Life After the NFL ft. Peyton Manning

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - All right, welcome to another episode of Curious Mike.

00:00:12.160 | I'm here with Peyton Manning.

00:00:14.320 | Man, it's an honor to have you on here, bro.

00:00:16.060 | I think I told you this when we met at the arena,

00:00:19.060 | that I grew up in Indiana.

00:00:21.200 | So before basketball, I was playing football as well,

00:00:24.200 | playing quarterback.

00:00:25.040 | So, you know, you were a big part of my childhood.

00:00:27.560 | So it's an honor to have you on here, bro.

00:00:28.880 | - I appreciate it, honored to be here.

00:00:30.940 | - Man, a lot of people know you from, you know,

00:00:32.560 | being on the court.

00:00:33.400 | We actually, I saw you at our arena playing with your kids,

00:00:37.640 | you know what I mean?

00:00:38.600 | Just shooting around with them.

00:00:39.880 | So kind of update us where you are now.

00:00:41.420 | What are you doing now off the field

00:00:42.680 | and everything like that?

00:00:43.760 | - You know, kind of the second chapter for me,

00:00:46.080 | I've tried to kind of pick,

00:00:49.200 | say maybe kind of one thing to kind of focus on that year.

00:00:52.560 | And then maybe you keep doing it if you like it,

00:00:55.480 | or maybe you change it up.

00:00:57.000 | I haven't really had like this five or 10 year plan.

00:01:00.240 | You know, when you're playing like football, basketball,

00:01:03.240 | you pretty much know where you're gonna be

00:01:05.160 | every day, all year, right?

00:01:06.680 | And that's the biggest change about this next chapter.

00:01:08.880 | But I didn't want to sign up for something

00:01:11.580 | to be a broadcaster, to be a coach,

00:01:13.640 | where I knew that's what I was doing

00:01:14.920 | for the next five, 10 years.

00:01:16.760 | I've just kind of taken it one year at a time.

00:01:19.200 | Don't really have a one word job description.

00:01:21.280 | I'm the assistant offensive coordinator

00:01:23.660 | on my son's sixth grade football team.

00:01:26.480 | That's a very important role.

00:01:27.600 | I'm not qualified to be the head coach,

00:01:29.120 | so I'm just the assistant coach.

00:01:31.140 | Yeah, I do some stuff in the TV space.

00:01:32.960 | Eli and I obviously do this Monday night show.

00:01:35.960 | I do it from Denver, he does it from New Jersey.

00:01:38.740 | I feel like my kids, Ashley and the kids,

00:01:42.120 | that's my number one priority.

00:01:43.400 | But I like staying busy.

00:01:45.080 | I like staying stimulated.

00:01:46.480 | I like my kids seeing me busy, seeing me working, right?

00:01:49.640 | That's important to me.

00:01:50.840 | And still get to a lot of sporting events,

00:01:54.160 | get to the Nuggets games, get to the Broncos games.

00:01:56.180 | So I'm busy, but I'm kind of busy on my own schedule,

00:02:00.240 | which is a good thing.

00:02:01.080 | - Right.

00:02:01.900 | So a lot of athletes that I know of,

00:02:03.860 | once they retire, they kind of have sometimes

00:02:07.340 | like a identity crisis or a midlife crisis.

00:02:10.080 | Did you at all deal with that,

00:02:11.920 | or how did you work your way through that time

00:02:16.920 | going from stardom to kind of being away from the spotlight?

00:02:20.680 | Was it hard for you at all?

00:02:22.040 | - There's no doubt it's an adjustment, right?

00:02:23.700 | Just going back to that earlier point.

00:02:26.260 | Football, you have a schedule all season,

00:02:29.140 | all off season, all of a sudden that stops.

00:02:31.300 | The thing, I was fortunate,

00:02:34.700 | I got to play football for a long time,

00:02:37.180 | and I really got to kind of end it on my terms,

00:02:40.380 | which doesn't often happen, right?

00:02:43.300 | A lot of times in sports, you don't get to retire,

00:02:46.420 | you're kind of retired, right?

00:02:48.160 | Nobody calls you anymore and says,

00:02:51.180 | we want you to come play for the Broncos or the Nuggets.

00:02:53.900 | So I was grateful for the time that I got to play.

00:02:57.440 | And so, look, you're always going to miss your teammates.

00:03:01.160 | And around playoff time, Super Bowl time,

00:03:04.920 | you always miss it a little bit.

00:03:06.320 | Then I heard Derrick Jeter say one time

00:03:08.320 | after he retired, great shortstop for the Yankees,

00:03:10.920 | he said, if I could parachute

00:03:13.240 | into the World Series every year, sure.

00:03:15.800 | I'd probably like to do that.

00:03:17.080 | - But it's the grind.

00:03:17.920 | - He didn't miss spring training, he didn't miss all that.

00:03:20.280 | And so I don't miss it either

00:03:22.200 | because I got to do it for a long time,

00:03:23.800 | but stay in touch with my teammates on a text thread.

00:03:27.080 | You certainly miss seeing them every day.

00:03:28.520 | You miss the locker room, you miss the plane rides.

00:03:31.360 | So I was just grateful for the time that I had.

00:03:33.640 | So I guess in the second chapter,

00:03:35.120 | I didn't really look for that.

00:03:37.520 | I didn't miss being on the field

00:03:40.600 | because I was grateful for the time that I got to do it.

