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QB-PEYTON MANNING (on if he can imagine playing the position at age 43 like Vinny Testaverde) Wednesday, October 24, 2007
"That's something. Vinny's a guy that, from what I've heard, has always kept himself in great shape, a big-time workout and conditioning guy. So a real credit to him for his durability."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on Vinny Testaverde coming from home to win a football game) Wednesday, October 24, 2007
"There is no substitute for experience. He's played for a long time and seen a lot of different defenses. It certainly was a great game by him and getting that win over Arizona."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on his thoughts of Carolina) Wednesday, October 24, 2007
"Somewhat of an unfamiliar opponent. I think they're very well-coached. Obviously, I've just kind of focused on their defense so far, but the defense makes a lot of plays. Of course, you hear a lot about their great people up front, with (Kris) Jenkins and (Mike) Rucker and (Julius) Peppers. That's where a lot of defenses start and that's certainly one of their strengths. The linebackers are active and the secondary cover is good. Like I said, I think they're real well-coached on defense."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on being able to count on short-yardage conversions and passing long on a third down in Jacksonville) Wednesday, October 24, 2007
"That was a little bit of a unique situation. That was a 3rd-and-1 and we had a measurement, so (Coach Dungy) gave us the go-ahead to go for it on 4th-and-1, so we decided to take a shot and try to hit it. Certainly, when you do that you have confidence that you will be able to get it on the 4th-and-1. It was nice to get more than just the first down, to get that big play to set us up in the red zone and get that first touchdown. Third downs are always important, but those 3rd-and-shorts you feel like you ought to have a high percentage of conversions."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on how important calling the right play is on third and one, that and execution) Wednesday, October 24, 2007
"Certainly. Obviously, you're going to try to call a play based on what you have seen all week and hope you get the right defense. If they play something different, you try to adjust and make the proper changes on the run. But usually, it just comes down to the execution of it."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on with the division lead, is it challenging not to lay off now) Wednesday, October 24, 2007
"You hope you have the right kind of guys to focus on the job at hand. I think so far, we've shown to have the right kind of guys that can put the previous game behind us no matter what happened and move on to the next one. So that's your approach this week. It's more of a challenge this week because it is a short week. We played Monday night, got back late and you're already over here almost just a day later getting ready for a new opponent. There's not as much time to prepare, so our guys will need to do a lot of extra studying on their own. Hopefully we can do that and get ready to go down there a