BSN Denver Roundtable: Farewell to Manning

As a legend exits the game today, we’ve gathered our staff at BSN Broncos to share a few thoughts and stories on Peyton Manning‘s time in Denver and his Hall of Fame Career.

Brandon Spano

I consider Peyton Manning the greatest pure passer to ever play the sport of football. And it might not be close. For every weakness, there were three strengths. And nobody had a more cerebral approach than the Sheriff either.

Manning needed less than three seconds to scan the entire field, go through all of his reads, and throw a flawless pass to the best option available. And more often than not, he knew who that player was going to be before the ball was even snapped.

Manning made everyone around him better. Fellow teammates became more focused, looked at the game with more clarity, and they knew that if they got their job done, Manning would handle the rest and they would win. From practice squad players to superstars arriving from other teams, he took players to new levels that they never knew existed.

Manning was the greatest in many different categories, stats, metrics, and other factors, so it’s no surprise to find out that he prepared better than anyone who ever played his position as well. Manning was actually upset when the NFL players union forced the league to cut back training camp regiments and off-season conditioning programs. He felt like his opportunity to give his team the edge was being taken from him.

So he started having his own camps. At Duke or at a local high school in town, Manning would get his receivers together and practice. This is what has separated Manning from everyone else. The preparation and the determination.

Players retire when the thought of practice and film sessions every week seem daunting, even though they still love the actual games on Sunday. But that’s not the case for Manning. He loves that practice the most.

Most quarterbacks in the NFL had a better arm than Manning throughout his career. Most were more athletic than him. Most quarterbacks threw a better spiral too. But none of these quarterbacks had the desire, the focus, the vision, or the determination that Manning did and as cliche as that sounds, it’s actually true.

It’s what made Manning who he was.

Because of guys like Peyton Manning, people like me are sold on the fact that if we work harder than everyone else and dedicate more time than everyone else, we will succeed no matter what our current skill level is. The idea that you can study yourself into mastery and find perfection through repetition is exhilarating.

The 2013 Broncos had the most dominant offense I had ever seen. Watching a hobbled, 37-year-old man, with no athleticism or arm strength, absolutely dominate a field of young men using his brain, almost exclusively, was not only a phenomenal feat in the sport of football but it was a phenomenal feat in the game of life.

Adam Kinney 

Jan 4th, 2004. That is the day I first remember hating Peyton Manning. The Jake Plummer led Broncos went into Indianapolis and suffered a 41-10 defeat at the hands of Manning who torched the Broncos for 5 touchdowns with 377 yards on 22-26 passing. It was the kind of hate any 13-year-old lifelong Bronco fan would have of an opposing quarterback of that caliber. Manning would repeat that performance the following season when he dismantled the Broncos 49-24 in the playoffs. But in reality that ‘hatred’ was really just displaced respect and admiration that I would get to see first hand in his first season as a Bronco, my first season covering the team in sports media.

I was always fascinated by Manning’s mind. I’ll never forget his first game in Denver. The Broncos were playing the Pittsburgh Steelers at Mile High in the season opener on Sunday Night Football. Manning seemingly picked up right where he left off after his neck surgeries and was that same annoying cerebral quarterback that Broncos Country despised for so long. But, this time, it was different. He was in a cat and mouse game with Steelers great Troy Polamalu and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Fast forward 50 some odd wins, 4 divisonal championships, 2 AFC championships, and the victory in Super Bowl 50 later, to the first quarterback I had the pleasure of covering in the NFL, I will always cherish the 4 years I got to cover Manning in Denver and the previous 14 years of painful admiration of the smartest quarterback to ever play the game.

Sam Cowhick

Before Peyton Manning arrived in Denver I was admittedly not a fan of his. From the outside, he seemed smug and he was so phenomenal for the Indianapolis Colts that it bugged me that he was dominating the way he was from the quarterback position. Yet, when John Elway convinced him to come to the Denver Broncos and try and revive his career and the team’s standing in the NFL I was certainly on board. He quickly and quite miraculously returned to the player that earned him four MVP awards in his time in Indy and shifted my opinion. I had yet to earn my post as a beat writer but the way he recovered from such an injury and ordeal was impressive.

