Peyton Manning Tribute Thread
Feb 28, 2016 3:22:39 GMT -8
Post by Jason on Feb 28, 2016 3:22:39 GMT -8
Peyton is expected to announce his retirement from football next week. I've been reflecting on his career and there aren't enough words that can describe what he meant to me and this sport. I've been an absolute die hard football fan my entire life. I've studied the game and as a child I knew things that would make a casual adult fan blush. If I ever compare quarterback talent, I don't like to talk too much about quarterbacks I've never seen play. I have no idea where Otto Graham should sit on an all-time list of greatest quarterbacks. Stat sheets in football, especially at the quarterback position, are meaningless and don't do justice for what was done on the field. There were a lot of extremely impressive quarterbacks throughout my life. I got to see guys like Jim Kelly, Warren Moon, Steve Young, Randall Cunningham, Brett Favre, Vinny Testaverde, Boomer Esiason, Rich Gannon, Jake Plummer, Troy Aikman, Jim Everett, and so on. There are only three guys that I've seen that impressed me like no other quarterback ever did, and just played at a whole different level than anyone else I'd ever seen. Those guys are John Elway, Dan Marino and Peyton Manning.
When Peyton Manning first burst onto the scene, his style was instantly recognizable, because nobody had seen anything like it before. The no-huddle obviously existed before Manning (see: Buffalo Bills of the 1990s), but you never saw a quarterback implement it into the audible and run it anywhere near as consistently or successfully as Manning did throughout his career. No player has ever changed the sport of football as drastically as Manning did, and to this day, no quarterback has ever come close to mastering it the way Manning did. When I first watched Manning utilize this against Denver, I couldn't even process what I was seeing. I'd never seen anyone do what Manning did and dictate the pace of the game the way that he did. It was enraging. In 2001 I watched him annihilate every bit of our defense in the last game of the year, preventing us from clinching a playoff berth. In week 16 of 2003, though, I watched Denver crush the Colts in Indianapolis and clinch a playoff berth, but that's only because Peyton was riding the bench, since they had already secured a playoff berth. Guess who we played in the first round of the playoffs? Yes, the Colts. In Indianapolis. Only this time The Sheriff was in town and we were completely trashed 41-10. The next year, 2004, I watched nearly the exact same thing happen again. Week 17, we easily defeated the Manning-less Colts 33-14, securing a playoff berth, only to go into Indianapolis against the Sheriff again and get completely trounced 49-24. Throughout that game I remember sitting there watching it all unfold, and in my head begging Peyton to please, not audible, and to just run the play. Please, Peyton. Of course that wasn't the case. 80% of the time he was in shotgun formation about to take the snap, then he'd walk up to the line, shout out a play call to the line, signal to the receivers what he wanted them to do, and we were toast every time. I wanted to kill him.
After terrorizing us for 12 years, you couldn't even imagine my excitement when we were in the running to pick him up in free agency. It was probably ignorant of me to be only slightly worried about his four neck procedures the year prior, but I didn't care at all. We were in line to pick up a quarterback who was arguably as good as Elway, and I was tired of 14 straight years without an elite-level quarterback. But we got him, baby. And he didn't disappoint. I still remember those short clips of him in training camp wearing a Broncos uniform. It was surreal to me, and when I think about it, I'm still amazed because I can remember exactly what it felt like watching those little glimpses of him throwing for us in practice. I remember his first game with Denver against the Steelers still so vividly. Every time our guys were running up to the line in a no huddle, every time Manning would audible, or fire a perfect strike into coverage, or look off Polamalu in a cover 2 and hit the receiver perfectly deep down the field, I almost couldn't process what was happening. An all-time great who terrorized us for many years was on our field, in our uniform, throwing for us, running the no-huddle for us, audibling for us, throwing touchdown passes FOR US! The words "Denver Broncos quarterback, Peyton Manning" have rung in my ears ever since March 20th, 2012, and I still get goosebumps when I think about it all. The day he agreed to become a Denver Bronco, the clips of him throwing in our uniform during practice and that first game in that beautiful orange jersey the year we switched them from our alternates. It might've been the most special moment in football that I've ever been a part of. Manning coming to Denver to be a Bronco added so much fuel to my love for the game. I got to see him in person three times and not only that, but watch him win every time and have him be the first quarterback I got to see play in a Denver uniform IN DENVER. I feel honored to be a fan.
