FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 15th, 2019

PEYTON MANNING SPEAKS WITH PETER KING FOR “FOOTBALL MORNING IN AMERICA” EXCLUSIVELY ON NBCSPORTS.COM

Column Includes Manning’s Post-Playing Career and His New TV Show Focused on the NFL’s 100th Season

“This has been a journey for me. I’ve learned a lot about 100 years of football. I thought I knew a lot. There’s been a ton that I did not know. There’s been fascinating stuff.”  – Manning on his work for the NFL’s 100th season

FMIA Also Features Updates on the NFL’s CBA Negotiations, King’s Thoughts on Melvin Gordon’s Contract Dispute with the Chargers, and New Elements Added to the Column

STAMFORD, Conn. – July 15, 2019 – Peyton Manning speaks with Peter King about his post-playing career and the NFL’s upcoming 100th season in his latest edition of Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com.

The column also features updates on the NFL’s CBA negotiations with the NFLPA and how the new pass interference rules may have unintended consequences on the game.

FMIA includes a look at Chargers running back Melvin Gordon’s contract dispute with the team and King’s unveiling of new elements for the column.

 

The following are highlights from this week’s edition of Football Morning in America:

PEYTON MANNING AND THE NFL’s 100th SEASON

King: “Manning was in (Chicago) for one of the last days of taping for ‘Peyton’s Places,’ the 30-episode series on pro football history set to debut on ESPN+ on July 29…With the NFL embarking on the 100th season of professional football, you’re going to get hit over the head with history and momentousness in NFL storytelling a lot this year.”

Peyton Manning: “This has been a journey for me. I’ve learned a lot about 100 years of football. I thought I knew a lot. There’s been a ton that I did not know. There’s been fascinating stuff.”

Manning on having the opportunity to run an NFL team: “I’ve had talks with a few teams. It never got into any type of negotiation, if you will. I think a couple teams have expressed interest…I’ve given them that same answer. I’ve listened…It is all-in, all-encompassing.’ I guess because I have that respect for the job and what it is, what it takes, that that’s why I’ve passed at this point. At some point, maybe I am ready to say, ‘Hey I’m all in.’ But I’m just not there yet.”

Manning on his favorite moment from the series: “Definitely had a moment where I said I can’t believe I’m doing this. We did research and found out that Elvis Presley was not just a fan, he was a fanatic…What was unique about him was he kind of had his own football league. He had a little touch football league with his buddies.”

 

CBA NEGOTIATIONS

King: “The owners and players meet this Wednesday in another formal bargaining session for a new CBA…This will be the fourth bargaining session between owners and players this spring/summer, with the hope being the two sides can reach an agreement on a new bargaining agreement in 2019.”

King: “In a round of calls Saturday, I got some optimism from a team source who felt the chance of making a deal on a new CBA was 50-50 this year if the union would stick with the current economic formula of the game…But I talked to a source on the player side who wasn’t nearly as hopeful.”

King: “The 18-game schedule is nowhere near a reality…I’ve always thought in an era when the reduction of head trauma is job one in everything the league does, the only way the NFL could even consider 18 games is with teams playing players a maximum of 16 weeks. But the details make it too hard.”

 

PASS INTERFERENCE

King: “The NFL has approved a one-year experiment in which coaches will be able to throw challenge flags to appeal both pass-interference calls that were made and plays the coaches think should have been flagged for pass interference…I’m as concerned with the unintended consequences of this rules tweak as the intended one.”

King on how coaches may react to the change: “One coach has decided that if his team is playing in a stadium with a premium video board (Dallas, for instance), he’ll instruct his offense to rush to the line to get a play off if he thinks there’s a likelihood that one of his receivers could be guilty of an uncalled pass-interference infraction.”

 

MELVIN GORDON’S CONTRACT

King: “I think this Melvin Gordon-Chargers impasse could get ugly…There’s a few reasons the holdout could last a while, starting with the fact that Chargers general manager Tom Telesco is not afraid to take a hard line. But mostly, it’s about what happens in recent years when teams have either paid runners or drawn a hard line with them.”

King: “On Saturday, Gordon said: ‘You can’t just replace a great back. People think you can do that, and you can’t…Outside of quarterbacks, running back’s the next-hardest position on the field and we should get paid as such.’ There are so many flaws in that argument.”

King: “The recent history of paying, and not paying, running backs suggests you can replace good backs who want big money and still win.”

 

NEW ELEMENTS TO FMIA

  • Call of the Week: “An analytical examination of a play-call that played a significant part in the outcome of a game that weekend, with the help of Pro Football Focus data on deadline. Starting in September.”
  • The NFL Century: “With pro football entering its 100th season, I’ll take you with me seeing some historic things in my travels.”
  • The Profile: “A weekly look at a different slice of life of an NFL person.”

 

Read the rest of the column here.

A new “Football Morning in America” posts every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com through the NFL season. It was announced in May that King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; making regular appearances on NBCSN’s and NBC Sports Radio’s PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continuing to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.

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