EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- For a moment, Peyton Manning almost lost his composure. In the bowels of MetLife Stadium late Sunday night, Manning calmly answered questions after the most disappointing moment of his career.
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And then a question arrived that understandably bothered him, asking if the 43-8 loss in Super Bowl XLVIII was embarrassing.
"It's not embarrassing at all. I would never use that word," Manning said, starting to fumble for words. "There's a lot of professional football players in that locker room that put in a lot of work into being here, playing in that game. ... That word embarrassing is an insulting word to tell you the truth."
For a brief moment, Manning showed his human side. He appeared to struggle to bottle his emotions before regaining his composure. That's easier to see when you watch the video above rather than just read the text. We don't blame Manning for his thoughts, even if his teammate Wes Welker disagreed.
"This was embarrassing," Welker told reporters after the game. "No way I expected anything like this to happen."
The "Around The League Podcast" taped our Super Bowl XLVIII recap from MetLife Stadium right after the game.