SUPER BOWL, NEW YORK — Here is the word from an excited Peyton Manning shortly after touching down on the deck of the Cornucopia Majesty in Jersey City:
Brrrrrring it on!
Brrrrrring on the Super Bowl!
Brrrrrring on the Seahawks!
“I needed to face different circumstances with my new surroundings, with my new physical state, and so, in two years I feel like we’ve seen a lot as far as on-the-field situations, weather, crowd noise, you name it, with this team … and so I do feel comfortable,” Manning said.
So Brrrrrring on Peyton Manning, the protagonist of Super Bowl XLVIII, the face of the NFL, making what could be his last stand in a Super Bowl, on legs that will soon be 38 years old, but a heart that loves the game too much to ride off into the sunset, here now in our town, in Little Brother Eli’s stadium on a frozen Sunday night.
Peyton Manning has been here for the Manning Bowl, but never the Super Bowl, because no one has. He never wanted to play here, never wanted to be Broadway Peyton. Darling of Madison Avenue, yes. Broadway, no.
But over these next six days, between now and Super Bowl XLVIII, Peyton Manning will be the biggest fish in the biggest pond possible whether he likes it or not, because he is no ordinary Joe, and nothing Little Brother Eli will tell him can prepare him for the bright lights that are both a blessing because of his celebrity, and a curse if they make him blink and distract him from his obsession with winning his second ring and acclaim in many circles as The Greatest, a Mann Among Men among quarterbacks.
He won his Super Bowl in Miami, lost one four years ago in Miami, and now he stalks that treasured Lombardi Trophy here, in the worst place for a creature of habit and football monk to execute his legendary preparation — The City That Never Sleeps.
Where every minute answering the incessant questions about his legacy, about his brother, about his father, about his remarkable comeback from four neck surgeries, will be precious time away from plotting how to dissect the formidable Seahawks defense, from dialing in on how to beat Richard Sherman and prevent any outrageous Super Sunday rant from him. “They are as good as advertised,” Manning said.
The Road to MetLife Stadium and Super Bowl XLVIII is only a few miles away now for Peyton Manning, but first he must navigate his way past a pothole that for him is a necessary evil:
More media than he has ever encountered in a TMZ-Twitter-Facebook world gone mad, in the media capital of the world.
For a control freak like Manning, this horde is the elephant — or elephants — in the room, capable of trampling on his laser-focus preparation for the best secondary he has ever faced in his storied career.
Against the backdrop of the Weather Channel going all in on our polar vortex concerns, it is Peyton Manning more than anyone who must weather the storm.
“I certainly hope it’s not a problem,” Manning said while photographers kept shuttering away. “I know it’s part of the requirements when you play in a Super Bowl, it’s part of the honor that you get to play on this game, and there are requirements that come along with it. There’s three days of media requirements as opposed to one day during a normal game week, and that’s part of it.
“At the same time, you got to find time to get your preparation and your film study done. I thought we had an excellent week of practice last week, we look to continue that this week here in New York-New Jersey. I think we’ll be able to do that.”
Peyton has already used Eli, a 23-0 loser last month to the Seahawks, as a resource.
“He told me he couldn’t help me much with Seattle,” Peyton deadpanned. “It wasn’t one of the Giants’ better days, and so he said, ‘Don’t ask me for a whole lot of help there.’ Eli and I have talked about playing in this stadium. I feel it was helpful to play in this stadium this season — it was the first time I had a chance to play in that stadium. At least you kind of know the surroundings a little bit. … I’ve talked to him a number of times these past couple of weeks. He’s excited for me, and I’ve always really appreciated his help and support.”
This won’t be Peyton’s Last Hurrah, though.
“I know there have been a number of players that have walked away as champions, and I’m sure that’s a great feeling for those people — John Elway, Ray Lewis did it last year, Michael Strahan. In talking to Ray Lewis and probably to John Elway, they couldn’t play anymore, that was all they had to give,” Manning said. “They truly left it all out there. I’ve certainly had a career change two years ago with my [neck] injury, with changing teams. I had no plans coming into this season beyond this year. I still enjoy playing football. I feel a little better than I thought I would at this point, coming off that surgery. I think when you still enjoy the preparation and the work part of it, I think you probably still ought to be doing that.
“I think as soon as I stop enjoying it, if I can’t produce, if I can’t help the team, that’s when I’ll stop playing. If that’s next year, maybe it is. But I certainly want to continue to keep playing.”
Brrrrrring it on!