Yesterday and today, ESPN NFL commentators shared memories about five-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning and reacted to his decision to retire from professional football. ESPN senior NFL insider Chris Mortensen broke the news Sunday morning and Manning made a formal announcement in a news conference today.
NFL Analyst Tedy Bruschi, who faced Manning and the Indianapolis Colts 17 times as a member of the New England Patriots: “He has such a respect for not only his teammates, but his opponents also… I don’t know him very well, but after I retired, a few days later, I don’t know how he got my home address, but there’s a card from Peyton Williams Manning.”
On being acknowledged in Manning’s speech: “It was an honor really, to hear that from the one opponent that I respect more than all others. And I can honestly say this about Peyton Manning, the biggest compliment I can give him, guys, is he made me a better player.”
NFL Analyst Ryan Clark: “Didn’t he [announce his retirement] how we expected him to do it? Wasn’t he well prepared? Hadn’t he thought about and looked into everything that went into making him Peyton Manning? And didn’t he make sure to acknowledge the people who helped him get there more than he talked about himself? He was total class.”
NFL Analyst Brian Dawkins: “One of the best compliments a guy can have, and Peyton is one of these individuals, is when your thirst for greatness or to improve outweighs your talent. So your effort to get better and learn more about the game, it makes you even better. It makes your talent explode even more on the scene.”
NFL Analyst Herm Edwards: “He didn’t waste his talent. Sometimes talent can be a curse. We see it all the time. We see guys that never live up to their talent because of this: they lack preparation. He exhausted his mind to be prepared. That was the culture of Peyton Manning.”
NFL Analyst Tim Hasselbeck, a former NFL quarterback: “He changed the way the position is played… Not to say that audibles didn’t exist before Peyton Manning started playing football because they did, but the reality is that he would go to the line of scrimmage with the ability to get to whatever the best play was going to be versus the defense that was put in front of him.”
NFL Analyst Tom Jackson, a former Denver linebacker and member of the Broncos Ring of Fame: “I’m watching the end of an era. We throw the words around — great and iconic — I think far too often in the world of sports. Today we’re watching somebody who truly is iconic and great. He helped transition the most important position on a football field… I’m going to remember what a great player he was, but I’m also going to remember the kind of person that he is. As good of a quarterback that he is and all the records that he holds, I really feel like he’s a better person.”
Senior NFL Insider Chris Mortensen: “He is a football renaissance man… he is a man who has highest expectations in every aspect of life, so whatever he’s going to do over the next 10, 15, 20, 25 years, it’s going to be at a level that I think will certainly meet what he just accomplished on the football field.”
NFL Front Office Insider Bill Polian, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and the former Indianapolis Colts president and general manager who drafted Manning in 1998: “Peyton revolutionized the quarterback position with his ability to control the game at the line of scrimmage. He took preparation to a new level both on and off the field. Those of us privileged to have him as a teammate saw a man totally dedicated to doing his very best while at the same time helping those around him be their very best. In word and deed he showed younger players what being a professional really meant. He made sure staff members were treated with dignity and respect.
“Peyton also interacted with the community, particularly youngsters, in a way that created an entire generation of avid fans in Indianapolis. He persevered through serious career-threatening injury to have a glorious second act in Denver. He has my gratitude, respect and friendship. The Hall of Fame, which Peyton will enter as soon as he is eligible, through its enshrinees celebrates excellence and promotes the values of the game. Few in NFL history have lived that mission better than Peyton Manning.”
NFL Front Office Insider Louis Riddick: “Now that we’re in the time preparing for the draft the number one thing a lot of teams are trying to find out with players is do they love the game? If young players are watching this [news conference] today, that’s what it looks like. When you see him talk about the fact that he knew there may have been players that were better than him, maybe physically more talented, but the one thing he could control is that his preparation would be second to none. That’s a choice and that is what leads to greatness.”
NFL Analyst Jeff Saturday, who with Manning holds the record for most starts by a quarterback-center duo (170): “It was an honor to play with Peyton. The way he prepared, the way he practiced and the way he worked from Monday to Saturday are the things I respect the most. Anything Peyton asked you to do, you knew he was doing that and more. He truly led by example. People called us an old married couple because we would battle, argue, and yell, but at the same time, we had so much respect for each other. That’s why we enjoyed it so much – we knew the other one cared as much as we did.”
Monday Night Football play-by-play voice Mike Tirico: “The deeper we got into Peyton’s career the NFL started having microphones on some of the interior linemen. That’s how the whole ‘Omaha’ thing became famous. In fact, Peyton took us out of work for a little while because when you got to a Peyton Manning game, you shut up once the team got to the line of scrimmage because you’d listen to all the verbal calisthenics.”
NFL Analyst Charles Woodson, who was drafted in the same class as Manning in 1998: “Peyton had a healthy respect for repetition and doing things over and over again until he got it right. That’s what the great ones do so when they get to Sunday, it seems so easy for them.”
NFL Analyst Steve Young, a Hall of Fame quarterback and Super Bowl XXIX MVP: “He took the game further in the relationship between quarterback and receiver. That took the coach out of it and he decided that I’m going to make it so intimate that I know every nuance of every route so that you can’t be covered… Quarterbacks thought about that before him, but no one actually did it to the extent that Peyton Manning did.”
Additionally, ESPN Front Row published this photo slideshow highlighting Manning’s presence on ESPN’s platforms through the years: http://es.pn/1LaoUIb
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