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    Peyton Manning

    Character » appears in 47 games

    Peyton Manning is a retired NFL quarterback who spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and 4 seasons with the Denver Broncos. He is the son of former Saints quarterback Archie Manning, and older brother of New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Peyton Manning last edited by robertcallaghan on 12/12/20 01:26AM View full history

    College

    Peyton Manning went to University of Tennessee, where he set many records including the all time passing record. When Manning was drafted the school retired his number and even named a street after him.

    NFL

    Charles Woodson, Ryan Leaf, and Peyton Manning on Draft Day 1998.
    Charles Woodson, Ryan Leaf, and Peyton Manning on Draft Day 1998.

    In 1998, Peyton was one of the most talked about quarterbacks in the NFL draft. The other quarterback being discussed was Ryan Leaf. Analysts thought that both Leaf and Manning would compete at a very high level in the NFL and questioned who would go first in the 1998 Draft. The Indianapolis Colts, who had had minimal success after their controversial move from Baltimore, held the first pick and decided to draft Manning. The San Diego Chargers, who got the second pick in the draft after trading with the Arizona Cardinals, drafted Leaf. Leaf ended up being a major bust. Manning's 1998 season was not stellar either, and the Colts went 3-13 for the second consecutive year.

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    Things would improve greatly in the coming seasons. During Manning's tenure, the Indianapolis Colts won one AFC East and seven AFC South division championships. From 2003 to 2009, Manning and the Colts had 12 or more wins in every season. In 2006, the Colts won Super Bowl XLI, beating the Chicago Bears 29 to 17. Manning was named the game's MVP. The Colts would make one more trip to the Super Bowl in 2009, but lost to the New Orleans Saints by a score of 31 to 17. Manning made a crucial fourth quarter mistake when Saints cornerback Tracy Porter returned a Manning interception for a 74 yard touchdown.

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    Many analysts thought that Manning and Leaf would be the definitive quarterback rivalry of the AFC. The real rivalry would come between Manning and Tom Brady. Brady and the New England Patriots would meet the Colts during the playoffs three times during Peyton's time in Indianapolis. In all three games, the winner would go on to win the Super Bowl (in 2003 and 2004 with the Patriots and 2006 with the Colts). They met again in the 2013 AFC Championship where Peyton's Broncos blew out Brady and the Pats.

    Peyton and Eli: Football Cops
    Peyton and Eli: Football Cops

    Manning's other major rivalry is of the sibling variety. His younger brother, Eli Manning, was also the first pick in the draft. Drafted in 2004 by the New York Giants, Eli Manning was initially viewed as a lesser version of his brother. In 2007, Eli won Super Bowl Super Bowl XLII, ousting the heavily-favored (and undefeated) New England Patriots. Eli won again in 2011, again defeating the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. Eli was named the MVP of both games. While Eli's Giants and Peyton's Colts/Broncos have never meet in the Super Bowl, they have met three times in the so-called "Manning Bowl." In all three of the meetings, Peyton has bested his little brother. In the 2013 off-season, the two brothers filmed a music video in their home town of New Orleans for DirecTV advertising the ability to watch football on your phone. Peyton's older brother Cooper had his football career cut short after it was found out he suffered from a narrowing of the spinal canal. Peyton's father Archie was an NFL quarterback from 1971 to 1984. He played primarily for the New Orleans Saints. During several losing seasons Archie was viewed as the team's lone superstar.

    In 2011, Peyton underwent several neck surgeries which prevented him from playing the entire season. Without Manning, the Colts went 2-14, breaking the streak of consecutive AFC South titles (2) and playoff appearances (9). It was the worst record the Colts have posted since 1991. Their 0-13 start is only matched by the 2008 Detroit Lions, who went 0-16.

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    The Colts decided to release Manning, after they had just signed him to a five year extension, in 2012. Manning then signed with the Denver Broncos, replacing their starter Tim Tebow. In his first game with the Broncos, a Sunday Night Football match with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Manning broke the 400 touchdown milestone. The only other two quarterbacks to do this are Dan Marino and Brett Favre. In 2015, a fourth QB was added to the club, Tom Brady. The Colts used their first pick in the 2012 draft to draft Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. Colts owner Jim Irsay said that no Colts player will ever wear #18 again, although it has not yet officially been retired. In the 2012 season, both the Colts and Broncos made the playoffs, but neither made it to the AFC Conference Championship game. The following season, the Broncos had the highest scoring offense in NFL history, and Peyton broke the records for TD passes and yards in a season for the second time. He was named the NFL's MVP by a near-unanimous vote, with one lone dissenting vote going to Tom Brady. In the Super Bowl, the Broncos matched up with the Seattle Seahawks. Things got off to a bad start for the Broncos right off the bat. On the first offensive play of the game, Broncos center Manny Ramirez accidentally snapped the ball above Manning's head, and it flew into the endzone for a safety. By halftime the Broncos were down 22-0 and the game finished a 43-8 blowout as Seattle's defense suffocated the high-scoring Broncos offense. Despite the loss, Manning was able to set a new record for completions in a Super Bowl, and became just the third QB in NFL history to start in Super Bowls with two different franchises.

