Life After the NFL ft. Peyton Manning

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat hip hop music)

00:00:03.240 | - All right, welcome to another episode of Curious Mike.

00:00:12.120 | I'm here with Peyton Manning.

00:00:14.280 | Man, it's an honor to have you on here, bro.

00:00:16.040 | I think I told you this when we met at the arena,

00:00:19.020 | that I grew up in Indiana.

00:00:21.160 | So before basketball, I was playing football as well,

00:00:24.160 | playing quarterback, so you were a big part of my childhood.

00:00:27.520 | So it's an honor to have you on here, bro.

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

00:00:30.960 | - Man, a lot of people know you from being on the court.

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

00:00:37.680 | you know what I mean, just shooting around with 'em.

00:00:39.920 | So kinda update us where you are now.

00:00:41.460 | What are you doing now off the field

00:00:42.720 | and everything like that?

00:00:43.800 | - Yeah, kind of the second chapter for me,

00:00:46.140 | I've tried to kinda pick, say, maybe kinda one thing

00:00:50.800 | to kinda focus on that year,

00:00:52.640 | and then maybe you keep doing it if you like it,

00:00:55.520 | or maybe you change it up.

00:00:57.040 | I haven't really had like this five or 10 year plan.

00:01:00.300 | You know, when you're playing like football, basketball,

00:01:03.300 | you pretty much know where you're gonna be

00:01:05.200 | every day, all year, right?

00:01:06.720 | And that's the biggest change about this next chapter,

00:01:08.920 | but I didn't wanna sign up for something

00:01:11.640 | to be a broadcaster, to be a coach,

00:01:13.680 | where I knew that's what I was doing

00:01:14.960 | for the next five, 10 years.

00:01:16.800 | I've just kinda taken it one year at a time.

00:01:19.240 | Don't really have a one word job description.

00:01:21.320 | I'm the assistant offensive coordinator

00:01:23.700 | on my son's sixth grade football team.

00:01:26.520 | It'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.

00:01:31.120 | 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.

00:01:38.720 | 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.

00:01:56.160 | So I'm busy, but I'm kinda busy on my own schedule,

00:02:00.200 | which is a good thing.

00:02:01.040 | - Right.

00:02:01.860 | So a lot of athletes that I know of,

00:02:03.840 | once they retire, they kinda have sometimes

00:02:07.320 | like a identity crisis or a midlife crisis.

00:02:10.040 | Did you at all deal with that,

00:02:11.880 | or how did you work your way through that time

00:02:16.880 | going from stardom to kinda being away from the spotlight?

00:02:20.640 | Was it hard for you at all?

00:02:22.000 | - There's no doubt it's an adjustment, right?

00:02:23.680 | Just going back to that earlier point.

00:02:26.240 | Football, you have a schedule all season, all off season.

00:02:29.880 | All of a sudden, that stops.

00:02:31.320 | The thing, I was fortunate.

00:02:34.720 | I got to play football for a long time,

00:02:37.160 | and I really got to kinda end it on my terms,

00:02:40.400 | which doesn't often happen, right?

00:02:43.320 | A lot of times in sports, you don't get to retire.

00:02:46.440 | You're kinda retired, right?

00:02:48.120 | Nobody calls you anymore and says,

00:02:51.120 | "We want you to come play for the Broncos

00:02:53.200 | "or the Nuggets."

00:02:54.040 | So I was grateful for the time that I got to play.

00:02:57.400 | And so, look, you're always gonna 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

00:03:13.160 | "into the World Series every year, sure.

00:03:15.720 | "I'd probably like to do that."

00:03:17.100 | - With the grind.

00:03:17.940 | - He didn't miss spring training.

00:03:19.200 | 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 staying in touch with my teammates on a text thread,

00:03:27.080 | you suddenly miss seeing 'em 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 kinda timing to kinda be able

00:03:50.880 | to sorta dive into their lives 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 Colts games.

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

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

00:04:20.800 | - I don't know.

00:04:21.640 | I mean, I think everybody could probably always

00:04:23.960 | have played one more.

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

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

00:04:34.400 | Like I said, I got to play 14 years in Indianapolis,

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

00:04:40.120 | Still live here.

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

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

00:04:44.040 | Does that make any sense?

00:04:44.880 | - 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,

00:04:55.160 | and I was there 'til fifth grade.

00:04:57.160 | - What years?

