Peyton Manning Emotional Retirement Speech [FULL REMARKS]

In my first NFL game I completed my first pass to Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk. I threw a touchdown in that same game to Marvin Harrison, who would be inducted into the Hall of Fame in August, the quarterback of our opponent, the Miami Dolphins, was after my father, my favorite player, a Hall of Famer. fame, Dan Marino, who in the first third of the game completed a 25-yard skinny post and was the most damned I've ever seen afterward. I completed the tight pass on Marcus Pollard. down the middle and someone hit me really hard and after I got up I told myself I know I can play in this league later in that difficult season we played and lost to Baltimore.

It was the first time the Colts had returned to Baltimore since they had moved in 1984, we didn't exactly have a warm reception that day, the fans were yelling at me and I kept thinking, hey, I was only eight, so get off my back. I had met him once before, but when the game ended. I finished I had the opportunity to shake hands with Johnny Unitas, he told me Peyton, stay there, I'm fighting for you, well, I've stayed, I've stayed for 18 years and I hope that old number 19 is up there. with his flat top and maybe his black high tops and I hope he knows that I've kept at it and maybe he's even a little proud of me this is something like 18 years 18 is a good number and today I retired from football professional I want to thank the people of New Orleans in South Louisiana.

New Orleans is my hometown and of course they support their own team, the Saints, but they also support theirs and that city and state have had my back from the beginning almost 19 years ago until the end. The day I announced my decision to forgo the draft and stay at the University of Tennessee for my senior year, it was one of the smartest decisions I've ever made. I appreciated my time and Knoxville, especially my senior year, and I want baseball fans everywhere to know that. the unique role you have played in my life, thanks to the Indianapolis Colts organization and all the fans in this country, you can't imagine how much I enjoyed my 14 years, the warmth my family feels for you.

I'm wrong not to mention that Jim is saying that Bill Polian has some great coaches, support staff and a lot of wonderful Colts teammates, many of whom will be lifelong friends when I was drafted by the Colts. Indianapolis was a basketball in a city car race, but it wasn't like that. It wasn't long before the Colts turned the city in the state of Indiana into football evangelists. We finished my third and thirteenth rookie seasons and in the process I set the NFL rookie record for interceptions, a record I still hold today every year a rookie quarterback breaks that record Andrew Luck Matthew Stafford Eli Manning Cam Newton I still joke with Eli that I would have beaten him if he had started all 16 games at the beginning of my era and in Indy, the team's struggles dying, my grandfather called me weekly. to ask his favorite broadcasters, John Madden and Pat Summerall, we're broadcasting our Pawpaw game.

I'd say we only have two and eight now. We're playing Bingle's Madden three and seven and some are quick streams of those types of games. -Forward to my second year, when we had gotten things going a little, we were playing against the Dallas Cowboys, including trollee Aikman Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, and Deion Sanders. I called Paul Paul, guess what, Madden and Summer are streaming the game, he said I can. I don't think so, I was elated, I was very proud and we beat the Cowboys that week and let the world know that the Colts had arrived, make no mistake, we were going to come and we did phenomenal things like win at least 12 games. games seven years in a row and of course winning soup it is truly an honor and a pride to be a part of this, it is the same thing that will treat a man as he is and will remain as he will treat a man as he could be and will become what which it should be when I visited Denver four years ago if John Elway had sat me down and said Peyton, this is what we're going to do, we're going to win 50-plus games when four consecutive division championships there are only three division games. in four years and none of them will be on the road, I will beat the Patriots and two championship games, you will win the NFL Comeback Player of the Year, another MVP, your offense will set single-season passing records, you will break a couple more in total. -time records and we will go to a couple of Super Bowls.

I think I would have taken that deal, John, yes you said no, grateful is the word that comes to mind when I think of the Denver Broncos. thanks to Pat Bowlen and his family Joe Ellis John Elway John Fox Gary Kubiak and his staff and all the supportive people in this great organization; To all my Denver teammates I thank you for what you have done for this old quarterback and, of course, my gratitude. To Broncos fans everywhere throughout my NFL career, I have had five head coaches that helped me improve at my craft and helped me become a better human being Jim Laura Tony Dungy Jim Caldwell John Fox Gary Kubiak Obviously I've changed teams.

I have had the same football representation for almost two decades. I owe many thanks to Tom Condon, he has represented me with class at every moment and he will always be a great friend. I want to thank a tremendous group of friends who have supported my football career and have been by my side in games from high school to Tennessee Indy and through that incredible Broncos Super Bowl win last month, you know who you are and what you mean to me and there is no way to adequately measure or express what a family like mine can mean.

Mom, that extended Cooper Eli family, you are the best and in fact, your support is as powerful a motivator as any man could have. Ashley, my sons Marshall and Mosley had only been around for a couple of years, but they changed my life forever one week before the Super Bowl, our daughter Mosley asked me dad, is this the last game? Yes, Mosley is the last game of the season. I sure want you to win that trophy. Me too, Mosley, and that's what we're going to try to do. Then she asked dad. Is this the last game and that's when I shook my head in amazement because I was thinking that Morten Adam Schefter had come to my five-year-old daughter to grow a new sauce when someone completely exhausts themselves and experiences that they can't help themselves? venerate him, a Revere football.

I love the game, so you don't have to wonder if I will absolutely miss it. I will do that. Our children are little now, but as they grow, we will teach them to enjoy the little things. life because one day you will look back and discover that those really were the big things, so here are the seemingly small things that when I look in the rearview mirror have become much bigger. I'm going to miss a steak dinner at st. elmo is in Indianapolis after winning my battles with players named Lynch Lewis Thomas Brewski Fletcher Dawkins says ow Urlacher Polamalu Harrison Woodson and Reed and with coaches like Fisher Brian Belichick kiffin Phillips Rivera LeBeau Crennel capers Luis the late Jim Johnson and many more I always felt like if I was playing against that middle linebacker, that safety, that defensive coach.