00:03:43.380 | Our kids had just maybe turned five years old at the time,

00:03:46.380 | so they're getting into school.

00:03:47.800 | That was a nice kind of timing

00:03:49.940 | to kind of be able to sort of dive into their lives

00:03:53.040 | and everything.

00:03:54.360 | And so it's been a pretty good transition

00:03:57.600 | and I still go to a ton of games.

00:04:00.240 | I went to four University of Tennessee games last year,

00:04:03.480 | all the Broncos home games,

00:04:06.240 | went to a couple of Colts games.

00:04:07.960 | So I still find myself kind of hanging around football.

00:04:11.040 | - How long do you think you could have played?

00:04:12.680 | Like if it was, like you said,

00:04:15.480 | if you could parachute into the finals right now, you would,

00:04:18.440 | but how many more seasons do you think you could have played?

00:04:20.760 | - I don't know.

00:04:21.600 | I think everybody could probably always

00:04:23.960 | have played one more.

00:04:25.580 | How well are you going to play is probably a fair question.

00:04:30.580 | So I never really looked at it that way.

00:04:34.420 | Like I said, I got to play 14 years in Indianapolis,

00:04:38.080 | four great years here in Denver, still live here.

00:04:41.160 | - Wait, it was that many years in Indy?

00:04:42.880 | - 14 in Indy, yeah.

00:04:44.000 | Does that make sense?

00:04:44.840 | - I did not realize that.

00:04:45.880 | - So how old were you when I was playing for the Colts?

00:04:49.040 | - So yeah, like I said, I was born in Indy

00:04:52.560 | and a lot of people think that I was born in Missouri,

00:04:54.320 | but I really was born in Indy

00:04:55.380 | and I was there till fifth grade.

00:04:57.160 | - What years were you?

00:04:58.740 | - What do you think?

00:05:01.040 | How many, what do you think that was?

00:05:03.000 | 2010. - Okay.

00:05:03.960 | - Okay, so like my whole childhood was Indy.

00:05:06.480 | I remember they built the Lucas Oil Stadium.

00:05:08.480 | - There you go.

00:05:09.320 | - I remember all that.

00:05:10.140 | - There you go, I like it.

00:05:10.980 | - I remember Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne.

00:05:12.480 | And honestly, like I was a big football fan growing up.

00:05:15.760 | You know, I paid attention to all y'all's games

00:05:18.800 | when we moved to Missouri,

00:05:20.500 | 'cause we were in Columbia, Missouri.

00:05:22.040 | So the Rams were over here,

00:05:23.640 | then you got the Chiefs over here.

00:05:25.080 | I really didn't pick up on any teams,

00:05:26.800 | so kinda like my love for football kinda like went away.

00:05:29.200 | - Oh, it did, okay.

00:05:30.400 | - It went away.

00:05:31.240 | Like I paid attention to the Colts a little bit,

00:05:33.100 | but like I wasn't in the city, so it didn't--

00:05:35.680 | - Yeah, when there's not a team in your town.

00:05:36.840 | - Yeah, so it was hard, but--

00:05:38.840 | - Yeah, so no, it was, like I said,

00:05:40.760 | I was grateful for the time that I got to play

00:05:43.520 | two different places.

00:05:44.600 | And I just felt like after we just won the Super Bowl,

00:05:48.480 | it just felt like it was the right time to stop playing.

00:05:51.920 | I dealt with some injuries.

00:05:53.420 | Possibly might've had to go find another team to play for.

00:05:58.660 | The Broncos had some quarterback personnel decisions to make

00:06:02.240 | and didn't really wanna go through

00:06:03.480 | that process again necessarily.

00:06:05.440 | So it just felt like the right time,

00:06:07.420 | and I've been at peace with it ever since.

00:06:10.160 | - I did not realize it was 18 years that you played.

00:06:13.280 | How do you feel like your purpose kinda shifted?

00:06:15.280 | Like, I feel like even me now in the NBA

00:06:19.080 | kinda like so much of your focus goes to your sport.

00:06:22.720 | For you, football, for me, basketball.

00:06:24.320 | How do you feel like your purpose

00:06:25.640 | and just life in general changed

00:06:27.240 | from when you were playing to now, what you're doing now?

00:06:30.040 | - Yeah, I mean obviously, being a good dad

00:06:33.560 | is kinda my number one priority.

00:06:37.880 | Being a part of our kids' lives is important for Ashley.

00:06:43.840 | And my parents, my dad specifically,

00:06:47.560 | after he retired from football,

00:06:50.080 | he was present in our lives, right?

00:06:51.920 | He was at our little league basketball games

00:06:54.420 | and baseball games and never coached us per se,

00:06:57.680 | but he'd come and throw passes with us on the weekends.

00:07:00.840 | And so that was important to me.

00:07:02.040 | So that's kinda been my number one priority.

00:07:05.000 | I mean, I'll be at a baseball game this weekend,

00:07:07.800 | I'll be at a volleyball game this weekend, right?

00:07:09.680 | And so I didn't wanna sign up for anything

00:07:11.840 | that was gonna take me away from that.

00:07:14.920 | For the majority of my football time,

00:07:18.000 | our kids either weren't born or were quite young.

00:07:20.480 | So I didn't have that potential decision to make,

00:07:24.280 | hey, am I gonna go to their youth football game

00:07:27.160 | or am I gonna go study some film?

00:07:28.720 | And so it was nice not to have to choose, right?