00:04:58.000 | What years were you?

00:04:58.820 | - What do you think?

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

00:05:01.880 | - I think it was 2010.

00:05:02.960 | - 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.

00:05:08.400 | - There you go.

00:05:09.240 | - I remember all that.

00:05:10.060 | - There you go, I like it.

00:05:10.900 | - I remember Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne.

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

00:05:15.740 | You know, I paid attention to all y'all's games.

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

00:05:20.480 | '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,

00:05:26.780 | so kinda like my love for football kinda like went away.

00:05:29.160 | - It stayed with you.

00:05:30.000 | Oh, it did, okay.

00:05:30.840 | - It went away.

00:05:31.660 | Like I paid attention to the Colts a little bit,

00:05:33.080 | but like, I wasn't in the city, so it didn't.

00:05:35.520 | - Yeah, when there's not a team in your town.

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

00:05:38.800 | - Yeah, so no, it was, like I said,

00:05:40.720 | I was grateful for the time that I got to play

00:05:43.520 | two different places, and you know,

00:05:45.080 | 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.

00:05:50.940 | I was, I dealt with some injuries,

00:05:53.440 | you know, possibly might have had to go

00:05:57.240 | find another team to play for.

00:05:58.680 | The Broncos had some quarterback, you know,

00:06:00.760 | personnel decisions to make,

00:06:02.280 | and didn't really wanna go through

00:06:03.480 | that process again necessarily,

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

00:06:07.440 | 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 foot,

00:06:21.760 | to your sport, 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?

00:06:30.000 | - Yeah, I mean obviously, you know,

00:06:31.600 | being a good dad is kinda my number one, you know,

00:06:36.360 | priority, you know, being a part of our kids' lives

00:06:41.360 | is important for Ashley and I.

00:06:44.800 | My parents, you know, my dad specifically,

00:06:47.520 | after he retired from football,

00:06:50.040 | he was present in our lives, right?

00:06:51.880 | He was at our little league basketball games

00:06:54.380 | and baseball games, and never coached us per se,

00:06:57.660 | but he'd come and throw passes with us on the weekends,

00:07:00.800 | and so that was important to me,

00:07:02.000 | so that's kinda been my number one priority.

00:07:04.960 | I mean, I'll be at a baseball game this weekend,

00:07:07.760 | I'll be at a volleyball game this weekend, right?

00:07:09.640 | And so I didn't wanna sign up for anything

00:07:11.800 | that was gonna take me away from that.

00:07:14.880 | For the majority, you know, of my football time,

00:07:17.960 | 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, you know, 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, I wanna be a great dad,

00:07:33.760 | I wanna be a great football player at the same time,

00:07:35.520 | and so we sort of waited, you know, 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.

00:07:44.640 | I saw just this past weekend Josh Allen and Justin Herbert,

00:07:49.640 | and I have their phone numbers, and you know,

00:07:51.960 | I mean, anytime they wanna reach out to me with a question,

00:07:54.940 | you know, 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 | I mean, 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

00:08:09.960 | when I was a young player,

00:08:11.000 | so I feel like that's a kind of a cool hat to wear,

00:08:15.120 | a little bit of a purpose there,

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

00:08:18.360 | not on the field, but you're still helping to grow the game

00:08:20.960 | and helping young football players.

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

00:08:26.240 | You said her name's Ashley?

00:08:27.280 | - Yeah, we met in college, yeah.

00:08:28.840 | - How'd you know she was the one?

00:08:30.000 | - So, you know, we met at, she didn't go to Tennessee,

00:08:35.680 | 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 kind of a date later in the year,

00:08:42.560 | and just kind of went from there,

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

00:08:46.040 | - Honestly, I say that all the time,

00:08:47.320 | like it's ideal to meet the girl earlier on,

00:08:50.900 | like you met her in college, you said,

00:08:52.320 | but before everything, that's the problem nowadays,

00:08:54.920 | is like, you make it, and then it's hard to figure out

00:08:58.520 | and navigate that situation.

00:08:59.960 | - I get that, yeah.

00:09:00.960 | No, there's no doubt, everything's changed a lot,

00:09:03.880 | you know, with, look, I grew up college football

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

00:09:08.560 | 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 right, and look,

00:09:17.320 | it can affect players, right, they read comments,

00:09:20.000 | and it affects, you know, kind of how they feel sometimes

00:09:22.960 | about their playing time or the coaches or whatnot,

00:09:25.840 | so it was a nice way to play, you know,

00:09:28.440 | for the majority of my career, kind of without that,

00:09:31.200 | because it certainly can be a challenge

00:09:33.260 | if you don't handle it well.

