Exactly a month after helping the Denver Broncos win Super Bowl 50, Peyton Manning decided to officially go out on top.
The legendary quarterback and future Hall of Famer announced his retirement from the league Monday in an emotional press conference after 18 illustrious seasons of football.
"I had a chance to shake Johnny Unitas' hand and he said, 'Peyton, you stay at it,'" Manning said, as reported by ESPN. "Well, I have stayed at it, I stayed at it for 18 years. And I hope old No. 19 is up there, with his flattop and maybe his black high-tops on and I hope he knows that I have stayed at it. There's just something about 18 years ...18 is a good number, and today I retire from pro football."
With that, the two-time Super Bowl winner, five-time league MVP and 14-time Pro Bowler leaves the game as the NFL's all-time leader in passing touchdowns (539), passing yards (71,940) and quarterback wins (186, tied with Brett Favre).
Well, just like he dominated NFL football fields for nearly two decades, Manning also dominated the Madden NFL video game series for the past 18 years.
To salute the legendary QB, EA Sports released a career tribute video to Manning, looking back at his 18 prolific years of being featured in the game.
"Undoubtedly Peyton changed the game and our game in the process," EA Sports wrote in a blog post Monday.
However, EA took it further than just this Career Tribute video, announcing three new items in Madden Ultimate Team — Manning's 96 OVR QB from his rookie season with the Indianapolis Colts, a 98 OVR QB celebrating his awesome 2013 season with the Broncos (5,477 yards, 55 touchdowns and 68 percent completion rate) and 99 OVR QB tributing his all-time greatness in his 14 amazing years with the Colts.
The three items will only be available for a limited time, making us want to grab them while we still can. Already, the Madden community is buzzing about them in excitement. By limited time, EA's blog post was accompanied by a "24-hour only" logo and that was 4 p.m. Monday ... so, that would give gamers just under two hours to get the Madden Ultimate Team items while they still can.
