Denver Broncos quarterback has always been known for staying above the fray when it comes to scandal in the NFL. Even in recent weeks when emails surfaced in which Tom Brady took (slight) potshots at Manning, the future Hall of Famer dismissed the topic when speaking publicly. But on Wednesday, Manning broke his silence, finally hitting the figurative ‘Reply’ button on Brady’s emails.
Additionally, Manning spoke to the media about his ability to roll out, how much he should play in the preseason and other topics.
Here are the highlights…
Peyton Manning: Yeah, everybody’s been speculating on (how long I will play) for a long time. I guess maybe (Brady)’s joining the list of everybody trying to predict. Tom sent me an apology text that was unnecessary. The fact that his emails got revealed, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, so no harm, no foul. I didn’t think a lot of it. Somebody said I was roasted. I’ve been roasted before. That is not a roast. I won’t be on that Comedy Central roast, but I’ve been at a couple of private dinners and banquets where I didn’t know it was going to turn into a roast of me, but it did. I can promise you that email was amateur night compared to some of the things people really said about me.
Manning: Obviously, (rolling out) puts the defense in a little different position not knowing where the quarterback is going to be set up. It changes a little bit of their drops and reads, probably. Certainly, what you can do with misdirection, which we do a great job of here—Coach (Gary) Kubiak and Coach (Rick) Dennison do a great job of misdirection when you can get running backs flowing one way and the line flowing one way and you’re coming out the other. You have some room and you have receivers. It allows you to hit guys on the run. Certainly, you can have some of those short plays that are critical third-down conversions or second-and-1 conversions, but you can have some chances for some big plays, as well. It’s an opportunity to take some shots down the field, which certainly shortens drives.
Manning: I think you always like to be in there (during the preseason). You do. Certainly, when the coach tells us – I think he’ll tell us tonight, maybe tomorrow, how much we’re going to go – you accept that. I think you go through pregame warmups as if you’re going to play the whole game. You work up a lather, you get ready to go, you’re going full-speed and they say, ‘Hey, you’re out,’ then you’re out. I think that’s how you have to approach it mentally. We do have some new players. We have some new players in there, so I think as much as we can be in there together, the better off we’ll be. But I understand we have four games to get some work together. Whatever they tell us to do, that’s what we’ll do.
Manning: I’ve had a good offseason of training and kind of body maintenance, health, nutrition. I’ve done some things a little bit differently and leaned down a little bit. I do feel good moving out there. My arm feels pretty good. It’s nice when you can work hard in the offseason and it pays off where you feel pretty good. Obviously, the idea is you want to keep feeling good throughout the season.
