If you take what the NFL Films cameras caught following the Denver Broncos’ AFC Championship Game over the New England Patriots at face value, this could well be Peyton Manning’s NFL swan song.
@NFLTotalAccess @MileHighReport @dmac1043 @TheBroncosWire @VicLombardi Video evidence pic.twitter.com/jBcOVtxIOJ
— ARD (@ARDFootball) January 26, 2016
One of the defining quarterbacks of this generation will undoubtedly be a sentimental favorite for the public in his final game. Many fans want to see if Manning can end his career with a Super Bowl win, just as John Elway — the man now running football ops in Denver — did.
Just don’t tell that to the Broncos’ Super Bowl opponent, the Carolina Panthers.
Coach Ron Rivera thinks most of America may be rooting for Manning for that, or other reasons. But he’s not phased.
“Probably. Which is fine,” Rivera told the Charlotte Observer‘s Scott Fowler. “He’s had a tremendous career. […] I’m kind of hoping there are a whole bunch of Panthers fans and Raiders fans who are thinking otherwise though.”
Panthers players are following their coach’s lead.
“We don’t really care if this is his last game,” said fullback Mike Tolbert. “He’s played what – 18, 19 years? He’s had enough, you know what I’m saying? It’s our turn.”
Safety Tre Boston found a colorful, yet entirely appropriate analogy for the situation that the Panthers find themselves in against Manning:
“So if a man has the last piece of pizza in the world, are you going to take that last piece? One of y’all got to live! One of us has to win, and I’m not trying to lose. It’s you and that one man. You gonna live or not? I’m trying to win. I don’t care who you are.”
If that last slice is from a Papa John’s Pizza, is it fair to guess whom Papa John wants to get that final piece? It probably wouldn’t be a surprise.
