*INDIANAPOLISCOLTS QUARTERBACK PEYTON MANNING *
CONFERENCE CALL
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2005
(on the impact head coach Tony Dungy has had on his career) "He has had a great impact on this entire franchise, bringing his philosophies and style of coaching from Tampa to here. I think the best thing is he has gotten the entire team to buy into his philosophies. That is something that is always a challenge for a coach coming into a new place where you have veteran players. His philosophies of trying to lead the league in turnover ratio, penalty discipline and special teams. Those are things we strive for every single week and every single season …Protect the ball, create turnovers and not have dumb penalties and try to play good special teams. That has resulted in us winning a lot of football games. Sometimes he gets unfairly labeled as a defensive coach. As a head coach, he is very knowledgeable of the entire football game from defense to offense to special teams. He and I talk a lot of philosophy and a lot of defensive philosophy. I can go to him and ask him about what the defense might be thinking against a certain formation or scheme. 'Do you think they might try to play this?' From that standpoint, he has really helped our offense in a lot of ways."
(on having fewer interceptions thrown the last few years) "He (Dungy) has really emphasized to our whole offense that even though we still are an aggressive, down the field offense to try if it's there to take it, throw the ball downfield and give Marvin (Harrison), Reggie (Wayne) and those guys a chance. If it's not, throw the checkdown to the back and try it again on another down. My first two years we were struggling some defensively so we were having to win a lot of games by being aggressive and having to take some chances. At the same time, you have to take chances at times, but you don't want to do it at the expense of turning the ball over and hurting the team. That was something offensively that we bought into and I bought into as well."
(was there an adjustment period for him when Tony Dungy came in as head coach) "I think there is always an adjustment period when you have a new head coach in your building. Offensively, Tom Moore was the coordinator before Coach Dungy got here and they had a long relationship going back to college, Pittsburgh and Minnesota. From that standpoint, our offensive philosophy and schemes stayed the same. It's a different practice routine and different goals and philosophy. Defensively, it was a big adjustment for a number of guys. The best thing Coach Dungy has done is to get the players to buy in and believe. Guys play hard for him. I think that is the idea for any leader to get your soliders or employees to play hard and work hard for you. Coach Dungy has that ability to get all his players to play hard for him. That has been a big difference for our team."
(on what makes Tony Dungy so successful) "He is very detailed, very focused, real stickler for the fundamentals and details. He talks about the little things deciding the close football games. The big things usually take care of themselves if you are doing the little things right. He is constantly harping on those things and he says a lot of the same things over and over again, but they are very valid points."
(on having a big divisional game early in the season with Jacksonville) "Every time we play these guys it's been a big game whether it's been here in Indy or down in Jacksonville. It will be as big of a gam
