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 Not long ago, Manning's brilliant career looked like it could be
over after he missed the entire 2011 season to undergo surgery on
his neck.
Already in his mid 30s after a Hall of Fame-worthy career that
included a Super Bowl win with the Indianapolis Colts, even Manning
was resigned to the idea his playing days were over.
"If that was going to be the end of it because of a neck injury," he
told reporters on Thursday, "I really, believe it or not, had a
peace about it."
Manning wasn't the only one who thought his days in the NFL were
finished. His younger brother Eli, quarterback of the New York
Giants, was also skeptical that he could come back.
"I saw him after that first surgery," Eli told the NFL Network on
Wednesday. "And I was pretty much convinced that he was done. "There
was no way he could come back and play football."
The Colts were also unsure and with college quarterback Andrew Luck
available to them in the NFL Draft decided to release their best
player.
Manning was fortunate that there were plenty of teams still willing
to take a chance on him and luckier still that he chose well when he
agreed to join the Broncos.
In his two seasons in Denver, the 37-year-old has proved himself and
all the doubters wrong, playing some of the best football of his
career to lead the Broncos to Sunday's Super Bowl against the
Seattle Seahawks.
By any definition it has been a remarkable comeback, but Manning
says luck was on his side long before his latest injury problems.
Manning comes from one of the NFL's most famous families but has
never had any sense of entitlement. His father Archie was an NFL
quarterback as well as Eli.
By all accounts, Manning's older brother Cooper was a brilliant
young player who was also headed to the big time when a neck injury
forced him to quit the game before his career had taken off.
"That made a big impact on my life," Manning said.
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"I remember at the time, when Cooper got injured, they did a test on
me and Eli. I would have been a junior in high school and Eli would
have been a sixth-grader, or something.
"They said our necks weren't picture-perfect and didn't look ideal,
but they're stable enough to keep playing football."
For Manning, it was an early lesson that nothing should ever be
taken for granted in professional sport, so he had to make the best
of his opportunities.
In addition to winning a Super Bowl, Manning has claimed the NFL's
Most Valuable Player award four times — and is the hot favorite to
win it again this season when it is announced on Saturday — but he
knows how easily things could have been very different.
"Cooper had to give up playing football," Manning said.
"In some ways, when I had my neck problems, I thought maybe I had
been on borrowed time this entire time. I was fortunate to have 20
years of health to play football."
Around the same time that Manning was cleared to return to the NFL,
he watched Eli win his second Super Bowl in Indianapolis, unaware
that two years later he would get the chance to contest a Super Bowl
in the stadium where his brother's Giants play.
"That is a pretty unique and ironic situation that Eli played in a
Super Bowl in Indianapolis, and that the Broncos have a chance to
play in the one in New York," Manning said.
"I had a chance to see Eli last night. I got to visit with him and
his family. He and I don't get to spend a lot of time together in
person.
"He came to the game two weeks ago against the Patriots. That's one
of four or five NFL games of mine that he has been to in person.
It's always special to have a chance to be with him."
(Editing by Larry Fine)
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