00:07:31.640 | I wanted to be a great dad,

00:07:33.800 | I wanted to be a great football player at the same time.

00:07:35.520 | And so we sort of waited for that reason.

00:07:39.840 | - Look, I enjoy being an ambassador for the game.

00:07:42.400 | I enjoy being a resource to young quarterbacks.

00:07:44.840 | I saw just this past weekend,

00:07:47.520 | Josh Allen and Justin Herbert,

00:07:49.720 | and I have their phone numbers.

00:07:51.440 | And I mean, anytime they wanna reach out to me

00:07:54.080 | with a question, those guys kinda have it figured out.

00:07:56.800 | They don't need a lot of my help,

00:07:58.000 | but I like being able to pay it forward

00:08:01.160 | because a lot of people helped me when I was a young player.

00:08:04.320 | And of course my dad had played,

00:08:05.680 | but guys like Troy Aikman, Dan Marino,

00:08:08.000 | they gave me some tips and pointers

00:08:09.920 | when I was a young player.

00:08:10.960 | So I feel like that's a kind of a cool hat to wear,

00:08:15.080 | a little bit of a purpose there.

00:08:16.200 | Do you feel like you're still a part of the game,

00:08:18.320 | not on the field, but you're still helping to grow the game

00:08:20.920 | and helping young football players?

00:08:23.040 | - 100%, so how did you meet your wife?

00:08:26.200 | You said her name's Ashley?

00:08:27.240 | - Yeah, we met in college, yeah.

00:08:28.800 | - How'd you know she was the one?

00:08:30.080 | - So, you know, we met at, she didn't go to Tennessee.

00:08:35.640 | She went to the University of Virginia,

00:08:37.040 | and we met there when I was a freshman

00:08:39.640 | and kind of agreed to have a kind of a date

00:08:41.680 | later in the year, and just kind of went from there.

00:08:44.280 | You know, dated all through college.

00:08:46.000 | - Honestly, I say that all the time.

00:08:47.280 | Like it's ideal to meet the girl earlier on.

00:08:50.880 | Like you met her in college, you said, before everything.

00:08:53.400 | - Right, yeah.

00:08:54.240 | - That's the problem nowadays is like you make it,

00:08:57.120 | and then it's hard to figure out and navigate that.

00:08:59.920 | - I get that, yeah.

00:09:00.920 | No, there's no doubt everything's changed a lot.

00:09:03.840 | You know, look, I grew up college football

00:09:06.800 | the majority of my first years in the NFL

00:09:08.520 | before social media, you know,

00:09:10.360 | so you didn't have all the different opinions, right,

00:09:15.040 | and comments, and look, it can affect players, right?

00:09:19.120 | They read comments, and it affects, you know,

00:09:21.640 | kind of how they feel sometimes about their playing time

00:09:24.640 | or the coaches or whatnot, so it was a nice way to play,

00:09:28.160 | you know, for the majority of my career,

00:09:29.880 | kind of without that, because it certainly can be

00:09:32.640 | a challenge if you don't handle--

00:09:34.160 | - The social media?

00:09:35.000 | - If you don't handle it well.

00:09:35.820 | - How do you think, yeah, like, do you feel like

00:09:38.200 | if social media was a big thing back then,

00:09:39.960 | that would have affected you at all on the field,

00:09:42.300 | like the different comments, pressures,

00:09:44.080 | or did you somehow kind of like--

00:09:46.680 | - Yeah, no, I mean, look, you know,

00:09:50.320 | playing in Indianapolis, you know, you grew up there,

00:09:53.040 | look, it's not the biggest market,

00:09:54.480 | but the media is into it, right?

00:09:56.720 | The fans are into it, but then like my brother Eli

00:09:58.980 | goes to play in New York, and that's like, you know,

00:10:01.400 | times 25, and so Eli was the one that kind of helped me

00:10:04.120 | with that, and he kind of, he said, look, Peyton,

00:10:07.620 | like I used to read the paper after we won, right?

00:10:10.520 | You know, everybody likes to read, you know--

00:10:12.280 | - 100%, look up their name on Twitter--

00:10:13.960 | - They're saying good things about you, right?

00:10:15.680 | But then when, if it didn't go well, you know,

00:10:18.200 | I wouldn't read it, and Eli's like,

00:10:19.880 | what I've learned here in New York is like,

00:10:22.480 | like you don't read it at all, you know,

00:10:24.200 | you don't read the good, you don't read the bad,

00:10:26.480 | and you just stay even keeled, right?

00:10:28.360 | And it just keeps you from going on this roller coaster,

00:10:31.320 | right, of, you know, emotional, you know,

00:10:35.600 | mood swings and frustrations or whatnot, right?

00:10:38.280 | Ultimately, as a player, I think the ultimate question is,

00:10:41.720 | are you doing the job that you're supposed to do

00:10:44.160 | for your coach, right?

00:10:45.840 | I mean, really, anybody else's opinion outside of that

00:10:49.360 | really shouldn't factor in to how you're feeling.

00:10:52.040 | I always felt like I was my own biggest critic, right?

00:10:54.840 | If a reporter, you know, criticized me for my play,

00:10:59.680 | it probably wasn't gonna be as rough

00:11:02.040 | as I was already on myself.

