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Ex-Broncos, Cowboys DE DeMarcus Ware Shares Incredible Story of Peyton Manning’s Locker Room Presence

There are many stories of Peyton Manning doing things that most people wouldn’t dream of doing. On “The Pat McAfee Show,” Demarcus Ware talks about how amazing it is to watch Manning at work.

Ware talks about how Manning operates in an entirely different fashion than anyone else in the NFL. At the time, Ware and Manning were playing for the Denver Broncos. In their relatively short time together, Ware learned a lot about the characteristics of his quarterback.

Ware talks about how devoted to crafting a football team Manning was. In particular, the retired quarterback would take time to get everything correct on the field, no matter how long it took.

During the interview, it is certainly evident just how devoted to football and team camaraderie the soon-to-be Hall of Famer is.

Ware dives right into talking about Peyton and his methods of perfection.

“I think no one operated like Peyton. When we are on the field, from an offensive and defensive standpoint, if they messed up, we just started over. We could be ten plays in, but the practice is prolonged because we messed up.”

He also talks about his work ethic off the field. Ware talks about how Peyton would make everywhere a place to practice.

“In the locker room and also in the meeting rooms, he would actually put all the offensive line, he’d put everyone in their position. And he would be in the back of the room and call the play out.

“He would say, ‘hey, left guard what do you have here?’ And he would actually set it up like this as a practice. ‘If I’m gonna say spaghetti, meatballs, and pizza, what are you going to do?’”

Ware Says That Peyton’s Work Ethic Is Unparalleled

Manning clearly has a method of success that is tried and true. He has been retired since 2016, but he will undoubtedly go down as one of the games’ greatest players.

“That is so cool to really watch film and put the guys in position, where now, they actually are looking at the right guard or left guard, or the guys see where they are supposed to be. So, he portrayed it in the film room as his view on the field. That’s a whole different beast, and he did that every single play.”

Pat McAfee chimes in with a different perspective on Manning.

“It didn’t matter who was speaking. If Peyton stood up and was like, ‘we aren’t actually going to do that on our day off, that’ll happen on Wednesday.’ That’s how it went.”

So, not only was Manning calling most of the plays on the field, but he was also calling the shots for how the team prepared in practice. Only the best players can do this, and Ware points out that is exactly what would happen. He explains that the coaches would have one plan, but Peyton would completely change it.

“On Wednesday, we are gonna do all of our run plays. We are gonna run through how we are gonna attack the trenches. And Peyton stood up and said, ‘I think we need to do [the two-minute drill]. We are gonna start the game off in two minutes.’ So, we ran the [two-minute drill] on Wednesday.”

All in all, Manning and Ware had some incredibly successful years playing together. In 2016, right before Manning’s retirement, the two players won the Super Bowl together.