There are plenty of speculations that the upcoming Super Bowl game will be the final appearance of NFL future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. The Denver Broncos quarterback is 39, and he has played for 17 seasons. After multiple neck injuries, some fans say it looks like the player has nothing left for the next season.
After the Broncos' 20-18 win against the Patriots on Sunday, NFL Network caught an intriguing exchange between Manning and New England coach Bill Belichick. When the matchup is over, Manning told Belichick "this might be my last rodeo. So, it sure has been a pleasure."
Going 40, Manning will be the oldest quarterback in the NFL to start a Super Bowl game. The much-anticipated Feb. 7 game will be his 293rd career game. Moreover, the game is a chance for him to end his career on a high note by becoming the first starting QB to win Lombardi Trophies for two different teams.
Manning's 18th NFL season was his worst in the league. He suffered a rash of injuries and the coaching staff decided to sideline him as a backup QB for the first time since his freshman year at Tennessee. Bothered by a left foot injury, he only made nine TD passes and 17 interceptions in nine starts. In Nov. 15, Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Broncos, and Manning left the game with an injury.
After that, he missed the next seven starts but won his starting job back against San Diego on Jan. 3. He entered the game in the third quarter. His error-free game ignited the offensive attack of the Broncos. The quarterback led four scoring drives to win the game 27-20 and get the AFC's No. 1 seed.
Meanwhile, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning expressed his thoughts on Peyton's upcoming game. "I think I kind of think like everybody else where you see this as possibly being the last game [for Peyton]," Eli Manning said in a published report from Washington Post.
Whether the Super Bowl 50 is Peyton's last game, some fans feel that the quarterback needs another championship to cement his illustrious career in NFL. However, his younger brother did not quite see it that way. Eli said that Peyton's impact on the game of football "will not be determined based off this one game."
Eli stressed that Peyton already changed the game of football and played at a high level for a very long time.