00:11:04.120 | So I didn't feel like that affected me too much,

00:11:06.560 | but I think that there's something about

00:11:08.440 | trying to stay even keeled,

00:11:09.680 | kind of block out the outside noise,

00:11:11.560 | especially as you get into big games and playoff games,

00:11:14.440 | hey, let me just focus in on what I need to do,

00:11:16.680 | and especially what I need to do for my team.

00:11:19.560 | - 100%.

00:11:20.520 | How was it growing up with your brothers, Eli,

00:11:22.760 | and then you had an older brother, too, who--

00:11:23.880 | - Yeah, Cooper, yeah.

00:11:25.080 | - Yeah, how was it growing up with them,

00:11:26.440 | and how good would your older brother have been

00:11:29.200 | if he didn't have the injuries he had?

00:11:30.800 | - Cooper was an outstanding athlete with the Ole Miss.

00:11:34.440 | As a wide receiver on scholarship,

00:11:36.960 | we played together in high school one year.

00:11:39.080 | That was a lot of fun.

00:11:40.160 | You grew up playing in the backyard with your brother,

00:11:43.800 | drawing plays in the dirt.

00:11:45.000 | Now you get to play on a real football field with him.

00:11:48.720 | So I had a neck injury there when he was in two-a-days

00:11:53.720 | at Ole Miss, his freshman year.

00:11:55.160 | Had to give up his career.

00:11:56.160 | That was tough.

00:11:57.440 | He handled it extremely well.

00:11:58.880 | It had a big impact on me.

00:12:00.760 | Life when I went through my injuries,

00:12:02.280 | just Cooper handled it with grace.

00:12:04.280 | He had a good attitude about it.

00:12:06.600 | - He's a doctor now, right?

00:12:07.560 | - So, no, I am not gonna tell him

00:12:09.880 | that you actually thought he was a doctor,

00:12:11.600 | 'cause he probably thinks he could do that as well.

00:12:14.360 | No, Cooper's doing very good.

00:12:15.320 | He's got a great family.

00:12:16.160 | Been very successful in business,

00:12:18.360 | and he just, he handled it, right?

00:12:20.920 | So it was a fun way to grow up, having two brothers.

00:12:23.600 | You got an older brother to kinda look up to

00:12:27.640 | and kinda help me out, and then Eli was five years

00:12:29.880 | younger than me, so it was a fun way to grow up.

00:12:32.800 | - Did you guys have any, I have four brothers,

00:12:35.040 | four younger brothers.

00:12:36.120 | Did you guys have any fights growing up?

00:12:37.520 | - Yeah, I mean, Eli was probably too young

00:12:39.760 | to kinda be able to play one-on-one basketball

00:12:43.040 | growing up as kids.

00:12:43.880 | Cooper and I certainly went at it a little more,

00:12:46.080 | but we always try to get along kind of in the end

00:12:49.360 | and kinda have each other's backs,

00:12:50.680 | which I think's a good thing to do with your siblings.

00:12:52.760 | - Yeah, 100%.

00:12:54.200 | Man, so one thing that I've always admired about you

00:12:56.520 | is just your leadership qualities.

00:13:00.960 | You can see it on the floor, you hear about it,

00:13:03.720 | it's something that's always, when you talk

00:13:05.600 | about Peyton Manning, it's his leadership.

00:13:08.120 | What are the leadership qualities you feel like

00:13:09.960 | you kinda possessed, and how did you kinda get

00:13:12.100 | to the point where you could execute those?

00:13:15.700 | - Yeah, I mean, I think being a leader,

00:13:17.920 | look, just because you're the point guard

00:13:20.760 | or the quarterback doesn't automatically

00:13:23.600 | make you the leader, right?

00:13:25.040 | I think you gotta earn kinda being a leader.

00:13:27.200 | And so I kinda learned the hard way in college.

00:13:31.000 | First time I got in the huddle, I kinda went in

00:13:34.200 | with this rah-rah speech, and a bunch of seniors

00:13:36.620 | are just like, "Hey, don't talk, just call the play.

00:13:40.120 | "It's all we're gonna do."

00:13:40.960 | And so you kinda learn that.

00:13:42.640 | It was a pretty good lesson that you wanna earn,

00:13:44.320 | I think, the respect of the people

00:13:46.200 | that you're trying to lead, right,

00:13:48.280 | before you start barking orders and telling 'em what to do.

00:13:51.660 | I think the other thing I do, at least I thought

00:13:54.640 | I tried to do a good job of, is I was tough on myself.

00:13:58.560 | I was vocal about that, right?

00:14:00.280 | If I missed a throw, I would kinda say it out loud,

00:14:03.560 | like, "Hey, that's a bad throw, that's a horrible decision.

00:14:07.160 | "No excuse."

00:14:08.000 | And so I think when my teammates heard

00:14:09.840 | that I was tough on myself, that if I was told them,

00:14:13.280 | "Hey, look, this route needs to be 16 yards, right?

00:14:16.340 | "You're going 14, it needs to be,"

00:14:18.920 | that it was all fair, right?

00:14:20.360 | I wasn't picking on anybody, 'cause I was hard on myself,

00:14:23.480 | and I just believed in getting the little things right,

00:14:26.480 | that the little details mattered in a football game,

00:14:29.120 | that 14 yards was different than 16 yards.

00:14:32.200 | It might be the difference in the incompletion

00:14:33.800 | or an interception.

00:14:34.860 | So I felt like I put the work in.

00:14:38.320 | I wasn't gonna ask anybody to do anything

00:14:40.720 | that I wasn't already doing myself.