Looking back on his career, the most incredible thing for me in all this was that incredible comeback that you don't even hear mentioned anymore. All the talk in 2011 about Manning possibly never playing football again. The story is incredible. He had four major neck procedures. Scary for anyone, let alone an athlete in a contact sport. In the spring of 2011, less than a year before the Broncos would acquire Manning, the NFL lockout was in place. This prevented Manning from having access to his trainers and facility in Indianapolis, so Todd Helton, longtime Colorado Rocky and former teammate of Manning at Tennessee in college, invited him over to Coors Field to workout with him and the Rockies head athletic trainer Keith Dugger. Peyton's first pass at the private batting cage underneath Coors Field was an 8-yard toss to Todd Helton. Manning said "The ball nose-dived after about five yards." Todd Helton actually burst out laughing. Todd said, "C'mon, quit kiddin'", Manning said, "Man, I wish I was." One year later, Manning didn't miss a beat and was playing at an all-time great level again. One year later, he had the greatest single-year performance of any quarterback in NFL history, all without any feeling in his fingertips, which Manning didn't mention until just recently.
Football is going to feel a lot different without Manning. He has been in the NFL for most of my life. 18 years ago, I was 10 years old and watching this guy reinvent the way football was played right before my eyes. When I look back on his career, I try to think about all of it that I can remember first-hand, and the list is long... I watched him terrorize my team for years with his unique style of play. I got to see him carry the worst defense in football to the playoffs in 2006 and even win a Super Bowl with them and be crowned Super Bowl MVP. I witnessed him live on Monday Night Football against the Buccaneers make the most incredible come-from-behind performance I had ever seen in my entire life. I got to see him throw for over 450 yards in a playoff game, the most in NFL playoff history. For the AFC Championship game in the 2006 season, I made a bet with a girl I liked who was a Patriots fan that if the Colts won that game, I'd get to give her a kiss. Things looked gloomy when the Colts were down 21-3, but Manning came through for me! I got to see him break Marino's 48 touchdown season, win five NFL MVP awards and a comeback player of the year award. I got to see him beat the Indianapolis Colts, making him the 2nd quarterback in history to hold a win over every NFL team. I watched him throw for 14 seasons where he surpassed 4,000 yards. I was watching every season when he threw at least 25 touchdown passes for 13 years straight. I got to see him throw 7 touchdown passes in the first game of the season in his second year with my own football team and never look back, going on to break every offensive record known to man that year with my Broncos. 55 touchdown passes, 5,477 yards, most points scored, most first down passes (293), most 2-touchdown games (15), most 4-touchdown games (9), most 400 yard passing games (4), and all the while coming out in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter in many of those games because it was a complete blowout. I watched him throw TEN touchdowns to FIVE different receivers that year. That is completely unheard of. I got to see him throw his 509th touchdown pass in just his 17th year (16 on the field), surpassing Brett Favre for the most touchdown passes ever thrown in the history of the NFL. I got to see him surpass Favre again next year for career passing yards (71,940). I watched him extend his 300+ yard passing games all the way to 93. And just three weeks ago today, I got to see him at Super Bowl 50 win his 2nd Super Bowl in his 200th career win, play in his 2nd Super Bowl in three years with my own team, become the first quarterback in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with two different teams and surpass John Elway as the oldest quarterback to play in the Super Bowl and win it all. All in the final game of his career.
It's been a hell of a ride, and knowing that I got to experience every bit of his career is just unreal. I'll forever be grateful to him for not only changing the way the game of football is played, but changing the way I watched it. Thank you for all the memories, and thank you for everything, Peyton.
Here are a few tribute quotes I dug up that put a glimpse into the perspective of how great this guy really was at the quarterback position... "Was"
"The first game- actually, it's a funny one- he'd been talking to me all camp long about how I need to run my seam route. 'You make sure you bend it in when you come around that backer'. And the first play of the game- I'm talkin' about the first play of the whole season- I got a seam route, he throws it to me, I forgot to bend it around the backer. Safety lights me up, knocked the wind out of me and I'm sitting there thinking 'That's how well Peyton knows the game'. After that he was like 'So, Julius, you got how to run that seam, now?' and I'm like 'Yeah, I got it, yeah'."
- Julius Thomas
"He changed the way you play the position. The no-huddle, the ability to improvise. You know, you're up there (as a defender), you're listening, you're trying to get a tip for the next time he says 'this', or the next time he makes 'this' signal. He says the same thing, and it means something different the next time. If you've got Peyton Manning on your schedule, the first thing you say is 'I have to prepare more so than any other week ever just to have a chance'."
- Jon Beason
"I've never seen one player in particular have this kind of an impact on a franchise when he don't play."
- Jordan Babineaux
"I believe Peyton Manning is a computer. One time we were playing him, and he literally told us what we were about to do. He said 'those guys are pinching', and we weren't even moving, we weren't even showing anything, and he was like 'Yeah, those guys are pinching'. I kinda looked at him like, 'No, I'm not'... But I really was. If you're not in the defense he wants you in, he will put you in that defense. I mean, he just commands the game and he makes it whatever he wants it to be and that's why he's so great. For years, people have been trying to figure out some type of defense to stop this guy, and he keeps finding a way around it... He's a computer."