00:09:35.640 | - How do you think, yeah, like,

00:09:37.480 | do you feel like if social media was a big thing back then,

00:09:39.920 | that would have affected you at all on the field,

00:09:42.280 | like the different comments, pressures,

00:09:44.060 | or did you somehow kind of like--

00:09:46.640 | - Yeah, no, I mean, look, you know,

00:09:50.280 | 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, the fans are into it,

00:09:58.000 | but then, like, my brother Eli goes to play in New York,

00:10:00.080 | and that's like, you know, times 25,

00:10:02.640 | and so Eli was the one that kind of helped me with that,

00:10:04.960 | and he kind of, he said, look, Peyton,

00:10:07.760 | like, I used to read the paper after we won, right,

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

00:10:12.260 | - 100%, look up their name on Twitter--

00:10:13.880 | - 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,

00:10:19.900 | 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,

00:10:35.560 | mood swings and frustrations or whatnot, right?

00:10:38.240 | 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

00:10:44.120 | for your coach, right?

00:10:45.800 | I mean, really, anybody else's opinion outside of that

00:10:49.320 | really shouldn't factor in to how you're feeling.

00:10:52.000 | 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,

00:10:59.640 | it probably wasn't gonna be as rough

00:11:02.000 | as I was already on myself,

00:11:04.080 | so I didn't feel like that affected me too much,

00:11:06.520 | but I think that there's something about

00:11:08.400 | trying to stay even keeled,

00:11:09.640 | kind of block out the outside noise,

00:11:11.480 | especially as you get into big games and playoff games,

00:11:14.400 | hey, let me just focus in on what I need to do,

00:11:16.640 | and especially what I need to do for my team.

00:11:19.520 | - 100%.

00:11:20.480 | How was it growing up with your brothers, Eli,

00:11:22.720 | and then you had an older brother, too.

00:11:23.800 | - Yeah, Cooper, yeah.

00:11:25.040 | - Yeah, how was it growing up with them,

00:11:26.400 | and how good would your older brother have been

00:11:29.160 | if he didn't have the injuries he had?

00:11:30.760 | - Cooper was an outstanding athlete with the Ole Miss.

00:11:34.400 | As a wide receiver on scholarship,

00:11:36.920 | we played together in high school one year.

00:11:39.040 | That was a lot of fun.

00:11:40.120 | You grew up playing in the backyard with your brother,

00:11:43.760 | drawing plays in the dirt.

00:11:44.960 | 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.

00:11:55.120 | He had to give up his career.

00:11:56.120 | It was tough.

00:11:57.400 | He handled it extremely well.

00:11:58.840 | It had a big impact on me.

00:12:00.760 | Like 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.

00:12:06.640 | - 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 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,

00:12:28.960 | and then Eli was five years younger than me,

00:12:30.560 | so it was a fun way to grow up.

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

00:12:34.000 | I have four brothers, four younger brothers.

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

00:12:37.560 | - 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.

00:13:00.920 | You can see it on the floor.

00:13:02.000 | You hear about it.

00:13:02.840 | You know, something's always,

00:13:04.840 | when you talk about Peyton Manning,

00:13:06.280 | it's his leadership.

00:13:08.080 | What are the leadership qualities

00:13:09.320 | you feel like you kinda possessed,

00:13:10.920 | and how did you kinda get to the point

00:13:13.120 | where you could execute those?

00:13:15.680 | - Yeah, I mean, I think being a leader,

00:13:17.880 | look, just because you're the point guard

00:13:20.720 | or the quarterback doesn't automatically

00:13:23.560 | make you the leader, right?

00:13:25.000 | I think you gotta earn kinda being a leader.

00:13:27.160 | And so I kinda learned the hard way in college.

00:13:30.960 | First time I got in the huddle,

00:13:33.360 | I kinda went in with this rah-rah speech

00:13:35.280 | and a bunch of seniors are just like,

00:13:36.960 | "Hey, don't talk.

00:13:38.760 | "Just call the play.

00:13:40.060 | "It's all we're gonna do."

00:13:40.920 | And so you kinda learn that.

