While there are many questions haven’t been answered, we learned two important things about Peyton Manning this week. First, that he isn’t ready to make a decision to retire yet, no matter what Rob Lowe thinks, and second – he is a big fan of the 80s teen angst film The Outsiders.
“I never thought ‘Sodapop Curtis’ would announce my retirement,” Manning said today laughing.
The reference was to Lowe’s character in the 1983 movie. Manning went on to say, ”I always thought I would be the one to announce it. I’m a huge fan of the movie, but that caught me way off guard. I can’t explain it. I know he (Lowe) is a friend of Jim’s (Irsay), and Jim sounded surprised.”
With the Polians out and new general manager Ryan Grigson firing coach Jim Caldwell, the atmosphere in Indianapolis has changed completely. And coming off a 2-14 season, with the top pick in the drift, it is a strange atmosphere for Manning to try to rehab in. And he talks almost as if leaving Indianapolis, almost unimaginable 12 months ago, were now inevitable.
“I’m not in a very good place for healing, let’s say that,” he said, referring to the practice facility. “It’s not a real good environment down there right now, to say the least. Everybody’s walking around on eggshells. I don’t recognize our building right now. There’s such complete and total change.”
“One of the things about football is, it’s a relationship business,” Manning said. “Sometimes guys get fired, it goes across the ticker, ‘Jim Caldwell got fired’ and that’s that. But when it’s every day in a relationship business … with Bill (Polian), with Marvin (Harrison), Edge (James), guys who retire, get cut, traded or fired, it’s just really hard. I don’t think I have an emotion for it.
“The new (management) team doesn’t have a relationship with these guys like I do, and I know a lot of players feel that way about them (the departing coaches), too.”
He went on to add, “I just want to pay tribute to all those guys. It’s unfortunate because so many of them have been such a big part of so many big wins here, and this is so … sudden. Their keys didn’t work the next day. There’s no other way to do it? I don’t know. That’s hard to see, all these people leaving.
“And I may be behind them. Who knows?”
So Manning’s future remains largely in doubt – both his rehabilitation and ability to play next year, as well as whether he will continue to play for this franchise and the new management. He makes it clear his love of the city and the fans, and really puts the onus on the new management to make the decision.
“I don’t want to get into some kind of fan campaign with the owner, but I think it’s well documented that I want to play in the same place my whole career,” Manning said. “It’s been a privilege to play here. I love the fans, the city, the transformation of the fans, how our place has become the toughest stadium to play in, the fact our fans wear more jerseys to games than anybody else. It’s been fun to be a part of that.
“But I understand how it works. I understand tough decisions have to be made. There’s personal and there’s business and that’s where we’ve got to separate the two. I’ve seen other guys leave places and it was personal. I’ve invested too much into this city for that to happen. We live here, we’ve given lots of time and money to the community and our church, and that’s never going to change Nothing changes that.”
So only time will tell what the Colts will look like next season. One thing remains certain – Peyton Manning probably means more to this franchise than any single player on any team in the NFL. He has meant more to their winning, and the resurgence of the franchise, than anyone gave him credit for. His absence made that imminently clear – when he missed a season due to injury, the team dropped from 10-6 to 2-14 says it all.