    In 2014, Peyton sought to recover from the dissapointing Seattle loss, but as the season wore on his performance began to fall off. Some attributed this to the cold Denver weather, while others speculated the neck injuries had finally caught up with him. 2014 ended at home with a loss to the Colts in the Divisional Round of the AFC Playofffs. 2015 came around and the Broncos hired a new coach, former Texans coach Gary Kubiak, but Peyton continued to struggle. He had immense trouble with accuracy and throwing power, and while Peyton was never known for his athleticism, he had lost virtually all mobility in the pocket. Spurned by the Seattle Super Bowl loss, Broncos GM John Elway invested heavily in the team's defense, and signed Demarcus Ware, TJ Ward, and Aqib Talib to go along with previous stalworts like Von Miller, Danny Trevathan, and Derek Wolfe. The Broncos defense helped lead the team to a 7-1 start, but Manning had thrown a league-leading 13 INTs to go along with 9 TD passes.

    Things reached an all-time low during a week 10 matchup at Kansas City, where Peyton went 5 for 20 for 35 yards, posting a 0.0 passer rating. Despite the bad performance, he still made history by becoming the NFL's all-time leader in passing yardage. Manning was benched in the third quarter for Brock Osweiller. After the game the Broncos said Peyton had plantar fasciitis, and that Osweiller would be the starter while Manning nursed the inury. Osweiller started off well, handing the New England Patriots their first loss of the season at home, but going into a week 15 matchup against Pittsurgh, the team had gone 7 quarters without an offensive touchdown, and even though Peyton was healthy and practicing again, he was put on the bench for the first time in his career. With Brock, the team went 4-2, and were 11-4 coming into their week 17 game against San Diego. Osweiller was unable to get anything going, and was benched for Peyton in the third quarter. Manning came out to a shower of cheers from the fans and helped lift the Broncos to a 27-20 win with 13 4th quarter points. The Broncos became the number 1 seed in the AFC and under Manning, the team went on to win Super Bowl 50 vs. the Carolina Panthers. He matched up against his old rival Tom Brady for one last time during the AFC Conference Championsip Game at Mile High in Denver. After the game, as players from both teams shook hands, Peyton was caught on mic telling Brady "this is probably gonna be my last rodeo." Peyton officially announced his retirement from the NFL on March 7, 2016.

    Often considered one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history, Peyton is known for his intense work ethic and rigorous pre-snap routine. Manning almost exclusively runs the hurry-up offense out of the shot-gun formation, and has helped to popularize this style for quarterbacks in the modern age. Current QB's who also run mostly no-huddle offenses are Philip Rivers, Eli Manning, and Tom Brady.

    He holds many NFL records, both regular and post-season including most years of 4,000 yards passing, most MVP Awards, most games with a perfect passer rating, and largest TD-INT differential. Manning is also reached the quarterback milestones of 50,000 yards, 4,000 completions, and 400 touchdowns the fastest. In 2014, Manning eclipsed Brett Favre to became the NFL's all-time leader in touchdown passes, and is also tied for the most Pro Bowl nominations of all time with 14. In 2015, he became the NFL's all time-leader in pasing yardage as well. Peyton Manning is the only 5-time MVP in NFL history.

    Peyton Manning appeared as the cover athlete on each NFL Fever release on Microsoft's Xbox system.

    NFL Career Stats

    YearTeamGamesCompletionsCompletion %AttemptsYardsTDIntQB RatingSacks (# of times sacked)
    1998IND1632656.75753739262871.222
    1999IND1633162.15334135261590.714
    2000IND1635762.55714413331594.720
    2001IND1634362.75474131262384.129
    2002IND1639266.35914200271988.823
    2003IND1637967.05664267291099.018
    2004IND1633667.649745574910121.113
    2005IND1630567.345337472810104.117
    2006IND1636265.05574397319101.014
    2007IND1633765.45154040311498.021
    2008IND1637166.85554002271295.014
    2009IND1639368.85714500331699.910
    2010IND1645066.36794700331791.916

    2011

    2012

    IND

    DEN

    0

    16

    0

    400

    0

    68.6

    0

    583

    0

    4569

    0

    37

    0

    11

    0

    105.8

    0

    21

    Because Peyton Manning has not yet played any games in 2011 due to a neck injury, all of his statistics for 2011 are 0.

    Awards and Highlights

    • AP NFL MVP (2003*, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2013)
    • AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year (2012)
    • Pro Bowl (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004** ,2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014)
    • First-team All-Pro (2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013)
    • Indianapolis Colts All-time leader in career wins, passing touchdowns, pass attempts, pass completions and passing yards.
    • AFC Player of the Year (1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009)
    • Named the NFL Player of the 2000's decade by Sports Illustrated and Fox Sports.
    • Currently first in all time passing yards.
    • One of only two quarterbacks to amass 70,000 passing yards

    *Shared with Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair.

    ** Named Pro Bowl MVP

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