00:13:42.600 | It's a pretty good lesson that you wanna earn,

00:13:44.280 | I think, the respect of the people

00:13:46.160 | that you're trying to lead, right,

00:13:48.240 | before you start barking orders

00:13:50.280 | and telling them what to do.

00:13:52.480 | I think the other thing I do,

00:13:53.880 | at least I thought I tried to do a good job of,

00:13:55.680 | is I was tough on myself, you know?

00:13:58.520 | And 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.

00:14:05.120 | "That's a horrible decision.

00:14:06.840 | "You know, no excuse."

00:14:07.960 | And so I think when my teammates heard

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

00:14:11.640 | that if I was told then,

00:14:13.260 | "Hey, look, this route needs to be 16 yards, right?

00:14:16.320 | "You're going 14.

00:14:17.480 | "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

00:14:33.840 | or an interception.

00:14:34.840 | So I felt like I put the work in.

00:14:38.120 | You know, I wasn't gonna ask anybody to do anything

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

00:14:43.120 | And so, and you know, I felt like I admitted

00:14:46.960 | when I, you know, made a mistake through an interception.

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

00:14:51.600 | 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 cold tub.

00:15:04.720 | 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

00:15:22.280 | is like during practice, right?

00:15:24.320 | You know, you have kind of one-on-one time

00:15:27.000 | in the athletic training room.

00:15:29.280 | And so the team was out practicing

00:15:33.320 | and, you know, the quarterbacks have an earpiece

00:15:36.600 | in their helmets where the coach calls the play

00:15:39.060 | into the helmet.

00:15:40.800 | And so I wanted to be at practice,

00:15:43.160 | but I had to do some, yeah, I had kind of foot problems.

00:15:46.200 | I was doing cold and ice tub on my foot.

00:15:49.080 | So I had my helmet on where I could still hear

00:15:51.400 | the plays being called.

00:15:53.360 | I could kind of visualize the play.

00:15:55.640 | And I had my iPad where I was, you know,

00:15:57.720 | studying some film, you know, of the team.

00:15:59.960 | So, yeah, multi-tasking and camera caught me.

00:16:04.720 | - When I think of, like, intentionality and, like, focus

00:16:08.720 | and, like, in the basketball space, you think of Kobe.

00:16:12.360 | You know, you think of just his intentional detail.

00:16:15.640 | - Right.

00:16:16.480 | - And then in football, like, I think of you.

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

00:16:21.000 | what else do you think separated you kind of

00:16:23.160 | from the rest of, you know, quarterbacks,

00:16:25.240 | but just players in general?

00:16:26.240 | Like, what was the main things that set you apart?

00:16:29.160 | - Yeah, you know, it's kind of always been,

00:16:30.600 | like, that's kind of hard for me to answer.

00:16:32.280 | You know, I always felt like sometimes when a teammate

00:16:35.800 | that played with you also went and played for other teams,

00:16:39.480 | you know, they could give a comparison, right?

00:16:41.960 | So I never knew if I was doing anything different,

00:16:47.000 | you know, than anybody else.

00:16:49.500 | Look, I took, I had great respect and appreciation

00:16:52.420 | for the cerebral part of the game.

00:16:54.780 | You know, I wasn't gonna outrun anybody

00:16:57.380 | or throw it, you know, 80 yards down the field.

00:16:59.500 | So I felt like I had to out-prepare 'em.

00:17:01.540 | And I felt like the film study,

00:17:03.980 | the communication with my receivers,

00:17:06.860 | being a, just having the master knowledge of the playbook,

00:17:11.220 | that really helped me, right?

00:17:12.860 | So when I got out there on Sundays or Saturdays in college

00:17:16.620 | or Friday nights in high school,

00:17:18.340 | I felt like I'd kind of out-prepared the opponent,

00:17:21.020 | whether I had or I hadn't, I kind of told myself that,

00:17:23.140 | hey, nobody has worked harder for me

00:17:25.260 | to get ready for this game.

00:17:26.980 | That just gave me a little more confidence

00:17:28.940 | out there on Sundays.

00:17:30.300 | And look, the game of football moves so fast.

00:17:33.200 | So I don't care how fast you are, how strong your arm is,

00:17:36.480 | if you don't understand everything about what you're doing

00:17:39.880 | as an offense and also understand

00:17:41.340 | what the defense is doing, it moves even faster.