00:14:43.160 | And so, and I felt like I admitted

00:14:47.000 | when I made a mistake, threw an interception.

00:14:50.040 | I thought, I tried to be accountable.

00:14:51.580 | So I think those are some of the best things

00:14:53.960 | a leader can do is letting everybody know,

00:14:55.600 | "Hey, I'm riding this thing with you."

00:14:57.640 | - Right, accountability.

00:14:58.480 | - Yeah, absolutely.

00:14:59.760 | - There's a picture of you with your foot,

00:15:02.760 | like you've been in a hot tub or a cold tub,

00:15:04.400 | you got your helmet on, you're watching something.

00:15:06.960 | Talk about that, because I mean,

00:15:09.240 | obviously you're a detailed person.

00:15:11.380 | I think you were injured at that time.

00:15:12.480 | - Right, yeah.

00:15:13.320 | - And I wanna know the backstory on that picture.

00:15:15.200 | - Yeah, I guess it's the all-time multi-tasker.

00:15:17.880 | You know, when you're hurt, it's tough,

00:15:19.760 | 'cause a lot of times the best time to rehab

00:15:22.300 | is like during practice, right?

00:15:24.380 | You know, you have kind of one-on-one time

00:15:27.020 | in the athletic training room.

00:15:29.300 | And so, the team was out practicing,

00:15:33.340 | and the quarterbacks have an earpiece in their helmets

00:15:37.180 | where the coach calls the play into the helmet.

00:15:40.780 | And so, I wanted to be at practice,

00:15:43.180 | but I had to do some, yeah, I had kind of foot problems.

00:15:46.180 | I was doing cold and ice tub on my foot,

00:15:49.060 | so I had my helmet on,

00:15:50.700 | where I could still hear the plays being called.

00:15:53.340 | I could kind of visualize the play,

00:15:55.660 | and I had my iPad where I was studying

00:15:58.140 | some film of the team.

00:15:59.940 | So, yeah, multi-tasking, and camera caught me.

00:16:04.700 | - When I think of intentionality and focus,

00:16:08.700 | and in the basketball space, you think of Kobe.

00:16:12.340 | You know, you think of just his intentional detail,

00:16:16.060 | and then in football, I think of you.

00:16:18.060 | Was that, besides that level of intentionality,

00:16:21.020 | what else do you think separated you

00:16:22.860 | kind of from the rest of, you know, quarterbacks,

00:16:25.260 | but just players in general?

00:16:26.260 | Like, what was the main things that set you apart?

00:16:29.180 | - Yeah, you know, it's kind of always been,

00:16:30.580 | I feel like that's kind of hard for me to answer.

00:16:32.300 | You know, I always felt like sometimes when a teammate

00:16:35.780 | that played with you also went and played for other teams,

00:16:39.500 | you know, they could give a comparison, right?

00:16:41.940 | So, I never knew if I was doing anything different,

00:16:46.980 | you know, than anybody else.

00:16:49.460 | Look, I took, I had great respect and appreciation

00:16:52.380 | for the cerebral part of the game.

00:16:54.740 | You know, I wasn't gonna outrun anybody

00:16:57.340 | or throw it, you know, 80 yards down the field,

00:16:59.460 | so I felt like I had to out-prepare 'em,

00:17:01.500 | and I felt like the film study,

00:17:03.940 | the communication with my receivers,

00:17:06.820 | being a, just having the master knowledge of the playbook,

00:17:11.180 | that really helped me, right?

00:17:12.820 | So, when I got out there on Sundays,

00:17:15.100 | or Saturdays in college, or Friday nights in high school,

00:17:18.300 | I felt like I'd kind of out-prepared the opponent,

00:17:20.980 | whether I had or I hadn't, I kind of told myself

00:17:23.060 | that, hey, nobody has worked harder for me

00:17:25.220 | to get ready for this game.

00:17:26.940 | That just gave me a little more confidence

00:17:28.900 | out there on Sundays.

00:17:30.260 | And look, the game of football moves so fast,

00:17:33.140 | so I don't care how fast you are, how strong your arm is,

00:17:36.420 | if you don't understand everything about what you're doing

00:17:39.820 | as an offense, and also understand

00:17:41.300 | what the defense is doing, it moves even faster.

00:17:44.620 | So, that's kind of where I felt like I could get an edge

00:17:47.900 | on the competition.

00:17:48.980 | Yeah, just the mental side of it.

00:17:51.020 | I felt like I played, you mentioned those guys,

00:17:54.700 | Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne,

00:17:56.100 | like I played with a lot of the same guys

00:17:58.340 | for a number of years, right?

00:17:59.660 | So we had good continuity, we weren't startin' over.

00:18:03.500 | I played in the same offensive system,

00:18:06.780 | pretty much the same every single year.

00:18:10.820 | Denver had changed here a little bit,

00:18:12.340 | but Tom Brady played in the same system

00:18:15.180 | in New England all those years.

00:18:16.380 | I mean, when you're having to change plays

00:18:19.020 | for a quarterback every single year,

00:18:20.620 | that's hard, that's tough.

00:18:21.980 | And so, I was fortunate, I had a great support system,

00:18:24.740 | great coaches to help me, and players,

00:18:27.180 | we played together for a while.

00:18:28.380 | So I think all those things kinda helped.

