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Peyton Manning's offseason rituals
Five-time MVP's dogged pursuit of excellence hasn't waned in career twilight
How do you improve a five-time MVP quarterback who just piloted the highest-scoring offense in NFL history and threw for more yards and touchdowns in a single season than any peer or predecessor? What do you say to a player who went from career-threatening spinal fusion surgery to within striking distance of nearly every significant career passing record in a span of 28 months?
How do you reboot the game of a legendary competitor coming off the most epic disappointment of his career?
This is how:
You dissect every piece of the 2013 season to see what worked, what didn't work and where the good and bad decisions were made. You prepare to win the last game of the 2014 season and watch Peyton Manning hoist the Lombardi trophy under a sea of orange and blue confetti.
"The first day back in the building, we watched the Super Bowl," said Broncos quarterbacks coach Greg Knapp. "I told him the day after the game we were going to watch it when he came back, not right then, but the first day he was back, and we were going to watch it without the emotion of what just happened. And that was step one."
It is yet another cloudless lunch hour on the Front Range, and to the ground-shaking soundtrack of jackhammers carving space for the $35 million makeover of the Denver Broncos complex, two players remain after workouts on the manicured, soon-to-be-watered grass practice field.
Organized team activities have concluded for the day, but unsurprisingly, Peyton Manning is sticking around to tutor a teammate. Newly signed wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders sprints upfield, makes cuts, jogs back and does it again. It's just one play in the team's vast playbook, and the acclimation process is making his head spin.
Manning is right in his element helping Sanders get up to speed. Staying late and doing all the little things that, Manning says, "can get away from you if you don't stay on it'' is standard operating procedure for No. 18. Many players tire of these details as years go by, but those who know Manning say they're every bit as important to him as the desire to play on game day.
"As soon as I don't want to keep Emmanuel after [practice], go over some signals and some plays, I feel like that's probably the end," Manning said. "You've probably got to get out at that point."
Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase sees Sanders listening and nodding as Manning carves the air with his hands to show his new teammate where to make the best move. Gase hears Manning explain to Sanders how a variety of defenders will react to each action. Gase watches them run the play, run it again, and again, and again.
"People ask all the time how you get past last year, the Super Bowl," Gase said. "They're going to ask him all year. But this is it. This is him. Nobody around -- just back at it."
FOR THE REST http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/page/...ex_cid=espnsoc
Five-time MVP's dogged pursuit of excellence hasn't waned in career twilight
How do you improve a five-time MVP quarterback who just piloted the highest-scoring offense in NFL history and threw for more yards and touchdowns in a single season than any peer or predecessor? What do you say to a player who went from career-threatening spinal fusion surgery to within striking distance of nearly every significant career passing record in a span of 28 months?
How do you reboot the game of a legendary competitor coming off the most epic disappointment of his career?
This is how:
You dissect every piece of the 2013 season to see what worked, what didn't work and where the good and bad decisions were made. You prepare to win the last game of the 2014 season and watch Peyton Manning hoist the Lombardi trophy under a sea of orange and blue confetti.
"The first day back in the building, we watched the Super Bowl," said Broncos quarterbacks coach Greg Knapp. "I told him the day after the game we were going to watch it when he came back, not right then, but the first day he was back, and we were going to watch it without the emotion of what just happened. And that was step one."
It is yet another cloudless lunch hour on the Front Range, and to the ground-shaking soundtrack of jackhammers carving space for the $35 million makeover of the Denver Broncos complex, two players remain after workouts on the manicured, soon-to-be-watered grass practice field.
Organized team activities have concluded for the day, but unsurprisingly, Peyton Manning is sticking around to tutor a teammate. Newly signed wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders sprints upfield, makes cuts, jogs back and does it again. It's just one play in the team's vast playbook, and the acclimation process is making his head spin.
Manning is right in his element helping Sanders get up to speed. Staying late and doing all the little things that, Manning says, "can get away from you if you don't stay on it'' is standard operating procedure for No. 18. Many players tire of these details as years go by, but those who know Manning say they're every bit as important to him as the desire to play on game day.
"As soon as I don't want to keep Emmanuel after [practice], go over some signals and some plays, I feel like that's probably the end," Manning said. "You've probably got to get out at that point."
Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase sees Sanders listening and nodding as Manning carves the air with his hands to show his new teammate where to make the best move. Gase hears Manning explain to Sanders how a variety of defenders will react to each action. Gase watches them run the play, run it again, and again, and again.
"People ask all the time how you get past last year, the Super Bowl," Gase said. "They're going to ask him all year. But this is it. This is him. Nobody around -- just back at it."
FOR THE REST http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/page/...ex_cid=espnsoc
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