00:17:44.680 | So that's kind of where I felt like I could get an edge

00:17:47.960 | on the competition.

00:17:49.060 | Yeah, just the mental side of it.

00:17:51.080 | I felt like I played, you mentioned those guys,

00:17:54.760 | Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne,

00:17:56.160 | like I played with a lot of the same guys

00:17:58.400 | for a number of years, right?

00:17:59.720 | So we had good continuity.

00:18:01.680 | We weren't starting over.

00:18:03.560 | I played in the same offensive system,

00:18:06.840 | pretty much the same every single year.

00:18:10.880 | Denver had changed here a little bit,

00:18:12.400 | but Tom Brady played in the same system

00:18:15.240 | in New England all those years.

00:18:16.440 | I mean, when you're having to change plays

00:18:19.100 | for a quarterback every single year, that's hard.

00:18:21.440 | That's tough.

00:18:22.280 | And so I was fortunate, I had great support system,

00:18:24.800 | great coaches to help me, and players.

00:18:27.240 | We played together for a while.

00:18:28.440 | So I think all those things kind of helped.

00:18:30.960 | - So like routine-wise, like specifically,

00:18:33.640 | like obviously you've got your game day routine.

00:18:35.480 | We have our game day routines.

00:18:37.360 | I feel like the off days sometimes are the days

00:18:39.520 | where you can like gain that extra ground.

00:18:41.840 | What would that specifically look like?

00:18:43.260 | Like how much film and how much of that like mental work,

00:18:46.360 | I don't know if it was meditation, film work,

00:18:48.160 | or whatever it was, where you actually like doing?

00:18:50.320 | - Yeah, you know, it's been seven years now,

00:18:53.280 | so you're making me go back to,

00:18:56.120 | I probably don't have the exact itinerary

00:18:58.600 | of what I used to do on Tuesdays,

00:19:00.720 | but there's no doubt that I was trying to use Tuesdays,

00:19:03.560 | which is the universal off day in the NFL,

00:19:06.280 | to try to get ahead, right?

00:19:08.640 | And so I was a big believer in watching

00:19:12.840 | kind of the game film opponents,

00:19:17.280 | like their past four games.

00:19:18.720 | I was gonna watch those four games

00:19:20.080 | and get a good feel for kind of who that team was

00:19:22.920 | and what their identity was on defense.

00:19:25.600 | And then with the coaches, you know,

00:19:27.600 | you watch, you know, kind of different film.

00:19:30.400 | I watched a lot of film myself, right?

00:19:34.200 | I mean, I watched practice hard, watched the game hard,

00:19:37.480 | watched, we filmed all the individual drills, right?

00:19:39.680 | I think sometimes you get caught up into,

00:19:42.040 | hey, let's try to figure out these great plays to run,

00:19:44.480 | that we're getting ready to play this team,

00:19:45.640 | and all of a sudden, your mechanics are off,

00:19:48.200 | you know, you're not finishing your throw,

00:19:50.120 | you're not finishing your shot,

00:19:52.000 | and so it doesn't matter if the play is great

00:19:54.760 | if you're not doing your deal.

00:19:55.840 | So I'm studying a lot of that.

00:19:57.960 | I think, and you get into that routine.

00:20:00.520 | I mean, I think your question is great.

00:20:02.400 | I think it's important to have a routine, right?

00:20:05.280 | I mean, to kind of write down what that routine is,

00:20:07.640 | and not just sort of wing it every single day.

00:20:11.480 | - Honestly, like for the majority of my life,

00:20:13.520 | that's kind of how I've lived,

00:20:15.160 | like kind of just like free flow throughout the day,

00:20:17.520 | and then I've recently understood the importance

00:20:19.600 | of just intentionality.

00:20:21.040 | - Right.

00:20:22.040 | - Like you said, writing down the routine,

00:20:24.080 | you know, waking up at this time,

00:20:25.200 | what are you doing at this time?

00:20:26.760 | And you still are a very intentional person.

00:20:29.240 | Like, I'll hit you, I'll text you, like, when can we talk?

00:20:31.800 | You'll be like, next Sunday at 11 a.m.,

00:20:34.360 | like I'll be like--

00:20:35.560 | - 11.03 to be specific, yeah.

00:20:37.800 | - Do you still live with like that same intentionality,

00:20:40.800 | and why is that?

00:20:41.640 | - Yeah, that drives my family crazy, just so you know.