00:18:30.900 | - So routine-wise, specifically,

00:18:33.780 | obviously you've got your game day routine,

00:18:35.380 | we have our game day routines.

00:18:37.260 | I feel like the off days sometimes are the days

00:18:39.460 | where you can gain that extra ground.

00:18:41.740 | What would that specifically look like?

00:18:43.180 | Like how much film and how much of that mental work,

00:18:46.300 | I don't know if it was meditation, film work,

00:18:48.100 | or whatever it was, were you actually doing?

00:18:50.260 | - Yeah, it's been seven years now,

00:18:53.220 | so you're making me go back to,

00:18:56.020 | I probably don't have the exact itinerary

00:18:58.540 | of what I used to do on Tuesdays,

00:19:00.660 | but there's no doubt that I was trying to use Tuesdays,

00:19:03.500 | which is the universal off day in the NFL,

00:19:06.220 | to try to get ahead, right?

00:19:08.580 | And so I was a big believer in watching

00:19:12.780 | kind of the game film opponents,

00:19:17.180 | like their past four games,

00:19:18.620 | I was gonna watch those four games

00:19:19.980 | and get a good feel for kinda who that team was

00:19:22.860 | and what their identity was on defense.

00:19:25.540 | And then with the coaches, you watch kinda different film.

00:19:30.340 | I watched a lot of film myself, right?

00:19:34.140 | I mean, I watched practice hard, watched the game hard,

00:19:37.420 | watched, we filmed all the individual drills, right?

00:19:39.620 | I think sometimes you get caught up into,

00:19:42.020 | hey, let's try to figure out these great plays to run,

00:19:44.460 | that we're getting ready to play this team,

00:19:45.620 | and all of a sudden, your mechanics are off,

00:19:48.140 | you're not finishing your throw,

00:19:50.060 | you're not finishing your shot,

00:19:51.940 | and so it doesn't matter if the play is great

00:19:54.700 | if you're not doing your deal.

00:19:55.780 | So I'm studying a lot of that.

00:19:57.900 | I think, and you get into that routine,

00:20:00.460 | I mean, I think your question is great.

00:20:02.340 | I think it's important to have a routine, right?

00:20:05.220 | And to kinda write down what that routine is

00:20:07.580 | and not just sort of wing it every single day.

00:20:11.420 | - Honestly, like for the majority of my life,

00:20:13.500 | that's kinda how I've lived,

00:20:15.140 | like kinda just like free flow throughout the day,

00:20:17.460 | and then I've recently understood the importance

00:20:19.560 | of just intentionality.

00:20:21.980 | Like you said, writing down the routine,

00:20:24.300 | waking up at this time, what are you doing at this time?

00:20:26.740 | And you still are a very intentional person.

00:20:29.180 | Like I'll hit you, I'll text you, like when can we talk?

00:20:31.740 | You'll be like, next Sunday at 11 a.m.,

00:20:34.340 | like I'll be like--

00:20:35.540 | - 11.03 to be specific, yeah.

00:20:37.780 | - Do you still live with that same intentionality?

00:20:40.780 | And why is that?

00:20:41.620 | - Yeah, that drives my family crazy, just so you know.

00:20:44.260 | So I probably could do a little better on that,

00:20:46.260 | of being a little more free flowing in this second chapter.

00:20:49.820 | But I think it's just like playing football those years,

00:20:54.100 | I mean, that's how you just kinda get wired,

00:20:55.820 | that you, like an eight o'clock meeting

00:20:58.060 | means it's gonna be an eight o'clock meeting, right?

00:21:00.100 | I mean, football, you do not wanna walk into a meeting

00:21:03.500 | at 8.02, 'cause that's late, and everybody's in there.

00:21:06.700 | So you kinda learn that, so you kinda get on time,

00:21:09.860 | and you get a schedule.

00:21:10.900 | So I feel like it serves you well for the most part.

00:21:15.100 | Like I said, it can probably annoy your family,

00:21:19.500 | and annoy your friends on a golf trip,

00:21:21.820 | when, I said specifically we're gonna have breakfast

00:21:24.580 | at 7.07, right?

00:21:26.420 | That's probably a little much, but look,

00:21:29.220 | I think just trying to be, goes back to that routine,

00:21:34.220 | I think it helps when you kinda have a plan.

00:21:36.860 | - I agree.

00:21:37.860 | I'm super curious about your second Super Bowl with Denver.

00:21:41.660 | That was after your injuries, correct?

00:21:44.060 | - Correct.

00:21:45.540 | - And obviously I've had my own injuries,

00:21:47.020 | so I look at that, and I'm like,

00:21:48.460 | he made it all the way back to Super Bowl status.

00:21:52.020 | Post injuries, was there a lot of limitations in your arm,

00:21:55.660 | and how did you kinda work through that?

00:21:57.100 | You said Eli, Cooper, you said helped you.

00:21:59.400 | - Yeah, well, just the fact that,

00:22:02.820 | I think when you go through an injury,

00:22:03.860 | go through a tough time,

00:22:04.700 | I think having a good attitude is important.

00:22:07.580 | And that's easier said than done, right?

00:22:09.300 | I mean, you're not gonna be super happy

00:22:11.500 | that you're hurt, and you're not playing,

00:22:12.940 | but there's a reason it happened,

00:22:15.220 | and it's kind of a test, you know?

00:22:19.100 | Are you gonna handle that test?

00:22:20.540 | Are you gonna pass that test?