- Gerald McCoy
"We were going into the week and our coaches were telling us about how he's a coach on the field and how he studies film and everything like that. And you don't really notice it until you really get out there and you hear him barking out calls every single play."
- Joe Haden
"Guys are looking at him like 'What's he doing'- Play clock 3, 2, all of a sudden the ball gets snapped, you got two guys streaking down the field he's just sitting back there, throws a dime, touchdown. What can you say? Number one, without a doubt."
- Alex Boone
When Peyton Manning first burst onto the scene, his style was instantly recognizable, because nobody had seen anything like it before. The no-huddle obviously existed before Manning (see: Buffalo Bills of the 1990s), but you never saw a quarterback implement it into the audible and run it anywhere near as consistently or successfully as Manning did throughout his career. No player has ever changed the sport of football as drastically as Manning did, and to this day, no quarterback has ever come close to mastering it the way Manning did. When I first watched Manning utilize this against Denver, I couldn't even process what I was seeing. I'd never seen anyone do what Manning did and dictate the pace of the game the way that he did. It was enraging. In 2001 I watched him annihilate every bit of our defense in the last game of the year, preventing us from clinching a playoff berth. In week 16 of 2003, though, I watched Denver crush the Colts in Indianapolis and clinch a playoff berth, but that's only because Peyton was riding the bench, since they had already secured a playoff berth. Guess who we played in the first round of the playoffs? Yes, the Colts. In Indianapolis. Only this time The Sheriff was in town and we were completely trashed 41-10. The next year, 2004, I watched nearly the exact same thing happen again. Week 17, we easily defeated the Manning-less Colts 33-14, securing a playoff berth, only to go into Indianapolis against the Sheriff again and get completely trounced 49-24. Throughout that game I remember sitting there watching it all unfold, and in my head begging Peyton to please, not audible, and to just run the play. Please, Peyton. Of course that wasn't the case. 80% of the time he was in shotgun formation about to take the snap, then he'd walk up to the line, shout out a play call to the line, signal to the receivers what he wanted them to do, and we were toast every time. I wanted to kill him.
After terrorizing us for 12 years, you couldn't even imagine my excitement when we were in the running to pick him up in free agency. It was probably ignorant of me to be only slightly worried about his four neck procedures the year prior, but I didn't care at all. We were in line to pick up a quarterback who was arguably as good as Elway, and I was tired of 14 straight years without an elite-level quarterback. But we got him, baby. And he didn't disappoint. I still remember those short clips of him in training camp wearing a Broncos uniform. It was surreal to me, and when I think about it, I'm still amazed because I can remember exactly what it felt like watching those little glimpses of him throwing for us in practice. I remember his first game with Denver against the Steelers still so vividly. Every time our guys were running up to the line in a no huddle, every time Manning would audible, or fire a perfect strike into coverage, or look off Polamalu in a cover 2 and hit the receiver perfectly deep down the field, I almost couldn't process what was happening. An all-time great who terrorized us for many years was on our field, in our uniform, throwing for us, running the no-huddle for us, audibling for us, throwing touchdown passes FOR US! The words "Denver Broncos quarterback, Peyton Manning" have rung in my ears ever since March 20th, 2012, and I still get goosebumps when I think about it all. The day he agreed to become a Denver Bronco, the clips of him throwing in our uniform during practice and that first game in that beautiful orange jersey the year we switched them from our alternates. It might've been the most special moment in football that I've ever been a part of. Manning coming to Denver to be a Bronco added so much fuel to my love for the game. I got to see him in person three times and not only that, but watch him win every time and have him be the first quarterback I got to see play in a Denver uniform IN DENVER. I feel honored to be a fan.
Looking back on his career, the most incredible thing for me in all this was that incredible comeback that you don't even hear mentioned anymore. All the talk in 2011 about Manning possibly never playing football again. The story is incredible. He had four major neck procedures. Scary for anyone, let alone an athlete in a contact sport. In the spring of 2011, less than a year before the Broncos would acquire Manning, the NFL lockout was in place. This prevented Manning from having access to his trainers and facility in Indianapolis, so Todd Helton, longtime Colorado Rocky and former teammate of Manning at Tennessee in college, invited him over to Coors Field to workout with him and the Rockies head athletic trainer Keith Dugger. Peyton's first pass at the private batting cage underneath Coors Field was an 8-yard toss to Todd Helton. Manning said "The ball nose-dived after about five yards." Todd Helton actually burst out laughing. Todd said, "C'mon, quit kiddin'", Manning said, "Man, I wish I was." One year later, Manning didn't miss a beat and was playing at an all-time great level again. One year later, he had the greatest single-year performance of any quarterback in NFL history, all without any feeling in his fingertips, which Manning didn't mention until just recently.
