Peyton Manning conversation on Football Night in America

Peyton Manning spoke with Bob Costas on "Football Night in America".

Here are the highlights of Manning's conversations plus the rest of the topics discussed by Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Mike Florio and Cris Collinsworth:

ON SEAHAWKS

Dungy: “The Seattle Seahawks are not invincible. They are 3-3 right now and they don’t look like the defending Super Bowl Champions.”

Collinsworth: “It’s possible that success is tearing this team apart more so than when they were trying to get to the Super Bowl.”

Harrison: “They have to get back to that cockiness that they had. They’re trying to be too perfect. They need to relax, start having fun and go back to the fundamentals.”

ON RAVENS

Dungy: “They’re pretty good. Joe Flacco has gotten used to his new weapons, and their defense is starting to play like they did in their Super Bowl year. When these guys give pressure, Ngata and Suggs and those guys, they’re awesome.”

Harrison: “Steve Smith has been awesome this year, but you can’t forget about Torrey Smith, because he can stretch the defense.”

Florio on Ray Rice investigation: “Rice continues to be indefinitely suspended by the NFL. The appeal hearing is tentatively set for early November, but there’s a dispute over whether or not Commissioner Goodell will testify at that appeal hearing. The NFL Players Association believes that he should; the NFL is resisting. I’m told that former federal judge, Barbara S. Jones, who’s been appointed to handle the appeal, will make a decision this week on whether or not Commissioner Goodell will be required to testify.”

ON REDSKINS

Dungy: “Colt McCoy came in and gave the team a spark, that’s what he does. He can move around. He makes things happen, and he took care of the ball today.”

Harrison on Colt McCoy: “He played one half of the game great. Let’s control our expectations a little bit, but I do believe that he deserves to start next week.”

ON PANTHERS

Harrison: “The Carolina Panthers have not looked good. Cam Newton is not 100 percent. Their defense looks average, but the Panthers are still in first place in their division. This is a crazy league.”

ON BROWNS

Harrison: “They are not good enough to just show up. They have to play hard. They have to play smart. They can’t make the mistakes they made today.”

ON CHIEFS

Dungy: “Alex Smith was good all day. Then on that last drive, he was great. He moved around, he got away from the rush and made big plays. He gives them what they need, when they need it.”

ON BILLS

Florio on CJ Spiller’s season-ending injury: “I’m told that C.J. Spiller is going to have surgery tomorrow to repair his broken collarbone, and he is done for the year.”

ON JETS

Florio on Percy Harvin: “As stunning as it was that the Seahawks traded Percy Harvin, it was just as surprising that the Jets decided to give him what amounts to a third chance. Some in the league, along with coaches who have known Harvin for a long time, believe that his temperament, his belligerence, and his fighting with teammates makes him unfit to play in the NFL.”arvin

ON BRONCOS

Collinsworth on Peyton Manning: “Not only does he have a great sense of the history of the game, but he also has a way of creating history. The history we might get a chance to see tonight, in my opinion in football, is the biggest of the big. This is like the home run record in baseball.”

Dungy on Manning breaking the all-time record for most career passing touchdowns: “I promise you he [Manning] will not be focused on that record tonight, he will be focused on the 49ers defense.”

Ward on Julius Thomas: “Julius Thomas is the best tight end that Peyton Manning has ever played with. The only knock that I can make on Julius Thomas is that he needs to improve upon his blocking skills, because he can’t block anyone.”

ON 49ERS

Collinsworth: “This franchise needs to be very careful right now because they have it good. They have the coach. They have a very successful general manager. They have a young quarterback. They have a good, young owner. It all fits right now, but to think that you’re going to pull the head coach out of that equation and have it continue to run in the same fashion, I think is a little bit arrogant. If I were the owner of this team, I would be doing everything I could at this moment in time to go, ‘Guys, I don’t care what your differences are, we’re fixing this. We’re keeping this team together because it works.’”

Florio on Aldon Smith: “I’m told there’s a chance Smith could actually be reinstated sooner than expected. He could be back one or two games early.”

Note: On tonight’s Week 7 edition of NBC’s Football Night in America, Bob Costas interviewed Denver Broncos QB Peyton Manning. Manning needed three touchdown passes to set the NFL’s all-time record for most career passing touchdowns. Costas and Manning discussed the record, and all of the NFL QBs who have held the mark since Sammy Baugh.