I miss discovering blitzes with Jeff Saturday Reggie sitting atop the bench next to me perfecting a fake handoff to Edgerrin James. I miss Demaryius Thomas telling me that. he loved me and thanked me for coming to Denver after every attempt at root two. I miss making a play with Tom Moore and coming out of some doors that end in a touchdown on Sundays and Fridays. I miss choosing my team's game balls. guys and talk football with the broadcast crews before and after the game. I miss recapping the game with my dad and checking to see if the Giants won and calling Eli while we're both on our team buses.

I missed that handshake with Tom Brady and I. I missed plane rides after a big win with 53 teammates standing in the aisles laughing and celebrating the entire flight. I miss playing in front of so many fantastic fans both home and away, and I will even miss the Patriots and Foxborough fans and they should miss me because they and these important football fans everywhere need to know how much they have meant to me over the years. over the years, fans who are the core of what makes this game extraordinary. I have received more letters from you than I have.

I can count letters from fans that have moved me, made me think, laugh and move me to act. I have learned a lot through my mistakes, setbacks and defeats in football. I also learned this game as a powerful platform that has given me a voice that can resonate far beyond the game. Football has taught me not to let myself be carried away by obstacles and setbacks, but to let myself be carried away by dreams thanks to some good genes. I'm smart enough to know that those lessons can enrich who I am and where I go from here.

I am totally convinced that the end of my football career is just the beginning of something I haven't even discovered yet. Life is not shrinking for me, but rather transforming into a whole new world of possibilities. Experts will speculate that my effort and drive will surpass the The last 18 years have been about mastery and working to master every aspect of the NFL game. Well, don't believe them because every moment, every drop of sweat, every night of teary-eyed preparation, every note I took and every frame of film I watched was about One thing is the reverence for this game.

When I look back on my NFL career, I will know without a doubt that all I had to help my team come out with a victory were other players who were more talented, but there was no one who could surpass him. prepare me and that's why I didn't repent there is a scripture that says 2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight and I have finished the race I have kept the faith well I fought a good fight I finished my football career and after 18 years, it's time to God bless you all and God bless football Payton Congratulations, thank you, it's been a portion, thank you.

I was just wondering in the last four weeks since the Superbowl if he ever came close to thinking he would come back for one more season like he really wanted to. Do what I said in the game and follow the old advice from the coaches and really take some time to enjoy that Super Bowl victory. I was telling someone you know I've played 18 years, but this was the only second offseason where I was able to start in a good mood after winning a world championship and I know how hard it is to win that world change.

I know how hard it is to get there. I know how hard it is to win a game, so I really wanted to take some time and enjoy. On a family vacation I went hunting with my old teammate Jeff on Saturday and really had a good time reflecting on last season and everything Coach Kubiak mentioned we had been through and that I had been through on the field, so I really took some time. do that, but I thought about it a lot, I prayed about it a lot and, like I said before, it was the right time and maybe I didn't pitch, it was good or I ran as well as I used to, but I've always had it.

Good timing and I think that's the true case here. Hi Peyton, congratulations. I've had the privilege of covering Troy Aikman and Brett Favre and now your career. I want to ask you the same thing I asked you when you retired and Here's how you think about how to scratch that competitive itch you've been scratching all these years. Oh, it's hard to say. I've talked to John about this for the last four years and he's given me great insight into how what are some of the feelings that I'm going to be going through, you know in the next few months and years from now, so I appreciate his advice. , friendship and support, so I don't know, I haven't ruled anything out.

I didn't make any decisions. After this, I'm going to go on vacation again and play some golf and very soon with my two brothers and then we'll enjoy this. I really enjoyed the last day and a half I had. I had the opportunity to call some special people that have been a part of my football life and after calling John and Joe and Coach Kubiak, I called all five of my head coaches. I had a great conversation with Jim Mora, Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, John Fox and of course I talked to Coach Kubiak and it was really special to have a chance to reminisce a little bit so I'm going to enjoy this and think of some of those things another time, Peyton, going through what you did this season.

How much did it help you? I'm not saying come

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circle on your career, but I know it was difficult, like Gary talked about, was there a point where you weren't sure you were going to come back and how? How gratifying was it to finish given what you went through for those two and a half months, well, as everyone has alluded to today, it's extremely gratifying to finish the World Championships as a special day there in San Francisco, one that I will always remember and cherish along with a great group. of teammates notThere is no doubt that this is a unique season and it had a lot of ups and downs, but those open and honest conversations with Coach Kubiak were important and helpful and they went two-way and that was important and like I said before, during the Super Bowl League, I never assumed anything.

I never said this would happen or that I'll never play again or that I won't recover. I did exactly what Coach Kubiak mentioned. I had a kind of goal. One week at a time I tried to achieve those goals and it led to bigger things, so it was the right attitude during, admittedly, a unique season. Over the past few weeks there has been a lot of talk about the things that happened. 20 years ago in your career or in your life, what can you say now about those accusations? Yes, well, first of all, you know that this is a happy day and nothing can beat this day.

I think it is sad that some people do not understand the truth and the facts and I did not do what has been alleged and I am not interested in re-litigating something that happened when I was 19 years old and I would like my dad to say When I was in trouble, no I can say it more clearly than that, so this is a happy day and it's a special day and like Forrest Gump said, that's all I have to say about it.