KAPOLEI, Hawaii -- If there were any questions that Peyton Manning would follow his own lead after addressing players Tuesday evening concerning effort at the Pro Bowl -- and there shouldn't have been -- they were put to rest before Andrew Luck could even exit the AFC meeting room.
Long after the NFC squad had departed their separate meeting for dinner and evening festivities, Manning remained behind, sitting in a small circle with the Indianapolis Colts rookie, Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub, and members of the Denver Broncos' offensive staff here to coach the AFC squad, including 34-year-old Adam Gase, the Broncos' newly anointed offensive coordinator, and new QBs coach Greg Knapp.
So while Manning provided plenty of wisecracks Tuesday evening, his actions provided a tone we're sure to see all week in practice and in Sunday's Pro Bowl game.
It especially was interesting to see his interactions with Luck, the rookie from Stanford who replaced the legend in Indianapolis. This was not a Brett Favre-Aaron Rodgers moment. Manning was engaging, going over the watered-down playbook with Luck and Schaub, letting them know what time they needed to show up in the morning (7:45 a.m.) for practice.
NFL.com will have Luck mic'd up at practice Friday at Kapolei High School. It will be interesting to hear the interactions going on between the rookie and the vet.
Andy Fenelon is a senior editor at NFL.com. You can follow him on Twitter @Andy_Fenelon.