Peyton Manning may have quarterbacked the Denver Broncos to the Super Bowl in February, albeit in a loss, but the veteran signal caller revealed that his right throwing arm still isn't 100 percent following spinal fusion surgery on his neck in 2011.
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Manning has thrown 92 touchdown passes since the surgery after signing with the Broncos in March of 2012, but the quarterback said he still doesn't feel 100 percent.
"I'm not at a 100 percent compared to what I was before my surgery,'' Manning said on Late Show with David Letterman."But I have made strides each season and this year felt a lot better than I did the year before. These nerves just go at their own pace.''
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Manning, who has led the Broncos to back-to-back 13-3 seasons and is coming off of a 43-8 Super Bowl loss to the Seattle Seahawks, described the uncertainty and frustration over his recovery from the surgery and how he wasn't sure how long it would take the nerves in his arm to respond to the procedure.
"You talk about waking up every day at 7 a.m. excited and then being pretty depressed by noon every day -- today's not the day,'' Manning said on the show.
The Broncos signal caller also discussed his attempts to regain the feel for his throwing motion and how he's a different quarterback now than he was with the Colts in Indianapolis, where he spent his first 14 years in the NFL.
"I used to sit in the mirror and just sort of go through my throwing motion trying to get the feel back the way I'd always thrown before,'' Manning told Letterman. "Maybe I can't throw the 100 mile-an-hour fastball any more, but I can still strike you out, picking my spots, working the plate. I don't make the same kind of throws I used to make, I try to use the cerebral part, use my experience.''
Manning has been cleared by Broncos doctors and has participated in offseason programs with the team while constantly being surrounded by rumors that he is going to retire. Manning has no plans to retire as he enters the third year of his five-year deal with Denver.
"I still enjoy what I'm doing, the preparation part, and I still think I can help the team. If the Broncos say, 'Hey we don't need you anymore,' that'll probably be the end of it," Manning said on the show. "And as soon as I don't feel like I can do the same things I've been doing that's when I'll stop playing.''
Manning threw for 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns last season with the Broncos, and unlike Letterman the signal caller has no plans of calling it a career.
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