“Peyton Manning faked me out and shuffled into the end zone”: When HOF QB fooled DeMarcus Ware, scoring his famous rushing touchdown

“Peyton was in Denver and I was still with the Cowboys. The Broncos had a third-and-goal on the one-inch line. And if there was one thing I was certain about at that moment, it was that Peyton Manning was not going to run the ball. At least I knew he wouldn’t be running to the outside. They only needed one inch. If anything, he’d run a QB sneak.

So when Peyton hiked the ball and dropped back to hand it off to Knowshon Moreno, I was certain it was a dive play up the gut. There was literally nobody blocking me. So I came clean down the line, and I was thinking, I’m gonna smash this guy and get the stop.

But when I got to the running back, I noticed that … he didn’t have the ball. Then I turned around and I saw Peyton running out to his left, going about two miles an hour, shuffling into the end zone.

He came up to me after that play and said, “D-Ware … I got you, man. You got me that one time, and now I got you.”

He remembered.

And he changed the play at the line of scrimmage to run that naked bootleg, just to get back at me.

That was the thing about Peyton: He was always the smartest player on the field, but he was also the most competitive. He was a master of the chess game, but he also remembered that one time I had gotten him seven years earlier, and he wanted to get me back.

That’s why he’s one of the all-time greats.”