00:20:44.280 | So I probably could do a little better on that,

00:20:46.280 | of being a little more free flowing in this second chapter.

00:20:49.840 | But I think it's just, you know, like playing football

00:20:53.680 | those years, I mean, that's how you just kind of get wired,

00:20:55.840 | that you, like an eight o'clock meeting means

00:20:58.400 | it's gonna be an eight o'clock meeting, right?

00:21:00.080 | I mean, football, you do not want to walk into a meeting

00:21:03.480 | at 8.02, 'cause that's late and everybody's in there.

00:21:06.680 | So you kind of learn that, so you kind of get on time

00:21:09.840 | and you get a schedule.

00:21:10.880 | So I feel like it serves you well for the most part.

00:21:15.080 | Like I said, it can probably, you know, annoy your family

00:21:19.480 | and annoy your friends on a golf trip when, you know.

00:21:22.840 | I said specifically, we're gonna have breakfast at 7.07,

00:21:25.760 | right, that's probably a little much.

00:21:27.840 | But, you know, look, I think just trying to be,

00:21:32.560 | you know, goes back to that routine, I think it helps

00:21:35.080 | when you kind of have a plan.

00:21:36.840 | - I agree.

00:21:37.880 | I'm super curious about your second Super Bowl with Denver.

00:21:41.680 | That was after your injuries, correct?

00:21:44.080 | - Correct.

00:21:45.560 | - And obviously I've had my own injuries,

00:21:47.040 | so like I look at that and I'm like,

00:21:48.480 | he made it all the way back to Super Bowl status

00:21:51.120 | post injuries.

00:21:52.880 | Was there like a lot of limitations in your arm

00:21:55.680 | and how did you kind of like work through that?

00:21:57.120 | You said Eli Cooper, you said helped you.

00:21:59.400 | - Yeah.

00:22:00.240 | Well, just the fact that, I think when you go through

00:22:03.400 | an injury or through a tough time,

00:22:04.640 | I think having a good attitude is important.

00:22:07.520 | That's easier said than done, right?

00:22:09.240 | I mean, you're not gonna be super happy

00:22:11.440 | that you're hurt and you're not playing,

00:22:12.880 | but there's a reason it happened.

00:22:15.160 | And it's kind of a test, you know.

00:22:19.040 | Are you gonna handle that test?

00:22:20.480 | Are you gonna pass that test?

00:22:21.920 | So I tried to, you know, have an upbeat attitude.

00:22:26.720 | I think that probably helped in kind of getting over

00:22:29.240 | those injuries and kind of healing a little bit.

00:22:32.000 | You know, I had a lot of people help me,

00:22:33.320 | teammates supporting me, that made a difference.

00:22:35.720 | I think you just learn that you can't, you know,

00:22:38.840 | maybe do certain things that you used to do,

00:22:40.680 | but you can adjust and still figure out how to do it,

00:22:44.600 | I think is kind of the key.

00:22:46.040 | So, you know, I was fortunate to come here and play

00:22:50.960 | and like I said, have four years and still continue

00:22:54.400 | to deal with some other injuries, you know,

00:22:56.160 | when I got here and had great teammates and coaches,

00:22:59.040 | but, you know, I think being, learning to adapt to,

00:23:02.760 | you know, post injuries is important.

00:23:05.320 | - 100%.

00:23:06.320 | You say you feel like there was a reason for it,

00:23:09.040 | and I feel like a lot of people,

00:23:11.120 | when things happen to them, they can't figure it out.

00:23:12.760 | They don't even just, they don't have that faith

00:23:15.080 | that there was a reason.

00:23:16.000 | Do you have like a faith, just like in that aspect?

00:23:20.760 | Do you, you know?

00:23:21.600 | - Sure, no, certainly not.

00:23:22.640 | I think it's a great test of your faith,

00:23:25.320 | and I felt like when I went through my injuries,

00:23:27.880 | look, I was frustrated, I was disappointed,

00:23:29.680 | but I felt like it was a good Lord's plan

00:23:31.240 | that, hey, you know, you're next gonna have some problems

00:23:35.440 | and you're not gonna play this year.

00:23:36.720 | And so it's a test, it's a test of your faith, you know,

00:23:40.040 | and to see if you can kind of trust that it's His plan

00:23:43.720 | and kind of a little bit out of your hands.

00:23:46.120 | So I definitely think that's a part of it.