In 2014, I earned the opportunity to cover the Broncos on a daily basis and that’s when I was lucky enough to see what Manning was about first hand. He was the quite leader, the “lead by example” player every coach wants and he also realized and embraced his stature as a role model in society. Now I’m sure he is not perfect and some recent allegations suggest that but that is not for me to decide. What I witnessed the last two seasons of his magnificent career was this. With wit, charm, humility, and compassion for others Manning went about the monumental task of trying to cement his legacy while attempting to appease millions of fans that believed in him and he didn’t disappoint.

As a member of media is was a weekly joy to ask him the tough questions as well as take opportunities to joke with him about his several national commercials or poke fun at his “old man” standing in the locker room. From a football standpoint, he has an absolutely remarkable memory of football history and his playing time in particular. He also has a gift for public speaking. His knowledge of the game was stunning and a privilege to be involved in for two seasons.

Behind the scenes, he was constantly quietly signing autographs for his teammates upon request and for charitable organizations. He did so with a smile and although it meant the world to the recipient, he never acted as if it was an inconvenience. Often stories were published about a phone call he made to a fan with cancer or a letter to a survivor of tragedy and for every story you heard there were a thousand more that didn’t make the papers. Last summer I attended a wedding and my friend, the bride couldn’t wait to show me a video. In it, Manning graciously apologized to the couple for not being able to attend their wedding but not before he wished the two he had never met a lifetime of happiness.

I of course, will remember touchdown No. 509, his seven touchdowns to open the 2013 season and of course his last throw to Bennie Fowler for two points Feb. 7 but to me, the most important memories with come from watching him quietly chat with a fan on the sideline of a practice field or check in with a teammate in the locker room after helping them out in some way. He was a leader, a shining example of how to act not due to the glow of fame, but in spite of it. Safe to say that my job requires objectivity but as he retires today I can safely say I am now a fan of Manning’s and always will be.

Dennis Best

As a kid growing up in the Mile High city, I idolized John Elway and everything he did for the game of Football in Denver. He was electric, cunning, smart, and an all-around great guy for the team he represented. As I got older and started to follow the game more closely and Elway rode off into the sunset as a back-to-back champion, a new up and comer out of the University of Tennessee was entering the league, Peyton Manning.

Manning was everything Elway was here to the city of Indianapolis; Manning changed the culture of Football in the Midwest. After watching the Colts tear through the regular season year after year, beating the Broncos more times than I care to remember, I started to have a dislike for the man who always seemed to be just a step above everybody else. Even with the sour taste he left in the mouths of fans of the Orange & Blue, we all had a collective respect for the man who seemed to be rewriting the record books year after year.

Then, on March 20th, 2012, it happened. The Manning sweepstakes had been won by Denver and the Tim Tebow era was over. It will be cemented in my memory of exactly where I was on that day, Sitting at home in New Mexico, knowing Denver was relevant once again. I literally felt like dancing.

The Sheriff came here and did exactly what he had achieved in Indy, bringing a spark back to a town that had seen Football mediocrity for the latter part of a decade. In four short seasons, Denver was back on top as Super Bowl champions.

As a rookie football writer and lifelong fan, I would like to personally say thank you for coming to Denver and making us a football town once again. Your legacy will never be forgotten. Now go ride off into that sunset you so desperately craved.

Thank you, Peyton.

Ken Pomponio

The narrative says that the Broncos got to and won Super Bowl 50 despite Peyton Manning. And just going by the sheer numbers – 17 interceptions and nine TD passes in the regular season and the offense’s 194 total yards and ugly 1-of-14 third-down conversion rate in the Big Game itself – that seems to be the case. But unlike the most obvious accomplishments of Manning’s first-ballot, Hall-of-Fame career, we actually need to go beyond the numbers here.

Three quick questions: Who was the unquestioned, guiding force the previous three years which ultimately taught the Broncos valuable lessons and set the stage for this last Super season? Which player was an instant selling point for those free agents and Super Bowl lineup staples who wound up signing with Denver the past few seasons? Which player was a galvanizing force for the entire franchise and community from Day One of his signing in March 2012? So to say the Orange & Blue got to and won Super Bowl 50 despite a clearly declining 39-year-old quarterback actually is anything but the truth. That third Lombardi now adorning the Broncos’ trophy case is the lasting culmination and symbol of an unforgettably successful four-year ride for Peyton Manning in the Mile High City.