QB-PEYTON MANNING (on RB-Joseph Addai being a new arrival) Training Camp
"One of the best headlines I've read in awhile is that Joseph Addai signed this morning in the paper. I called him on the way up here, and he's excited, and I know the team's excited to have him. It sounds like hopefully now every draftee will be at camp, which I think will be a real positive and hopefully the whole team will be here today and will be at the three o'clock meeting and be ready to go to work."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on this being a very important camp for RB-Joseph Addai) Training Camp
"Yes, the summer school and mini-camps are good, but until you put the pads on, there is always another level to take it to. This will be great work for him to get great repetitions in training camp and for Dominic (Rhodes) and for James (Mungro) both. It could be by committee or it could be one guy. One guy may come out of camp as the legitimate starter we don't know, but that is what training camp is for to get the competition with the shoulder pads on and get that chemistry within the starting unit."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on RB-Joseph Addai being a quick study) Training Camp
"I don't want to put too much pressure on him. The guy has got enough pressure on him as it is. He has picked things up pretty quickly I think, playing in an advanced offense there at LSU and playing against different defenses and difference blitzes. He has a good idea of what is going on. The thing about this offenses is, what is in the playbook isn't exactly what happens on the field. I think it frustrates a lot of rookies and especially free agents, they say, 'Wait, this is the play, but that's not the play that was actually run,' and I'll say 'Welcome to the Colts' offense.' That's the story of our offense, but he's picking up the changes and the ins and outs of the offense."
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QB-PEYTON MANNING (on camp being a fun time) Training Camp
"Yes, camp is fun for me. I look forward to it. I sent out a mass text message out last night to a bunch of guys whose cell phone numbers I have and I just said, 'Hey are you ready for some football? Let's go out and make this our year,' and everybody responds absolutely lets go do it." So it is exciting, getting everybody here and going to work and hopefully making this a special season."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on the question marks for this camp) Training Camp
"Obviously, it is what everybody else's is, the transition without Edgerrin James as the starting tailback. He's been the constant, consistent running back here for seven years. When you lose a guy like that, there's no question there is going to be a change, but I'm looking forward to the competition there and seeing how these guys react. They are all competitors. Dominic (Rhodes) is one of the most competitive guys you will meet,so he's ready to come out and compete and Joseph (Addai) does not want to come in here and sit for a long time either. He wants to be out on the field. Everybody is excited about seeing how the team is going to react."
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QB-PEYTON MANNING (on the Colts being a favorite) Training Camp
"I guess it means we're doing some things right, but you still have to go out and do it. I know that's been the question around here for awhile, is that the Colts look like a good team but can they go out and do it? And that's what we have to do. We can't really talk about it, explain it, or make excuses. There are no excuses. That's the goal this year, so we have a lot of work to do at this training camp. I guess it's good that people think we are going to be a good team. I think it's more important that we think we're a good football team. We have high goals and high expectations and we just have to go out and do it."
