After almost two decades in the league and fresh off a Super Bowl 50 Championship, Peyton Manning decided it was time to hang up his iconic number 18 jersey and announced his retirement. Although he said he had to cut short his post-Super Bowl interview to go kiss his wife, his first smooch actually went to John Schnatter, founder and CEO of Papa John’s, one of his biggest business partners. “Simply put, he revolutionized NFL football”.
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“You don’t say Peyton Manning and I played together or that Peyton Manning was on my team”.
In addition to his on-field accomplishments, Manning is widely recognized for his philanthropic efforts.
Greenfield-Central head football coach Adam Sherman, who grew up in Indianapolis, remembers the year the Colts arrived in town from Baltimore.
Compton was in Starkville, Miss., when Manning got his first meaningful playing time after then-starting quarterback Todd Helton injured his ankle.
A look back at Manning’s final season by D. Orlando Ledbetter.
The Colts returned to the Super Bowl in 2010 but lost. Brady will have to throw 111 more TDs just to tie it. So will Drew Brees. Maybe somebody will get close to his 55 touchdown passes in a single season mark he set in 2013, but no one’s even sniffed at it since.
Manning is going out just as Elway did: The former Denver quarterback retired 17 years ago after winning his second Super Bowl.
Manning said he’s going on vacation and will play golf with his brothers before he decides what’s next for his life. Manning may never have beaten Florida while in college, but he did lead his team to an SEC championship in 1997. “And I’ll be damned, it did”.
Those numbers create a conversation about Manning’s place in pro football history that is unlikely to ever cease, but SEC fans know that the debate regarding Manning actually began long before he was ever drafted into the NFL. Manning’s recall of defenses, situations and plays – he once gave detailed descriptions of the scoring plays of every player who caught just one touchdown pass from him – was the stuff of football legend. “As he makes his retirement official on the heels of his second Super Bowl title, we’ve seen incredible demand for his memorabilia the last few weeks and expect that demand to dramatically increase with fans looking to commemorate the future Hall of Famer’s illustrious career”.
“He made our organization better, our team better”, Ellis said.
He was among the athletes cited in a lawsuit filed by a group of former female students who are suing the University of Tennessee over its handling of sexual assault complaints made against student-athletes. Manning has denied that he assaulted the trainer, saying instead that he was “mooning” a teammate.
But, on Monday, the focus was on an unprecedented football career and best wishes for whatever’s next for the well-liked player.
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“So you don’t have to wonder if I’ll miss it. Absolutely, absolutely I will”, Manning said. “He’ll have a great game plan, call great audibles, have great secondary plans if needed, and will continue to be successful”.
