As the smoke clears from the frenzied pursuit of Peyton Manning, we're finding out more and more about the wildest two weeks in free-agency history.
Earlier this week, we learned about the entertaining folly of Pete Carroll and the Seahawks, who found out the hard way that Peyton Manning likes surprises about as much as an elderly woman with a heart condition.
Now we get more insight straight from the
horse's
Broncos' mouth. Manning was a guest on KKFN-FM in Denver on Thursday, and he put to bed the myth he didn't want to sign with an NFC team because his brother, Eli, plays for the New York Giants.
"Well, that's not true, because obviously when I was talking to San Francisco, they asked me that," Manning said (via SportsRadioInterviews.com). "And I wouldn't have told them that I could possibly be interested if that were the case. Obviously I know that San Francisco is in the NFC."
Manning is a loyal guy, but he made it clear it wasn't going to stop him from landing at the destination that benefited him most.
"Just like everybody thinks that the Titans (didn't get chosen) because they were in the Colts' division," he said. "Once again, I knew that the Titans were in the AFC South. And so when coach (Mike) Munchak called and I said, 'Sure, I absolutely would have an interest. and I'd love to get to know everybody better.' So the psychoanalyzing -- I guess that's the word, I'm not sure I know what that means -- but there's a lot of teams that I liked. And believe me, part of me wanted to be able to go to all of them for a short period of time."
So there you go. The idea of protecting the possibility of a blessed Manning Bowl never was a factor. Which makes sense. Because that would be dumb.
