Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning

            Peyton Manning, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time, was born on March 24, 1976. Peyton started playing football at the age of three, and is still currently playing at the age of thirty-eight. Peyton was born into a football family. Peyton’s dad Archie played quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. Peyton’s brother Eli currently plays for the New York Giants. Eli has won two Super Bowls for the New York Giants. Peyton is married to Ashley Thompson and has two kids Mosley Thompson Manning and Marshall Williams Manning. Peyton attended high school at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Peyton attended the University of Tennessee and started quarterback as a freshman for the volunteers. In Peyton’s senior year at Tennessee he led them to the national championship against the number two rated Nebraska Cornhuskers and lost 42-17.

In 1998, Peyton got drafted by the Indianapolis Colts and played there for 14 seasons. In 2006, he led the Indianapolis Colts to a Super Bowl victory and the Super Bowl MVP. Peyton Manning has comeback from a near career ending injury, neck surgery. When Peyton was playing the Washington Redskins in 2010, he got sacked and thrown to the ground. He lay there motionless cringing in pain as the medical staff ran on to the field. That’s when one of the greatest comebacks in sports began.

Peyton went through the whole 2011 season without playing a single game the Colts released him on March 7, 2012. Peyton then gave a very emotional speech about how much support the Colt’s organization has given him throughout his career with the Colts. After the Colts released Peyton, they went 1-16 in the 2012 season, giving them the first draft pick for the 2013 draft. The Colts selected the star quarterback from Stanford, Andrew Luck. After his neck surgery, Peyton couldn’t even throw a football ten yards let alone play quarterback in the NFL. Peyton trained and worked during the off-season in 2012. Many said that Peyton would never come back and, even if he did he would never be the same. Then unexpectedly during June Peyton’s agent, Tom Condon, started negotiating with the Denver Broncos.

            That summer, the owner of the Denver Broncos, John Elway, was looking for a franchise quarterback. The Broncos traded Tim Tebow to the New York Jets earlier that summer and needed a quarterback desperately. Then John Elway got a call from Tom Condon Peyton Manning’s agent. The Broncos organization was very nervous about signing the recently injured 36-year-old veteran. Next, shocking the whole league, Peyton signed a five year 96 million-dollar deal with the Denver Broncos.

            Peyton Manning entered the 2012 NFL season with a team that was overall below average including the offensive line, wide receiver core, and defense. The Broncos started the season off 2-3 with Peyton playing as cold as ice. Then the Broncos went on an eleven game winning streak heading in the 2012 playoffs. The Broncos had home field advantage and a first round bye for the playoffs. Then the red-hot Baltimore Ravens came to Denver. The Ravens stunned the Broncos on a 67-yard Hail Mary to Anquan Boldin to beat the Broncos in double overtime. Peyton and the Broncos were shocked after the excruciating loss.  

            Then the Broncos got the rematch they wanted with the first game of the 2013 season against the Super Bowl champ Baltimore Ravens. Peyton Manning bounced back against the Ravens throwing seven touchdown passes, tying an NFL record which led to a dominant 49-27 victory. The Broncos ended the season with a 13-3 record heading into the playoffs with the number one seed in the AFC. The Broncos beat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the AFC championship. The Broncos were the favorite over the Seattle Seahawks in the 2014 Super Bowl. The experts were predicting this game to be one of the best Super Bowl’s of all-time. The Broncos had the number one offense and the Seahawks had the number one defense in the whole National Football League. The game was in MetLife Stadium Peyton’s brother Eli’s team the New York Giants Stadium. On the first snap of the game the ball went sailing into the back of the end zone for a safety for the Seahawks. After the bad snap, the Seahawks had all the momentum for the rest of the game, routing the Seahawks 43-8.

            Searching for revenge, Peyton returned for the 2014 season. Peyton Manning broke a NFL record; surpassing Brett Favre with 509 touchdown passes in his career. So far in the 2014 season, Peyton has led the Broncos to a 7-2 record. The only losses included the New England Patriots and the San Diego Chargers. In my opinion, Peyton Manning is one of, if not the greatest quarterbacks to play the game. He has overcome many obstacles to become the great quarterback that he is today. Peyton is very humble and has a very good work ethic. Peyton Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks on and off the field.