Peyton Manning Quotes
American Football Quarterback
There are other players who were more talented, but there is no one who could out-prepare me.
I guess, to tell you the truth, I've never had much of a desire to grow facial hair. I think I've managed to play quarterback just fine without a mustache.
My closest friends are from my high school days.
I didn't play organized football until I was in the seventh grade. Up until that point, I only played at recess and in the backyard.
You hear about how many fourth quarter comebacks that a guy has and I think it means a guy screwed up in the first three quarters.
Life is not shrinking for me; it's morphing into a whole new world of possibilities.
I was talking to my good friend Kid Rock a while ago, and he told me if I'd send him a helmet, he'd send me an autographed platinum record. I thought that was a pretty sweet swap.
If nothing else in life, I want to be true to the things I believe in, and quite simply, to what I'm all about. I know I'd better, because it seems whenever I take a false step or two I feel the consequences.
I don't want to retire. I still want to play.
I understand the seriousness of concussions.
When I was drafted by the Colts, Indianapolis was a basketball and a car racing town, but it didn't take long for the Colts to convert the city and state of Indiana into football evangelists.
I get asked a lot about my legacy. For me, it's being a good teammate, having the respect of my teammates, having the respect of the coaches and players. That's important to me.
When you play for 20 years - and really, I never had to miss a game due to injury - that's not just good protection. That's good luck.
I revere football. I love the game. You don't have to wonder if I will miss it. I will absolutely miss it.
The finger lick is just a really bad habit - I do it all the time. My wife Ashley is going to kill me if I do it at dinner one more time. I look like an animal about to dig in.
It goes without saying, winning against a good team in a hostile crowd on the road, it's just an absolutely huge win.
It truly has been an honor to play in Indianapolis. I do love it here. I love the fans, and I will always enjoy having played for such a great team.
Imitation is obviously a great form of flattery.
When you take a year off from football, you come back for all the enjoyable moments. When you're not playing, you miss out on all the highs, but you also miss these disappointments. But I would rather be in the arena to be excited or be disappointed than not have a chance at all. That's football. That's why everybody plays it.
I'm the best Manning.
Don't ever think, no matter how old you are, that you don't need to be coached.
My dad told us up front, 'Guys, if you want to play sports, go ahead, but it's your decision.'
The head coach tells us what to do, and we follow his orders.
I'm retiring as a football player from the University of Tennessee who played for the Colts and the Broncos and was very lucky to have played for all of them.
Some guys leave a place after a long time, and they're bitter. Not me.
Some people have this impression of me: 'Boy, he's always so serious on the field. Football. Football. Football.'
I'll even miss the Patriots fans in Foxborough, and they should miss me, because they sure did get a lot of wins off of me.
Over my NFL career, I've had five head coaches who have helped me become better at my craft and have helped me become a better human being: Jim Mora, Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, John Fox, Gary Kubiak.
When you go through a significant injury and have a major career change, you truly do go one year at a time, and you don't look past what's going on now, because you are not sure what's going to happen. Tomorrow is not promised.
One of the things about football is, it's a relationship business.
I'd like people to understand that I do have some personality.
I am stronger than I was last year. I am throwing the ball better now in May of 2013 than I did in May of 2012 - significantly better. I got better throughout the season.
I think I could describe the perfect quarterback. Take a little piece of everybody. Take John Elway's arm, Dan Marino's release, maybe Troy Aikman's drop-back, Brett Favre's scrambling ability, Joe Montana's two-minute poise and, naturally, my speed.
Nobody really wants to hear about anybody else's injuries. Or how your back feels. Whose back doesn't hurt?
My high-school coach Tony Reginelli was kind of famous for 'Reggie-isms,' kind of like 'Yogi-isms.' He always said if you want to be a good quarterback, when sprinting left you want to be amphibious and throw left-handed. I told him, 'You mean ambidextrous, coach?'
I've been a Colt for almost all of my adult life, but I guess in life, and in sports, we all know nothing lasts forever. Times change, circumstances change, and that's the reality of playing in the NFL.