Football is going to feel a lot different without Manning. He has been in the NFL for most of my life. 18 years ago, I was 10 years old and watching this guy reinvent the way football was played right before my eyes. When I look back on his career, I try to think about all of it that I can remember first-hand, and the list is long... I watched him terrorize my team for years with his unique style of play. I got to see him carry the worst defense in football to the playoffs in 2006 and even win a Super Bowl with them and be crowned Super Bowl MVP. I witnessed him live on Monday Night Football against the Buccaneers make the most incredible come-from-behind performance I had ever seen in my entire life. I got to see him throw for over 450 yards in a playoff game, the most in NFL playoff history. For the AFC Championship game in the 2006 season, I made a bet with a girl I liked who was a Patriots fan that if the Colts won that game, I'd get to give her a kiss. Things looked gloomy when the Colts were down 21-3, but Manning came through for me! I got to see him break Marino's 48 touchdown season, win five NFL MVP awards and a comeback player of the year award. I got to see him beat the Indianapolis Colts, making him the 2nd quarterback in history to hold a win over every NFL team. I watched him throw for 14 seasons where he surpassed 4,000 yards. I was watching every season when he threw at least 25 touchdown passes for 13 years straight. I got to see him throw 7 touchdown passes in the first game of the season in his second year with my own football team and never look back, going on to break every offensive record known to man that year with my Broncos. 55 touchdown passes, 5,477 yards, most points scored, most first down passes (293), most 2-touchdown games (15), most 4-touchdown games (9), most 400 yard passing games (4), and all the while coming out in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter in many of those games because it was a complete blowout. I watched him throw TEN touchdowns to FIVE different receivers that year. That is completely unheard of. I got to see him throw his 509th touchdown pass in just his 17th year (16 on the field), surpassing Brett Favre for the most touchdown passes ever thrown in the history of the NFL. I got to see him surpass Favre again next year for career passing yards (71,940). I watched him extend his 300+ yard passing games all the way to 93. And just three weeks ago today, I got to see him at Super Bowl 50 win his 2nd Super Bowl in his 200th career win, play in his 2nd Super Bowl in three years with my own team, become the first quarterback in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with two different teams and surpass John Elway as the oldest quarterback to play in the Super Bowl and win it all. All in the final game of his career.
It's been a hell of a ride, and knowing that I got to experience every bit of his career is just unreal. I'll forever be grateful to him for not only changing the way the game of football is played, but changing the way I watched it. Thank you for all the memories, and thank you for everything, Peyton.
Here are a few tribute quotes I dug up that put a glimpse into the perspective of how great this guy really was at the quarterback position... "Was"
"The first game- actually, it's a funny one- he'd been talking to me all camp long about how I need to run my seam route. 'You make sure you bend it in when you come around that backer'. And the first play of the game- I'm talkin' about the first play of the whole season- I got a seam route, he throws it to me, I forgot to bend it around the backer. Safety lights me up, knocked the wind out of me and I'm sitting there thinking 'That's how well Peyton knows the game'. After that he was like 'So, Julius, you got how to run that seam, now?' and I'm like 'Yeah, I got it, yeah'."
- Julius Thomas
"He changed the way you play the position. The no-huddle, the ability to improvise. You know, you're up there (as a defender), you're listening, you're trying to get a tip for the next time he says 'this', or the next time he makes 'this' signal. He says the same thing, and it means something different the next time. If you've got Peyton Manning on your schedule, the first thing you say is 'I have to prepare more so than any other week ever just to have a chance'."
- Jon Beason
"I've never seen one player in particular have this kind of an impact on a franchise when he don't play."
- Jordan Babineaux
"I believe Peyton Manning is a computer. One time we were playing him, and he literally told us what we were about to do. He said 'those guys are pinching', and we weren't even moving, we weren't even showing anything, and he was like 'Yeah, those guys are pinching'. I kinda looked at him like, 'No, I'm not'... But I really was. If you're not in the defense he wants you in, he will put you in that defense. I mean, he just commands the game and he makes it whatever he wants it to be and that's why he's so great. For years, people have been trying to figure out some type of defense to stop this guy, and he keeps finding a way around it... He's a computer."
- Gerald McCoy
"We were going into the week and our coaches were telling us about how he's a coach on the field and how he studies film and everything like that. And you don't really notice it until you really get out there and you hear him barking out calls every single play."
- Joe Haden
"Guys are looking at him like 'What's he doing'- Play clock 3, 2, all of a sudden the ball gets snapped, you got two guys streaking down the field he's just sitting back there, throws a dime, touchdown. What can you say? Number one, without a doubt."
- Alex Boone