00:22:22.040 | So I try to have an upbeat attitude.

00:22:26.780 | I think that probably helped

00:22:28.220 | in kinda getting over those injuries,

00:22:30.100 | and kinda healing a little bit,

00:22:31.460 | that I was, you know, I had a lot of people help me,

00:22:33.660 | teammates supporting me, that made a difference.

00:22:36.060 | But I think you just learn that you can't,

00:22:38.860 | you know, maybe do certain things that you used to do,

00:22:40.900 | but you can adjust and still figure out how to do it,

00:22:44.740 | I think is kinda the key.

00:22:46.140 | So, you know, I was fortunate to come here and play,

00:22:51.020 | and like I said, have four years,

00:22:53.220 | and still continue to deal with some other injuries.

00:22:56.020 | You know, when I got here,

00:22:56.980 | and had great teammates and coaches,

00:22:59.020 | but, you know, I think being,

00:23:01.420 | learning to adapt to post-injuries is important.

00:23:05.300 | - 100%.

00:23:06.300 | You say you feel like there was a reason for it,

00:23:09.060 | and I feel like a lot of people,

00:23:11.140 | when things happen to them, they can't figure it out.

00:23:12.760 | They don't even just,

00:23:14.260 | they don't have that faith that there was a reason.

00:23:16.020 | Do you have like a faith, just like in that aspect?

00:23:20.780 | Do you, you know?

00:23:21.620 | - Sure, no, certainly not.

00:23:22.620 | I think it's a great test of your faith,

00:23:25.340 | and I felt like when I went through my injuries,

00:23:27.900 | look, I was frustrated, I was disappointed,

00:23:29.660 | but I felt like it was a good Lord's plan that,

00:23:31.420 | hey, you know, you're next gonna have some problems,

00:23:35.420 | and you're not gonna play this year.

00:23:36.700 | And so, it's a test, it's a test of your faith, you know,

00:23:40.020 | and to see if you can kinda trust that it's His plan,

00:23:43.700 | and kinda a little bit outta your hands.

00:23:46.100 | So, I definitely think that's a part of it,

00:23:48.460 | and look, you know, overcoming adversity,

00:23:52.020 | overcoming tough times,

00:23:53.700 | if you play sports long enough, you know,

00:23:56.160 | that's gonna happen, and you better learn to do it.

00:24:00.260 | And I think having people around you

00:24:01.580 | to help you overcome it, you know, is also important.

00:24:04.500 | But I think, you know, praying about it,

00:24:06.900 | and kinda trusting in the man upstairs,

00:24:10.860 | His plan is probably the best way to overcome it.

00:24:14.180 | - Have you always had that faith in God?

00:24:15.540 | Like, what are you, Christian?

00:24:17.380 | Christian, you've always had that?

00:24:18.500 | - Yeah, yeah. - Sure.

00:24:20.100 | - So, man, my last question for you is,

00:24:23.820 | like I said, like you're an idol of mine,

00:24:25.980 | Kobe, some of these great, Michael Jordan,

00:24:29.020 | what is your way of defining greatness?

00:24:30.900 | How would you define it?

00:24:31.900 | 'Cause everyone doesn't have the physical capabilities

00:24:35.420 | to be the best.

00:24:36.500 | - Yeah. - How would you define it?

00:24:38.100 | - I don't know, I, you know,

00:24:39.600 | probably never really thought about that as much,

00:24:44.100 | and, you know, I think you just,

00:24:46.900 | I always tried to be, you know, football,

00:24:48.780 | I always liked team sports, right?

00:24:50.620 | I played basketball, I played golf with my buddies,

00:24:54.020 | but never, you know, competed in golf,

00:24:55.980 | but I always thought, like you kinda had an obligation,

00:24:59.940 | if you signed up for the team,

00:25:01.380 | to do everything you could to help the team

00:25:05.220 | and be your best for the team, right?

00:25:08.060 | And I think that's what always just kinda drove me,

00:25:11.220 | that I knew people were counting on me, right?

00:25:13.180 | I mean, in football, that's your teammates,

00:25:15.420 | that's your coaches, look, that's the support staff,

00:25:19.100 | you know, the equipment managers, the video directors,

00:25:21.380 | you know, when, if you don't play well

00:25:23.820 | and they fire the coach, a lot of times they fire,

00:25:26.700 | you know, a lot of people along with that, right?

00:25:29.460 | So, yeah, I'm not saying people's jobs were counting on me,

00:25:33.060 | but I think, you know, people were counting on me,

00:25:35.700 | fans, right, they're invested into the team, you know,

00:25:39.300 | and the owner who drafted you, I mean, you wanna,

00:25:42.540 | I mean, you wanna, the draft's coming up in the NFL,

00:25:46.140 | and I remember when the coach drafted me,

00:25:49.340 | I wanted to give our owner, you know,

00:25:52.060 | I wanted to make him proud of his decision to draft me,

00:25:54.620 | right, it's a, when they draft you,

00:25:56.980 | it's not really a reward, it's kind of a,

00:26:00.060 | hey, we're gonna bring you to the team,

00:26:02.660 | we expect you to do some things for us, right?

