“I told Peyton I got the message”.
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“I hope that old No. 19 is up there with his flat top and maybe his black high-tops on, and I hope he knows I have stayed at it, and maybe he’s even a little proud of me”, Manning said.
He played his final four seasons in Denver but his prime came during the 14 years he spent in Indianapolis where he led the Colts to two Super Bowls berths, winning the big game in the 2006 campaign. “I’ll miss watching him play, I’ll miss talking football during the week or talking about a common opponent that we might be playing, or just calling him on the bus when we both had away games”.
Manning is the only quarterback to start the Super Bowl for two different franchises a couple of times each, and the only starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl with two different franchises.
He was widely expected to retire after a less than average season 2015-16, where he performed below par and missed several weeks with injury. Even though he played most of his career at the same time as all-time great Tom Brady, Manning still managed to win a record five MVP awards and be a first-team All-Pro selection seven times.
The Colts are planning to honor Peyton Manning in an event at the team’s Indianapolis headquarters as early as next week, according to a team source. The true impact of Manning’s footprint on the game of football goes beyond his record wins, Super Bowl victories or passing yard record, according to a sports business expert at Washington University in St. Louis.
Manning’s college coach, Phillip Fulmer, called it “almost magical” what Manning was able to accomplish in his four years in Denver following neck fusion surgery that threatened to short-circuit his career.
“Just telling me that he was going to probably have a press conference on Monday announcing it. There were other players who were more talented but there was no one could out-prepare me and because of that I have no regrets”. “It’s morphing into a whole new world of possibilities”. He says he was a father figure while Manning lived in Knoxville.
After a short video tribute to Manning’s time with the Broncos, Manning stepped to the podium accompanied by a standing ovation and delivered one of the finest speeches ever given by a professional athlete.
“I think the thing we all respected was what you were as a person and the way you represented the National Football League”, said Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak.
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“First of all, this a joyous day, nothing can overtake this day”, Manning said.
