Athletes - Peyton Manning

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	Athletes - Peyton Manning

Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts NFL franchise.

He is the son of former New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning and Olivia Manning, and the older brother of current New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. Peyton played college football for the University of Tennessee and was selected by the Indianapolis Colts as the first overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft.

Manning holds numerous passing records, including the record for touchdown passes in a single season (49 in 2004) and consecutive seasons with over 4,000 yards passing (6 from 1999 through 2004.).

College career

Because of his father's legacy at Ole Miss, as well as his own status as the most highly recruited high school quarterback of his class, Peyton Manning stunned many when he chose to attend and play for the University of Tennessee. Manning would become Tennessee's all-time leading passer with 11,201 yards, 863 completions and 89 touchdowns, while compiling a 39-6 record as a starter, setting an SEC record for career wins (although Georgia's David Greene would set a new record of 42 wins in 2005). In his college career, he threw only 33 interceptions in 1,381 attempts, an NCAA record for best all-time interception percentage.

Although after three years he had completed his degree, a BA in speech communication with a 3.61 GPA and Phi Beta Kappa honors, and was projected to be the top overall pick in the NFL Draft, Manning returned to Tennessee for his senior year. He put up even more impressive numbers in his last season (3,819 yards, 36 touchdowns) and finished second in 1997 Heisman Trophy voting to the University of Michigan's Charles Woodson, although he was unable to beat arch rival University of Florida for the fourth consecutive time. Manning received the 1997 James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.

Professional career

Manning was selected first overall in the 1998 draft and has started every game in his NFL career, missing only one snap due to injury and many others due to large leads. He was the NFL co-MVP in 2003, sharing the honor with Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair. In 2004, Manning became the highest-paid player in NFL history at the time, signing a $99.2m contract for seven years with a $34.5m signing bonus, which averages out to $14.17m annually. Under the contract, Manning is also eligible to earn an extra $19m in incentives.

Manning is widely viewed as an elite NFL quarterback, and some sportswriters and scouts already consider him a future Hall of Fame inductee. In scouting reports, he is known as a "pure" pocket passer, with prototypical size, a strong arm, excellent touch, and nearly perfect mechanics. Manning reads the field extremely well, and is one of the few quarterbacks with complete freedom to change a play at the line of scrimmage. He is well known for his frantic hand gestures and shouting before the play while calling out audibles. Unlike some modern quarterbacks, Manning is not known as a "scrambler" and is not very mobile if the pocket collapses, only rolling out to search for receivers.

After many football insiders criticized Manning for being 0-3 in the playoffs, he won his first NFL playoff game against the Denver Broncos on January 4, 2004. Manning's Passer Rating in the Colts' playoff game against the Broncos was a perfect 158.3. The next week, his rating against the Kansas City Chiefs was an impressive 138.8; however, he posted the third lowest passer rating of his career - 35.5 - in the AFC title game against the New England Patriots, throwing four interceptions in a 24-14 loss.

2004-2005 Season

In 2004, Manning had one of the greatest regular seasons a quarterback has ever produced, putting up 4,557 yards, a 121.1 quarterback rating, and 49 touchdowns, surpassing the legendary mark previously held by Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino. His quarterback rating in 2004 also surpassed the previous single-season mark of 112.8 set by Hall of Fame San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young. In addition to his individual achievements, Manning also led the Colts to a 12-4 record and their second consecutive AFC South division title. As a result, he was a near-unanimous selection for the 2004 NFL MVP, was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year and Pro Bowl MVP. However, the Colts' 2004 season ended in Foxborough for a second straight year with a 20-3 loss in the AFC Divisional Playoff game against New England when Manning played his worst game of the year, recording a season-low passer rating of 69.3 and posting a season-low 3 points of offense. It was Manning's seventh consecutive loss to the Patriots in Foxborough, MA.

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Athletes - Peyton Manning

College career

Professional career

2004-2005 Season

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