- [Joe] Peyton Manning rode off into the sunset,
retiring after the second Super Bowl victory of his career.
Following 18 unbelievable seasons,
it's arguably one of the most rewarding finishes
for any profession.
With a golden arm, a meticulous work ethic,
and immense intelligence,
Manning cemented himself as an NFL legend.
That can't be debated.
Although Manning had a storybook ending
solidifying his legacy as one of the greatest quarterbacks
in the history of the NFL,
the ending helped overshadow portions of a career
where that legacy wasn't crystal clear.
Moments like Peyton being described
as lacking the killer instinct to be a great champion
or being regarded as a guy with ridiculous stats
and flashy moves at the line of scrimmage
who would never win a ring.
Those aren't my words, it's the reality of the legacy
that Peyton had built throughout his career
and one that could have drastically shaped
how he's remembered in history
had things gone slightly different.
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It wasn't Peyton's fault that he was born
into an established football family like the Mannings,
but the name comes with a different set of expectations.
Peyton's dad, Archie, spent 14 years in the league,
getting destroyed on the field and hounded by fans
during a career without a winning season.
His younger brother, Eli, went on to earn
two of the more shocking Super Bowl victories
in league history.
While those represent pretty extreme outcomes
for a playing career,
Peyton was always expected to be even better.
He had inherited undeniable gifts from birth:
a high football IQ and a thick arm from his pops.
But part of why family is such a key part of Peyton's story
is that sometimes the gifts you inherit
are ones no one would ever ask for.
Peyton wasn't the family's chosen one
because he had the biggest forehead out of the bunch.
He was thrust upon the pedestal
that his older brother, Cooper, once occupied.
Unlike the rest of the Manning gang,
Cooper carved out his path as a promising wide receiver
and followed in Archie's footsteps
by attending the University of Mississippi.
During his freshman year at Ole Miss,
Cooper received a career-ending diagnosis
of spinal stenosis,
a narrowing of the spaces within the spine
that put Cooper at a higher risk of paralysis
with each hit he took.
Peyton idolized Cooper.
Up until the diagnosis,
Peyton was set to join his brother at Ole Miss.
Cooper's immediate retirement,
coupled with NCAA sanctions at Ole Miss,
ultimately made the Mannings expand past one college,
which helped Peyton land at the University of Tennessee,
a much better program that set him up
for a finer opportunity at success.
It was at Tennessee where Peyton learned to take
those natural-born gifts and sharpen his skills
under the guidance of offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe,
who Peyton credits as someone
who helped mold his entire career.
While Cooper's neck injury led Peyton
to develop a special bond with Cutcliffe,
it also pointed toward a potential problem
for the middle Manning.
Spooked by Cooper's diagnosis,
Archie had his younger sons checked for similar issues.
Peyton's results were far from pristine,
not enough to give up football entirely,
but certainly less than ideal.
But for the next two decades,
Peyton didn't miss a single start due to injury.
In that span, Peyton's durability
became an easily-overlooked attribute
as he dominated the league, winning four MVPs,
while leading the Colts
as a perennial contender year after year.
In 2010, at 34 years old,
Peyton said it was the best he'd felt in years.
He felt so good at that point
because he underwent an offseason surgery
to correct a pinched nerve
that caused him pain in previous seasons.
With a fully-healthy Peyton,
experts believed he would light up the NFL even more.
But while surgery relieved his neck pain,
it was only short-term.
In May 2011, Manning underwent his second neck surgery,
this time to repair a herniated disc.
The surgery was said to be minimally invasive
and Colts owner Jim Irsay fully believed that his star QB
wouldn't be phased by the operation.
Peyton, on the other hand,
didn't share that same sort of optimism.
That second neck surgery
fully corrected the pain in his neck,
but the procedure cost him another body part: his right arm.
The nerve had been under so much pressure
from the herniated disc that it would take a while
for his arm to get back to normal.
Except, after two weeks, Manning's arm still felt weak.
He noticed the grip strength in his hand
also appeared to be affected,
which is fine if you're a video producer like me,
but not so much if you're a professional quarterback
who now had to relearn how to throw.
That led to a disappointing discovery,
requiring Manning to get a second surgery
that I don't even blame him for trying to hide.
Imagine going from being an MVP quarterback
to watching your passes flutter weakly through the air
while playing catch with your younger brother
and hearing him tell you straight up
that you just don't have it anymore.
On top of that, a blueprint for nerve regeneration
was nonexistent, which frustrated Peyton even more.
Along with the lack of strength,
Peyton noticed he could no longer pinpoint his passes,
which, again, is a very important ability
to have control of if you planned on being a quarterback.
Manning couldn't repeat the same throwing motion
that he had for years.
At 35 years old, Peyton was at the age
where most quarterbacks were fully washed
and the setback left him in a low place.
This was a battle unlike anything he'd ever experienced,
one where he was forced to give away control
for the first time in his career.
Previously, thanks to his play on the field,
Peyton had the opportunity
to fight the narratives thrown against him.
For his first half-decade in the NFL,
while Manning shined as the league's Cinderella
during the regular season,
he turned into a pumpkin in the playoffs.
Double-digit wins led to deflating playoff losses
in which Manning posted horrific stat lines,
going winless in his first three postseason games.
Once he finally secured his first playoff victory,
Peyton gained a new reputation
as Tom Brady's postseason punching bag,
as the Colts fell to the Patriots
in back-to-back postseasons,
both of which Brady went on to win the Super Bowl.
Journalists wondered if Manning's career
would follow the same path as Dan Marino's,
ending without ever getting a sniff of the title.
Manning felt like so many experts
were trying to define his career
that he found it pointless to try and prove them wrong.
