It was a mostly uneventful camp for Peyton Manning, which is just the way the future Hall of Famer likes it. And now, with the hubbub of camp behind them, with the (record setting) throngs of fans out of view, without the scurrilous media broadcasting live from practice every day, Manning and his Broncos can get down to the business at hand of preparing for the season without daily distraction.
But before he could do that, Manning had one final media scrum to field questions from the collected horde, which today included Peter King of Sports Illustrated.
The day wasn’t without a little controversy, however. Earlier in the day, his former coach Tony Dungy stirred the hornets’ nest with some wild accusations about Peyton and the Patriots.
Here are the highlights of Manning’s last official group media session of 2015 training camp…
Peyton Manning: “I think a lot of guys are looking forward to getting out there and playing against a good team. You get to see somebody different (Houston) and get to play a little bit more and obviously see some of their starters probably for a little bit longer. We practiced against this team last year, so we had a good test against them last year. It’s another good test. It’s a good team to play against because you get some good work against obviously some really good players, along with some different schemes. (I am) looking forward to getting out there.”
Manning: “I think you always want to be out there and you want to play as long as you possibly can (in the preseason). Whenever they take you out, that’s what they do. You’re trying to get ready to play a four-quarter game and get ready for a regular-season game. That’s kind of your mental approach. I don’t know how long we’ll stay in there, but obviously you want to be in there and you want to try to convert some third downs. It’d be nice to finish some drives with some touchdowns and get a mix of the runs and the passes. If we can face any situation—some of the situations we work out here in practice—I think that’d be ideal to get some red zone work, to get some goal line short yardage. You never know how the game’s going to go, but it’d be nice to get some of those situations.”
Manning: “(Feeling confident about the offensive line) doesn’t affect me. Those guys have worked hard. Obviously, they’re going to gain experience throughout the course of the season. They’ll continue to improve throughout the season. They’ve improved just during this training camp with the guys they’ve been working against every day in practice. It’s a hard-working bunch. That’s all you can ask of the guy playing next to you. Is he working as hard as he possibly can to be the best player he can be? That’s what I try be as a teammate and that’s what you want your guys around you to do. Everybody in that huddle has worked hard this camp. We’ve made improvements. I think we’ll continue to improve. This will be a good test for us on Saturday.”
Manning: “I thought (Demaryius Thomas) had a really good week. He and I talked. There’s being in shape and there’s being in football shape. I know he continued to work out during his time away, but unless you’re out here practicing and doing drills and going through the course of a practice—between running routes and doing seven-on-seven and doing team drills—it’s hard to be in football shape. It’s taken him some time, but he’s really kind of turned it on this past week. He’s caught a lot of balls and [he is] finishing after the catch. To me, he looks like D.T. (I am) looking forward to getting out there with him on Saturday night.”
Manning: “There’s nothing quite like game reps (to build chemistry with center Matt Paradis). To go against somebody different on Saturday and handle a little crowd noise and handle some of the different defenses, like I said, I appreciate all those guys (and) how hard they’ve worked, trying to learn, trying to get better every day. We’re all learning. We’re all trying to get better. In many ways, we’re all in the same boat.”
Manning: “ Well, (J.J. Watt)’s one of the most active defensive players, really, that I’ve played against. You can’t just label him just as a defensive linemen. You put him in that defensive player category—kind like a Junior Seau or a Bruce Smith. In my early years you always kind of knew where those guys were. You always wanted to be sure that your running back kind of knew where they were. Don’t be afraid to maybe give a little help to that guard or tackle before you get out onto your route. I think he deserves that type of attention. They do a good job moving around and playing the tackle. They put him out there at end. He’s just active. It’s a great test for our guys up front on Saturday. I don’t think he’s a guy that you want to hold the ball for a real long time against.”
Manning: “(Regarding Dungy’s comments) I think there’s kind of a rule, when you’re still playing, I think kind of what goes on in the locker room kind of stays in the locker room. When you stop playing, you write a book and you get on commentary and it all kind of seems to be told. I’m still playing, so I don’t really talk about what goes on in the locker room. I won’t write a book, by the way, so you won’t find out what goes on in the locker room, even after I stop playing. Those are kind of some of the things that sort of stay in house.”