00:26:06.100 | And I think that's a good mentality,

00:26:08.020 | and so, I guess that's what I thought about,

00:26:11.620 | so I never used the word greatness

00:26:15.060 | in describing myself or was necessarily thinking about that,

00:26:19.020 | I was just thinking about,

00:26:20.620 | I wanted to do my part, right, you know, for the team,

00:26:24.020 | and I think that's why I worked really hard

00:26:26.740 | to try to do that, and whatever came along with that,

00:26:29.820 | you know, it wasn't all perfect,

00:26:32.220 | we had certainly disappointing losses

00:26:34.900 | and, you know, heartbreaking moments,

00:26:36.300 | but I think you're, you kind of learn how to handle that,

00:26:39.460 | and maybe you come out of it stronger on the other side.

00:26:43.380 | - Well, man, I appreciate you, bro, like I said,

00:26:46.220 | it means a lot that you would even make the time

00:26:47.700 | to come over here and do this with me,

00:26:50.100 | yeah, I appreciate you getting on the podcast, my man.

00:26:52.020 | - Hey, you bet, thanks for having me,

00:26:53.580 | good luck in the playoffs. - Appreciate you, appreciate you.

00:26:55.580 | That's a wrap.

00:26:56.420 | ♪ The names of P.J. ♪

00:26:59.940 | - Go watch three plays

00:27:01.820 | and get Peyton Manning's perspective on these plays.

00:27:04.980 | - If I remember, yeah, that's a--

00:27:07.260 | - It's a minute, it's definitely a minute ago.

00:27:09.660 | All right, let's go.

00:27:10.900 | - I do remember that play,

00:27:12.780 | that was the first play of the game.

00:27:14.300 | I was down in New Orleans, we lost that game.

00:27:16.660 | We got Marcus Pollard, who was a good teammate of mine,

00:27:19.700 | good buddy of mine, but, you know,

00:27:22.380 | you don't throw many touchdowns

00:27:23.620 | on the first play of the game.

00:27:24.540 | Usually, you call it a play to try to get a completion,

00:27:26.660 | right, and just kind of had the perfect play

00:27:29.140 | at the perfect time, called, and he took it for 80 yards, so.

00:27:33.300 | - 80 yards, first play of the game.

00:27:34.660 | - Yeah, exactly.

00:27:35.660 | This was against Baltimore.

00:27:38.460 | This is an interesting scenario,

00:27:39.740 | that Baltimore had won the Super Bowl the year before,

00:27:42.860 | and they didn't get to open up at home

00:27:44.900 | because of like a scheduling conflict

00:27:46.780 | with their baseball team in town.

00:27:48.540 | So they had to come--

00:27:49.460 | - Yeah, I was smacking them.

00:27:50.700 | - They had to open their, defend their title here in Denver,

00:27:54.180 | and so, which probably wasn't fair,

00:27:56.860 | but yeah, that was just a go-route to Demarius Thomas,

00:28:00.540 | who, God rest his soul, we lost last year.

00:28:04.300 | He was my good buddy, and that wasn't,

00:28:09.020 | that's more on him than me, Mike.

00:28:10.540 | That's just throwing it up to him and letting him,

00:28:12.780 | letting him do his thing.

00:28:13.620 | - Was he tall?

00:28:14.460 | Was he tall? - Yeah, he was a big guy,

00:28:15.280 | for sure.

00:28:16.120 | - We're all the way at 49.

00:28:19.060 | We need to go to the top.

00:28:20.920 | - Yeah, these are outdated now.

00:28:25.900 | This is at the time to break the all-time touchdown record.

00:28:29.420 | I think Breeze and Brady have broken that record

00:28:32.900 | several times since then, so.

00:28:34.940 | - Oh, really?

00:28:35.780 | - But at the time, Brett Favre had the all-time

00:28:38.860 | touchdown record, and so, that pass was to break it,

00:28:41.980 | but what I liked about it is that we won the game.

00:28:45.940 | You know, we weren't doing anything

00:28:48.380 | just to try to build a record, right?

00:28:50.840 | - Did that get tipped?

00:28:51.680 | - Kind of a close game.

00:28:52.600 | No, I threw a lot of wobbly passes, Mike.

00:28:54.460 | - Oh, did you?

00:28:55.300 | - It just looked like they got tipped,

00:28:56.520 | but I appreciate you asking that.

00:28:59.820 | No, so that was cool, yeah.

00:29:01.020 | I mean, it was still in the second quarter,

00:29:02.700 | so we broke the record and kind of got that over with,

00:29:05.460 | and went on to win the game, but I love quarterbacks.

00:29:09.220 | Yeah, they played keep-away with me

00:29:10.940 | from the football afterwards, so.

00:29:13.560 | This is in the Super Bowl.

00:29:14.700 | This was against the Bears,

00:29:16.740 | and the Bears actually kind of screwed up the coverage.

00:29:21.060 | He was pretty open.

00:29:23.220 | It was a matter of kind of getting to him, so.

00:29:25.580 | Down in the rain, down in Miami,

00:29:27.940 | so that's always a fun one to watch.

00:29:29.340 | It was, you know, first championship for the Colts,

00:29:32.740 | so it was fun to be a part of that.

00:29:34.820 | First championship for Indianapolis,

00:29:37.180 | so it was fun to be a part of that.

00:29:39.260 | - Dope, man, appreciate you.

00:29:41.660 | Legendary, top 50 legendary players.

00:29:43.980 | Appreciate you, my guy.

00:29:44.820 | - You got it, man, appreciate it.

00:29:45.980 | Thanks for having me.

00:29:46.820 | All right, man, all the best.

Life After the NFL ft. Peyton Manning

Chapters