked hurt. I thought it might be time to hang it up but he wanted one last shot at a Super Bowl.
The Broncos changed coaching staffs, hiring Gary Kubiak. In my mind this was the one and only choice for the Broncos to go far in the playoffs. Manning didn’t look at all comfortable in the offense because Kubiak uses the quarterback under center. Manning is not an under center quarterback. Despite that, Denver had an outstanding record of 7-0. In the tenth week against Kansas City, Manning was hurt. To me he never seemed to set his feet, throwing 4 interceptions. Denver really had no other option but to sit him and put Osweiler in. Osweiler guided Denver to a 5-2 record in the final seven games. In the playoffs, I knew in order for Denver to go far, they had to have Manning as starting quarterback because of his playoff experience. We all know Manning leaves the game with another Super Bowl.
John Elway did a remarkable job. He wanted Manning to go out with another Super Bowl ring like he did. Elway built the defense so that it wasn’t on Manning to win it by himself. It’s been one great career for Manning. He can leave the game as a champion. The only accomplishment left is to be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame which will occur in 2021.
What are your memories of Peyton Manning?
As a New England Patriots fan, most of my memories are the games between two of the arguably greatest to ever play the QB position. I just feel blessed that I was a football fan during these two parallel careers, two greats who are “friends” off the field and the best at their craft on the field.