The 1 thing people in the NFL remember about Peyton Manning
We asked people around the NFL for their one special memory of Peyton Manning's NFL career. Here is what they said:
Miami Dolphins head coach Adam Gase, who coached Manning with Broncos from 2012-2014: “I know that 2013 season was special. I know that first game [against the Baltimore Ravens] was something great to be a part of it. Seeing him operate. That was our first real game working together. I know that seventh touchdown he threw, that was all him. He saw what they were doing, checked do a play and just to be a part of an offense to where guys were clicking and everybody was on the same page, that was something special to be a part of.”
San Diego Chargers GM Tom Telesco, who worked in the Colts personnel department while Manning was in Indianapolis: “I couldn't put into one memory, I really can't. But he's a culture-changing type guy. … He drives everybody to be better. He drove our coaches to be better, he drove, when I was in the pro scouting department, he drove us to be better, because he would come back and ask questions. You do those advance reports and sometimes, most players, they toss them, but he read every word, and if something was misspelled, we'd hear about it. So I'd tell the pro scouts, look, I want this clean, I want it grammatically correct, I want it typed well, because I can tell you, every guy reads every single word of it, and if it isn't right, he'll let you know. He makes everybody better.”
Chad Pennington, former NFL quarterback drafted a year after Manning: “The game that sticks out in my mind is a Monday night game, Dolphins and Colts in 2009. We knew had to keep Peyton off the field. We knew we had to do that by converting on third downs. So we held the ball on third downs, we were 15-of-21 on third downs, and we lost. [laughs] That's when you learn that, you know what, it's who scores the most points, regardless of what the stats say. He was able to score more points in 15 minutes than we did in 45. You just chalk it up and say, hey, you got beat by a better man.”
Chargers head coach Mike McCoy, Manning’s offensive coordinator in Denver in 2012: “Really that San Diego game, when we came back to start that win streak. We were down 24 nothing and we finally got going. After the first touchdown, he comes to the sideline and says, 'We got 'em.' I was like, 'We got 'em?' He says, ‘Oh yeah, we got 'em. This what we've got to do, this is how we've got to play. You can tell they're a little hesitant out there now that we're doing this. And that's the way it was, week in, week out, the next 11 weeks.”
Chicago Bears head coach John Fox, Manning’s head coach in Denver from 2012-14: “It's just his time management, his preparation and especially late in your career, but you have to do more as far as taking care of yourself and how you manage that. He had already established what kind of football preparation he had, and he was very tireless in that area, and then on top of that, when we first got him, he was rehabbing. To be able to be what he's always been as a quarterback, with new teammates, new coaches, new system after being in one system for 14 years and coming off neck surgeries, he was reteaching himself how to throw, and then being an older, veteran player and all that stuff, to be able to do that and have the success he had at that point in his career was pretty incredible.”
Broncos quarterbacks coach Greg Knapp: “Our friendship. An appreciation for each other's skillset, as a coach and as a player and what we brought to each other. I've learned from him hopefully as much as I've taught him. That friendship, that ability to take the highs and lows together in unison and move on and learn from it, has been very special.”
Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak “Watch our football team, when he came back, just the confidence that they as a group had. You can talk defense, across the board, the confidence that we played with week in, week out when he came back, that says a lot about him as a leader. Just very proud of the job he did.”
Quarterback guru George Whitfield Jr.: (A 2007 Colts-Chargers game in San Diego, Colts ultimately lost when Adam Vinatieri missed a game winning field goal.) “I happened to be in the stadium that day. I don't get a chance to go to a ton of NFL games, I was younger. He played at San Diego. I think he threw six interceptions. … Can you imagine that? Just the wherewithall and the mettle it takes and the mindset to say, OK I got intercepted but that was then and that's not going to affect me going forward. OK, there's another one. It's just the toughness of it. And then it's just like, he's still coming out. You can't kill him. And the comeback win against Tampa Bay at Tampa Bay. It was a Monday night game and they were getting rocked and he came back on them. We could sit and talk games, but those two, just because I know what it takes for your car to be in a ditch and it's almost starting to roll and you don't take your hand off the wheel and gear shift and it's like, 'No, we can do this' and to keep coming with it.”
Former Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey: “When he threw that touchdown pass to Julius Thomas to break the single-season passing touchdown record (in 2013). Just to be a part of that, because he's by far the best quarterback I've played with, and to see him achieve these milestones after seeing him do it in Indy and actually be a part of it, I never thought I would be. To see him actually do it, on my team, helping me win games, I mean it was special. One thing about Peyton is he never gets wrapped up in it too much, but it was just the excitement from the rest of the guys. You see how baseball celebrates milestones, and that was one of those moments. I mean, you don't get a chance to be part of things like that, especially from one of the greatest quarterbacks that ever played. So I'll just remember the excitement from the guys around him. We know how much work he puts in, that's why you always see guys around certain players get more excited than he does, because we watched him prepare and we watch him go through the grind and it's a different level of appreciation than anyone outside that locker room would ever feel.”
Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr., a teammate of Manning’s from 2012-15(his favorite memory came from a practice during the 2013 season): "I had picked him off and I put the ball up, so later on in practice, he threw a touchdown on me, and then he spiked it right in front of me. I thought that was hilarious. That's how competitive he was. He didn't like what I did, and I wasn't even trying to gloat or anything, but he took it wrong and once he scored on me and got me, he just spiked it on me, real hard in front of everybody."
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