The Associated Press
John Elway retired from the game at age 38, his body too battered to try to win a third straight Super Bowl title. He looks at how the league has changed and wonders what it would be like playing now.
Peyton Manning (38), Tom Brady (37) and Drew Brees (35) look like they can play into their 40s.
“They’re going to play for a long time, yeah, with the way the league is now and they’re still playing at such a high level,” Elway said. “It’s still a rough game and when they do get it, it still hurts to get hit. But obviously they’re a little bit more protected than they used to be, but that’s OK because they’re that important.”
Elway wonders if he could have played into his 40s in today’s game.
“I don’t know,” he said, chuckling.
Reminded that the top quarterbacks nowadays command upward of $20 million a year, Elway modified his answer.
“Oh, that’s true,” Elway said. “Oh, now that you bring it up, maybe …”
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BACK TO SCHOOL: NFL players will have the opportunity to attend customized graduate school programs at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
The NFL Players Association has arranged for classes that will guide the players from initial career development through professional and certificate programs and ultimately to a Master’s of Business Administration degree.
The program will feature in-person and online components.
“We are excited about the new opportunity the Indiana University Kelley School of Business is offering our players,” said NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith. “We pride ourselves in helping our members be knowledgeable about the business of football and putting them on the right path to succeed off the field. This relationship will achieve both.”
The program includes career coaching and career services. After completion of an initial career development program, players can enroll in online, non-credit classes for personal finance, real estate, wealth management and entrepreneurship.
Upon completion of a non-credit professional program, players interested in developing more expertise will be able to enroll in a four-course certificate program. Featured will be courses that put teams of students to work on real-world strategic projects.
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HOT TICKETS: When it comes to the secondary ticket market, the Dallas Cowboys are still America’s Team despite one playoff win in the past 17 seasons.
According to StubHub.com, tickets for Cowboys games are the top sellers heading into the season. The Cowboys are followed by the San Francisco 49ers, who have made it to three straight NFC title games and are moving into a fancy new stadium. Super Bowl champion Seattle, Chicago and San Diego round out the top five.
The Cowboys are also the top-selling home team, followed by San Francisco and Seattle, while the biggest road draws on StubHub are the 49ers, Packers and Bears.
The top-selling games so far are San Francisco’s season opener at Dallas, the 49ers home debut at Levi’s Stadium the following week against the Bears, and a Texas-showdown featuring Houston at Dallas on Oct. 5.
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MULTI-TASKING: Coaches and players will be using tablets on the sideline all season. That pales in comparison to what fans have the capabilities of watching on their devices.
The NFL app for Xbox One and Windows 8 incorporates Microsoft’s Snap feature to give viewers in-game video highlights, fantasy scoring and games live at the same time. On the same screen.
Fans that already have NFL Sunday Ticket’s Max package can watch live games directly through the app from its various carriers, whether satellite or cable TV. For fantasy players — and who isn’t one these days — the app is now connected to websites carrying fantasy league stats.
Real-time scoring updates, standings and scoreboards also are available. So are notifications for in-game video highlights and touchdowns from around the league.
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JOHNNY FOOTBALL EVERYWHERE: The NFL’s most popular jersey belongs to a guy who had yet to play a real NFL game: Johnny Football, of course.
Browns rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel’s No. 2 is so outdistancing any other jersey that Dick’s Sporting Goods stores reports it has outsold the shirts for Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning and Robert Griffin III combined.
Luck comes in second in the company’s Jersey Report, Manning is third, Carolina linebacker Luke Kuechly is fourth and RG3 fifth.
The Browns and Manziel also have attracted the most interest from football fans throughout the offseason, according to data from the mobile sports app th2eScore. Since the Super Bowl, fans have signed up to receive more notifications about real-time scoring plays and breaking news concerning Cleveland and the rookie than any other team or player.
Manziel has more than doubled the number of fans choosing to follow him since the Super Bowl — an increase of 116 percent.
He still stands only 40th in overall popularity, which Manning leads. So wait until Johnny Football gets into a game or two this season.
The Browns improved their following by 40 percent.
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CAPTAIN POT ROAST: Terrance Knighton already has one of the coolest nicknames in sports, and now the massive nose tackle affectionately known as “Pot Roast” has a new moniker.
Captain.
His teammates voted Knighton one of their five captains in just his second season in Denver.
Knighton emerged as a team leader late last season after Denver’s defense went through an injury epidemic on the road to the Super Bowl.
“Being thrown in the fire last year and just adjusting to things, the team, how things work, coming from a different organization, I had to adjust quickly. But I never backed down from accepting the leadership role,” Knighton said. “When we had injuries last year I had to accept that role.”
Now, it’s official.
It took him by surprise, though.
“I knew I was a leader on the team, but I didn’t expect to be captain,” Knighton said. “We have a lot of guys that you could’ve taken on the defense. You have Derek Wolfe, Von Miller, T.J. Ward, Danny Trevathan, Aqib Talib, Chris Harris Jr. — any guy on our defense could’ve gotten that ‘C’ on their jersey.”
A six-year pro, Knighton hasn’t been a captain since his senior year at Temple.
“College was a little different because if you were the most talented guy and you got seniority, you are going to get that,” Knighton said. “But in the NFL it’s more of a responsibility, means a little bit more, and you represent the Broncos, you are one of the faces of the team and you just have to hold yourself to a higher standard, whether it’s in the weight room, the film room, in public, addressing the media.”
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AP Pro Football Writers Arnie Stapleton and Barry Wilner, and AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this story.
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