On Super Bowl eve, Slate turns to former Colts OL Adam Meadows for insight on Peyton Manning:
“He lives, eats, breathes, smokes, snorts, chews football,” says Adam Meadows, a starter on the Colts’ offensive line during Manning’s first five pro seasons. “He’s just a machine. That’s all he wants to do. I think he expects other people to approach it the way he does. It’s not always a good thing.” … “For a guy who doesn’t get sacked a lot, you don’t want to hear it when he does,” says Meadows, who left the Colts after the 2003 season and retired in 2007. Meadows says that during the 2000 season he was diagnosed with pneumonia on a Monday and had lost 14 pounds by the time he was able to practice again that Friday. Still ailing, Meadows managed to play that weekend. But after the team lost at New England, Manning ripped his performance: “We’re paying you to be better than that.”
You might recall that Meadows left the Colts after the 2003 season to sign a five-year, $15m. contract with the Panthers a few weeks after Carolina lost the Super Bowl. Meadows was touted as an upgrade over Super Bowl starter Jeno James, who Carolina let leave for Miami.
But Meadows, who had only started five games for Indy in 2003, up and retired on the Panthers during training camp, citing a bad shoulder. He never played a snap for Carolina. Meadows resurfaced as a Denver Bronco in 2006 and started three games. Denver waived him in 2007.
