Peyton Manning biography

Synopsis

Early Years

Peyton Lee Manning was born March 24, 1976, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The second of three boys, Peyton is son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning, and the older brother of New York Giants QB, Eli Manning.

Stoked by a competitive fire that surpassed even that of his two brothers, Peyton seemed destined to be a great quarterback almost from the time he could pick up a football. At Isidore Newman High School, Manning led the football team to a 34-5 record, throwing for more than 7,000 yards, and was largely viewed as the nation's number one football recruit in his senior season.

In the fall of 1994, Manning enrolled at the University of Tennessee. There, his dominance continued. Over his four-year career, Manning torched opponents with a big arm and dead-on accuracy, setting an astounding 42 conference, school and NCAA records. In all, he passed for 11,201 yards, registered 863 completions, and connected for 89 touchdowns.

Along with his physical gifts, the 6'5", 230-pound Manning also developed a reputation as a voracious student of the game, poring over game film to analyze his opponents.

NFL Success

In 1998, the Indianapolis Colts selected Manning with the first overall pick in the NFL draft. For a franchise whose recent years were defined by hard luck and high loss totals, Manning was quickly embraced as a savior.

His rookie year, however, was far from perfect. Moments of brilliance were often followed by bouts of struggle as Manning experienced some expected growing pains. While establishing new NFL records for completions (326), attempts (575), passing yards (3,379) and touchdowns (26), he also threw an NFL-leading 28 interceptions for a team that struggled to a 3-13 finish.

Those early lumps, though, soon gave way to a level of success largely unmatched in league history. Over the next 13 years, Manning became arguably the game's best quarterback and the face of a high-powered Colts team that regularly contended for the NFL's top record.

After winning his first MVP award in 2003, Manning went on to capture the award three more times (2004, 2008 and 2009), becoming the first NFL player ever to achieve that distinction. In addition, he holds the honor of becoming the fastest player to pass for 50,000 career yards and 4,000 completions.

For the first decade of his career, Manning was dogged by suggestions that he couldn't win a big game. In 2007, he silenced critics when he toppled his longtime rivals, the New England Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady, in the AFC title game, and then went on to beat the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. In the Super Bowl, Manning, who threw for 247 yards, was named the game MVP.