He responded to the criticism
by focusing on what was in his control:
put in the work, build upon the success,
and try again next year.
But within that,
Manning also acknowledged his clock was ticking.
During the 2006 season, Manning shut down all the noise.
The Colts steamrolled through the playoffs,
including a massive conference championship win
where Manning finally bested Brady and the Patriots.
After being handed L after L,
Manning at long last earned a trip to the Super Bowl
and took full advantage of the opportunity
by adding that heralded Lombardi Trophy to his resume,
properly silencing his doubters.
Peyton brought Indianapolis his first Super Bowl victory
and just the franchise's second,
matching what Johnny Unitas achieved
back when the helmets were soft.
Had it ended there,
Peyton undoubtedly could have gone down as a Colts legend.
With all the success and accolades he brought the franchise,
that bit was never in question.
But faced with a health crisis,
Peyton's legacy could have been tarnished
without him having a chance to change the ending.
Before Peyton accepted the RSVP
for his one-man pity party, though,
he turned to his brother Cooper,
who helped put his injury in the proper context.
At 16 years old, Peyton watched his brother
spend weeks in a wheelchair and walk with a cane
as his football dreams were stripped from him in an instant.
It's something that Peyton never took for granted
and helped him realize how fortunate he already was.
For months, he took that positive perspective
and fought to keep a good attitude,
hoping that his arm would amazingly improve
in time for training camp, but he had bigger concerns.
A few weeks before the 2011 season began,
Peyton re-herniated his disc yet again,
requiring his fourth surgery in 18 months.
Peyton received a fusion to help stabilize his neck,
which ultimately ended his season before it began.
For almost three months after the operation,
Peyton didn't touch a football
in order for his neck to properly heal.
Within that time,
Peyton surprisingly found himself at peace.
He and his wife, Ashley,
had welcomed twins earlier that year,
and caring for the newborns gave Peyton deep contentment,
as he grew more and more comfortable
with the idea of retiring.
Peyton's new focus revolved around being in good health
to spend time with his kids
and the football thing would answer itself.
There is no guaranteeing which version of Manning
would have been remembered most if he called it quits
at the end of the 2011 season,
but Manning wasn't done just yet.
By December 2011, he started to throw seriously again,
taking a slower and more deliberate approach.
For weeks, Peyton sat in front of a mirror
and practiced his throwing motion until it looked familiar.
Manning then linked up with his old pal David Cutcliffe,
who designed a program to rebuild Manning's confidence
and arm mechanics.
Still not fully convinced he would make it back,
Manning continued to work out in secrecy,
but felt the most comfortable under Cutcliffe's instruction.
Manning and Cutcliffe started from ground zero,
focusing on the smallest of details
like working on his setup,
the same movements he had practiced as a toddler.
Cutcliffe filmed Manning's passing release each day
and watched his arm strength steadily increase
until he began showing immense progress.
In February 2012, Manning got fully cleared to play,
but the weakness in his tricep still existed,
something that has doctor advised
he would have to compensate for
by getting swole everywhere else.
The results of this physical
and mental recovery couldn't be known
until Peyton stepped back on a football field.
Manning's time with the Colts ended in a much messier way
than he probably would have hoped for,
but he wasn't ready to wrap up his career just yet
and became one of the most coveted free agents
in NFL history.
While he spent months in private workouts,
Peyton finally put his progress on display,
ready to give teams a true picture of his status,
a picture that Peyton knew he had to be very clear about
since it wasn't as pretty as before.
It's wild to picture Peyton as a Niner under Jim Harbaugh
or back in Tennessee as a Titan,
but in the end Peyton chose the Broncos.
As the 2012 season neared, Peyton still had strides to make.
But when he got it rolling, it all clicked.
Manning emphatically answered the questioning
of how he would perform post-injury
by putting up record-setting numbers
and winning another MVP in 2013,
all while his right arm remained weaker than the left.
Journalists praised Peyton for doing the unthinkable
and playing possibly the best football
of his already magnificent career.
Peyton learned to rely less on his throwing strength
and focused more on tricking defenses
and dropping the ball in the right place.
Because of the adjustments,
Manning never wanted to compare himself
to the QB he was before
and focused on being the best version of his new self.
In that sense, Peyton viewed his own career in two parts.
There is the pre-injury Manning and the post-injury Manning,
but past elements of the first image of Manning
slipped into his second act.
Peyton's misery in the playoffs continued
as the Broncos fell short of their championship expectations
in Manning's first three seasons.
After Manning's unprecedented 2013 MVP season
ended with a blowout loss to the Seahawks
in Super Bowl XLVIII, it once again left room
for journalists to question his legacy.
While some experts argued the loss
wouldn't damage the greatness of his career,
others claimed it only reinforced his legacy
as an all-time great who crumbled in big moments.
One journalist wrote that his reputation couldn't be hurt
because it never existed.
How could it be, when he folded so often in the postseason?
It's an extremely harsh criticism,
but even that same journalist acknowledged
Manning's legacy couldn't be fully written
until after he retired, which we know ended with Manning
winning his second Super Bowl
and cementing his legacy as a legend.
It's remarkable how much weight Super Bowl wins hold.
Peyton could have just as easily been viewed
as a great regular-season QB,
but earning that second Lombardi Trophy in his last year
elevated him to new heights,
despite playing the worst football of his career
and being benched in favor of Brock Osweiler at times.
It didn't matter.
After a miraculous postseason run
that included another conference championship win
over his past playoff nemesis,
Peyton seemed destined to go out on top.
If Manning had finished his career after the 2011 season,
his legacy would have certainly been defined
through an entirely different prism.
But throughout a rollercoaster ride
of experiencing both the highs and lows of being criticized,
then going on to shape a completely new version of himself,
Manning's legacy is undisputed.
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