00:23:48.480 | And look, you know, overcoming adversity,

00:23:52.040 | overcoming tough times, if you play sports long enough,

00:23:55.680 | you know, that's gonna happen

00:23:58.360 | and you better learn to do it.

00:24:00.240 | And I think having people around you

00:24:01.600 | to help you overcome it, you know, is also important.

00:24:04.480 | But I think, you know, praying about it

00:24:06.880 | and kind of trusting in the man upstairs' plan

00:24:11.280 | is probably the best way to overcome it.

00:24:14.200 | - Have you always had that faith in God?

00:24:15.560 | Like, what are you, Christian?

00:24:17.360 | Christian, you've always had that?

00:24:18.520 | - Yeah, yeah, sure, so.

00:24:20.880 | - Man, my last question for you is,

00:24:24.200 | like I said, like you're an idol of mine,

00:24:25.960 | Kobe, some of these great, Michael Jordan.

00:24:29.040 | What is your way of defining greatness?

00:24:30.920 | How would you define it?

00:24:31.920 | 'Cause everyone doesn't have the physical capabilities

00:24:35.440 | to be the best.

00:24:36.480 | - Yeah.

00:24:37.320 | - How would you define it?

00:24:38.160 | - I don't know, I, you know,

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

00:24:44.120 | And, you know, I think you just,

00:24:46.880 | I always tried to be, you know, football,

00:24:48.800 | I always liked team sports, right?

00:24:50.640 | I played basketball, I played golf with my buddies,

00:24:54.040 | but never, you know, competed in golf.

00:24:55.960 | But, you know, I always thought,

00:24:57.840 | like you kind of had an obligation,

00:24:59.960 | if you signed up for the team,

00:25:01.360 | to do everything you could to help the team

00:25:05.200 | and be your best for the team, right?

00:25:08.080 | And I think that's what always just kind of drove me,

00:25:10.680 | that I knew people were counting on me, right?

00:25:13.160 | I mean, football, that's your teammates, that's your coaches.

00:25:17.360 | Look, that's the support staff, you know,

00:25:19.280 | the equipment managers, the video directors.

00:25:21.360 | You know, when, if you don't play well

00:25:23.760 | and they fire the coach, a lot of times they fire,

00:25:26.600 | you know, a lot of people along with that, right?

00:25:29.400 | So, yeah, I'm not saying people's jobs were counting on me,

00:25:33.000 | but I think, you know, people were counting on me.

00:25:35.640 | Fans, right, they're invested into the team, you know,

00:25:39.240 | and the owner who drafted you.

00:25:41.320 | I mean, you want to, I mean, you want to,

00:25:44.440 | the draft's coming up in the NFL.

00:25:46.080 | And I remember when the coach drafted me,

00:25:49.280 | I wanted to give our owner, you know,

00:25:52.040 | I want to make him proud of his decision to draft me, right?

00:25:55.200 | - Right.

00:25:56.240 | - When they draft you, it's not really a reward.

00:25:59.400 | It's kind of a, hey, we're going to bring you to the team.

00:26:02.680 | We expect you to do some things for us, right?

00:26:06.120 | And I think that's a good mentality.

00:26:08.040 | And so, I guess that's what I thought about.

00:26:11.600 | So, I never used the word greatness in describing myself

00:26:16.600 | or was necessarily thinking about that.

00:26:19.040 | I was just thinking about, I wanted to do my part, right,

00:26:22.880 | you know, for the team.

00:26:24.080 | And I think that's why I worked really hard

00:26:26.800 | to try to do that and whatever came along with that,

00:26:29.880 | you know, it wasn't all perfect.

00:26:32.280 | We had certainly disappointing losses

00:26:34.960 | and, you know, heartbreaking moments,

00:26:36.360 | but I think you kind of learn how to handle that

00:26:39.520 | and maybe you come out of it stronger on the other side.

00:26:43.440 | - Well, man, I appreciate you, bro.

00:26:45.760 | Like I said, it means a lot that you would even make the time

00:26:47.760 | to come over here and do this with me.

00:26:50.080 | Yeah, I appreciate you getting on the podcast, my man.

00:26:52.000 | - Hey, you bet.

00:26:52.840 | Thanks for having me.

00:26:53.680 | Good luck, good luck in the playoffs.

00:26:54.520 | - Appreciate you, appreciate you.