Everyone should play like Adrian Peterson. This guy does everything full speed. Pro Bowl - promoting himself for MVP.
I would love to have played in the '60s. Now that would have been fun.
You can play pickup basketball, but you can't really re-create football.
I have to leave the games now if the announcer says something I don't agree with. I'm thinking, 'Peyton, it is not healthy to be all worked up before a game.'
I've been being asked about my legacy since I was about 25 years old. I'm not sure you can have a legacy when you're 25 years old. Even 37. I'd like to have to be, like, 70 to have a legacy. I'm not even 100 percent sure what the word even means.
My advice to the next quarterback that misses an entire year is to understand there is a little difference going out on the road again. You miss that. When you're hurt, you do not feel like you are part of it.
I was truly honored to be a part of that game, to be playing the 50th Super Bowl.
Each game in the postseason has its own identity.
'Grateful' is the word that comes to my mind when thinking of the Denver Broncos.
I've learned a lot from my mistakes, stumbles, and losses in football.
I committed my life to Christ, and that faith has been most important to me ever since.
Everybody is going to be excited to play in a Super Bowl. When you still enjoy the preparation and the work part of it, I think you ought to be still doing that. I think as soon as I stop enjoying it, if I can't produce, if I can't help a team, that's when I will stop playing.
I pray every night, sometimes long prayers about a lot of things and a lot of people, but I don't talk about it or brag about it because that's between God and me, and I'm no better than anybody else in God's sight.
There's no way to measure or properly express what a family like mine can mean. Mom, Dad, Cooper, Eli, extended family, you are the best.
The one year the Lord took my greatest physical gift, he gave me the greatest gift you could have in children. So that was a real equalizer. And I would take that trade any day of the week.
Quarterbacks coach, I would do at Tennessee. Head coach? Absolutely not.
Football's been such a part of my life. It's allowed me to meet so many people and do so many things.
I think e-mail is kind of a cheap way to communicate. It's a lazy way of writing a letter, you know. I write a letter every now and then, you know, pick out somebody and drop them a line, because I always like receiving letters.
I feel like I've improved at everything I've done every single year - except golf. Golf, I've managed to stay exactly the same.
If any other part of your body has some weakness, you go, 'Well I can probably manage.' But when you're a quarterback, and it's your right hand, you're certainly concerned far as being able to do your job.
I don't believe I throw quite the same as before I was injured.
I enjoy teaching football.
I do vote. I have voted ever since I've been eligible to vote.
I've never played, on the field, any other position besides quarterback. Never been on a special team. Never been on defense.
I've put a lot of thought into being a leader.
I have been tremendously impacted and influenced by my coaches. It's nice to play for people that are going to support you.
I'm totally convinced that the end of my football career is just the beginning of something I haven't even discovered yet.
I never thought 'Sodapop Curtis' would announce my retirement. I always thought I would be the one to announce it. I'm a huge fan of the movie, but that caught me way off guard. I can't explain it.
I cherished my time playing high school sports.
The word 'embarrassing' is an insulting word, to tell you the truth.
A man's got to know his limitations.
You certainly miss a lot of things about Indianapolis. I miss a lot of friends in Indy. St. Elmo's. The Slippery Noodle. Amalfi's.
Times change, circumstances change, and that's the reality of playing in the NFL.
I'll always be a Colt. I always will be. That'll never change.
I want to thank the people of New Orleans and south Louisiana. New Orleans is my hometown, and of course they support their own team, the Saints, but they also support their own, and that city and state have backed me from the start.
You certainly know when you have an opportunity, and you want to take advantage of it. And it's certainly disappointing when you don't.
Growing up in New Orleans as Archie Manning's son, I felt like a target, and I've always known that whatever I'd do, people would hear about it. So I've had my guard up, and maybe that's molded my personality.
In my very first NFL game, I completed my first pass to Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk.
I don't believe in having a separate workout for quarterbacks. Other players hate that.
I've tried to keep myself out of bad situations, and if that means I'm a Goody Two-shoes, so be it.