In addition, Josh Elliott spoke with Broncos TE Julius Thomas.

MANNING WITH BOB COSTAS

On spending a day with Sammy Baugh: “One of the greatest days in my professional sports career was an afternoon I got to spend with Sammy Baugh in Rotan, Texas. It was about 15 years ago. An interesting story about how I got there. We flew in to Snyder, Texas, but there were no rental cars in Snyder. So we drove from Snyder to Rotan in a hearse. I did sit in the front seat though. A lot of records will be broken in the NFL. One record that will never be broken: No quarterback will ever lead the league in touchdowns, interceptions as a defensive back, and punting average. Sammy Baugh did that.”

Bob Costas: “After that, the [TD] record was held by Bobby Layne. He was a different kind of guy than Sammy Baugh or yourself.”

Manning: “I never knew Bobby Layne, but my dad knew him and said he was great guy with great charisma. When I studied him, I found out what a great competitor he was. Maybe one of the great competitors of all time, at quarterback.”

Costas: “Then Y.A. Tittle.”

Manning: “I met Y.A. Tittle a number of times. That great picture of him on his knees, bloodied, tells you how tough he was. From what I studied, he was ahead of his time. He threw for seven touchdowns in a game. He was a special quarterback.”

Costas: “After Y.A. Tittle, then came Johnny Unitas. He held the record next.”

Manning: “I had an evening with Johnny Unitas at a banquet. I presented him with a pair of black high-tops. I wore black high-tops at Tennessee, and of course I knew Unitas did. We have a picture of him holding the high-tops, and he really liked it. That moment was very special for me. He was arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, and the first pure timing passer.”

Costas: “Unitas finished at 290. Eventually Fran Tarkenton got to 342 and held the record for a long, long time.”

Manning: “I never met Fran Tarkenton. He and my dad are good friends, and he keeps up with me through my dad. I didn’t realize what a great passer Fran was. I knew he was a great scrambler. The fact that he threw for so many touchdowns, he was ahead of his time, and that record held for 20 years.”

Costas: “And then Dan Marino. He was the first to go past 400, and it looked like that mark was going to last for a long, long time.”

Manning: “My dad has always been my favorite player. You have to have a current favorite player, and Eli is obviously my current favorite player. Marino was my guy. I loved the way he competed, managed the game, and controlled the game. One of my very first games in the NFL was against Marino. We didn’t win, but I always remember that he hugged me after the game and said ‘Keep your head up, you’re going to play a long time in this league.’

I‘ve never forgotten that. He was probably the greatest passer of all time.”

Costas: “And then Brett Favre. No matter how you battered him and knocked him around, he showed up every Sunday and got the record.”

Manning: “I think that all players would like to be able to say that they played with as much passion as Brett Favre. I don’t know anybody else that can say it. I hope you can say that about me, but I’m not sure it does justice to Favre. Nobody had more passion than he did. There will never be anyone quite like him.”

JULIUS THOMAS WITH JOSH ELLIOTT

On not playing football in high school: “In high school I really didn’t [play football]. My friends would say come play football, and I would tell them that I was focused on basketball. My goal was to get a college scholarship. I thought I needed to invest all of my time in basketball.”

On joining the football team in college: “When I got to college and I reached that goal, the first thing that came to my mind was that I never gave football a shot. I went and asked the football coaches if they wouldn’t mind a 6-foot, 4-inch wide receiver? And they said ‘Of course. We don’t turn those down.’ Basketball coaches are not normally thrilled about their players running around on football fields, so it had to wait.”

On work ethic and size: “Being one of the smallest power forwards in Division I basketball, it gave me my work ethic. Every night you are going up against guys who are taller than you, and you are thinking ‘How am I going to find a way to have success tonight?’ You have to find a way to outwork them and find a way to do more. Being able to translate that work ethic to football has helped a lot. Now I’m the prototype size. I take that work ethic that I learned when I was the undersized guy, and put it together with my size, and it allows good things to happen.”

On being on pace to have 29 touchdown catches this season: “That 29-touchdown pace is a long time away. To be in this position now, and to be able to do things that help out my team, is a blessing for me. They are doing all they can to put me in a position to score, and I just need to go out there and find a way to catch the football.”