00:26:55.600 | That's a wrap.

00:26:56.440 | (upbeat hip hop music)

00:26:59.920 | Go watch three plays

00:27:01.840 | and get Peyton Manning's perspective on these plays.

00:27:04.960 | - If I remember, yeah, that's a-

00:27:07.280 | - It's a minute, definitely a minute ago.

00:27:09.680 | All right, let's go.

00:27:10.960 | - I do remember that play.

00:27:12.760 | That was the first play of the game.

00:27:14.280 | It was down in New Orleans.

00:27:15.880 | We lost that game.

00:27:16.720 | These guys got Marcus Pollard was a good teammate of mine,

00:27:19.680 | good buddy of mine.

00:27:20.520 | But yeah, you don't throw many touchdowns

00:27:23.640 | on the first play of the game.

00:27:24.560 | Usually you call it a play to try to get a completion,

00:27:26.680 | right, and just kind of had the perfect play

00:27:29.200 | at the perfect time called and he took it for 80 yards, so.

00:27:33.320 | - 80 yards, first play of the game.

00:27:34.680 | - Yeah, exactly.

00:27:35.680 | This was against Baltimore.

00:27:38.520 | This is an interesting scenario.

00:27:40.480 | Baltimore won the Super Bowl the year before

00:27:42.920 | and they didn't get to open up at home

00:27:44.960 | because of like a scheduling conflict

00:27:46.760 | with their baseball team in town.

00:27:48.560 | So they had to come.

00:27:49.480 | - Yeah, it was smacking them.

00:27:50.720 | - They had to open their,

00:27:52.440 | defend their title here in Denver.

00:27:54.160 | And so, which probably wasn't fair.

00:27:56.880 | But yeah, that was just a go-route to Demarius Thomas

00:28:00.560 | who, God rest his soul, we lost last year.

00:28:04.320 | He was my good buddy.

00:28:06.100 | And it wasn't, that's more on him than me.

00:28:10.240 | My guess is throwing it up to him, letting him,

00:28:12.760 | letting him do his thing.

00:28:13.600 | - Was he tall?

00:28:14.440 | - Yeah, he's a big guy, for sure.

00:28:16.040 | - We're all the way at 49.

00:28:19.040 | We need to go to the top.

00:28:20.960 | - Yeah, these are, these are outdated.

00:28:25.600 | Now, this was at the time to break

00:28:27.440 | the all-time touchdown record.

00:28:29.440 | I think Breeze and Brady have broken them,

00:28:32.000 | broken that record several times since then, so.

00:28:35.040 | - Oh, really?

00:28:35.880 | - But at the time, Brett Favre had

00:28:37.720 | the all-time touchdown record.

00:28:39.800 | And so that pass was to break it.

00:28:41.960 | But what I liked about it is that we won the game.

00:28:45.920 | You know, we weren't doing anything

00:28:48.360 | 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.

00:28:54.440 | - Oh, did you?

00:28:55.280 | - It just looked like they got tipped.

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

00:28:59.800 | No, so that was cool.

00:29:00.800 | Yeah, it was still in the second quarter.

00:29:02.720 | So we broke the record and kind of got that over with

00:29:05.480 | and went on to win the game.

00:29:07.080 | But I love quarterbacks.

00:29:09.240 | Yeah, they played keep-away with me

00:29:10.920 | from the football afterwards, so.

00:29:13.520 | This is in the Super Bowl.

00:29:14.680 | This was against the Bears.

00:29:16.720 | And Bears actually kind of screwed up the coverage.

00:29:21.000 | He was pretty open.

00:29:23.160 | It was a matter of kind of getting to him, so.

00:29:25.520 | Down in the rain, down in Miami.

00:29:27.920 | So that's always a fun one to watch.

00:29:29.320 | It was, you know, first championship for the Colts.

00:29:32.720 | So it was fun to be a part of that.

00:29:34.780 | First championship for Indianapolis.

00:29:37.120 | So it was fun to be a part of that.

00:29:39.200 | - Dope, man.

00:29:40.200 | Appreciate you.

00:29:41.600 | Legendary.

00:29:42.560 | Top 50 legendary plays.

00:29:43.960 | Appreciate you, my guy.

00:29:44.800 | - You got it, man.

00:29:45.640 | Appreciate it.

00:29:46.460 | Thanks for having me.

Life After the NFL ft. Peyton Manning

Chapters