National Sports

"I have finished my football race," Manning says in announcing retirement

Peyton Manning, one of the most decorated quarterbacks in NFL history, said Monday that he would retire after 18 seasons.

Manning, who turns 40 in less than three weeks, said he had achieved everything he hoped on the field, including winning Super Bowl 50 last month.

"I love the game, so you don't have to wonder if I will miss it," Manning said in a nationally televised news conference at the Denver Broncos' practice facility south of Denver. "Absolutely."

Manning, who played his last four seasons with the Broncos, amassed a passel of records and was among the NFL's most popular players. But after returning from serious neck surgery in 2012, he was increasingly hobbled by injuries.

"There were other players who were more talented, but there was no one who could outprepare me," he said Monday. "I have finished my football race."

As the clock wound down on his career this year, he was also dogged by controversy, including a renewed focus on a sexual harassment case from his days at the University of Tennessee and allegations, raised in an Al Jazeera documentary, that he used human growth hormone, a banned substance, to help recover from a serious neck injury a few years ago.

"Maybe I don't throw as well as I used to, run as well as I used to," Manning said. "But I've always had a good sense of timing."

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On Monday, those issues were overshadowed by his retirement and his achievements on the field, which were sizable. His NFL records include most career passing yards, most touchdown passes, most game-winning drives, most games started and most wins as a starting quarterback, 200, a record he achieved by defeating the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 in February.

He led two franchises to Super Bowl victories, the first coming at the end of the 2006 season with the Indianapolis Colts' 29-17 win over the Chicago Bears. He also earned a record five Most Valuable Player Awards and was voted to the Pro Bowl team a record 14 times. He played for only two losing teams in his NFL career.

Chosen as the first overall draft pick in 1998, he was one of the NFL's most telegenic players, a regular television presence pitching cars, pizza, insurance and other products, as well as a guest host on "Saturday Night Live." According to Spotrac, an online database for sports salaries, Manning earned more than $248 million, not including income from endorsements and other off-field ventures.

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