From his 50K Club milestone as a Colt, we come to the jersey donned by the great Peyton Manning for the final touchdown pass of his illustrious career. And boy were the stakes high. It was the 2015 AFC Championship. Broncos vs. Patriots. Manning vs. Brady. It doesn't get much better for football collectors.
On January 24, 2016, the AFC's two top seeds squared off in Denver. Exactly two months before his 40th birthday, Peyton entered the game riding a roller-coaster regular season, having to earn back the starting job from Brock Osweiler. He was poised to step up in another epic battle against his friend and longtime rival from New England. In the first half, Manning tossed a pair of TD’s to tight end Owen Daniels, the latter being a 12-yard strike just 1:14 into the 2nd quarter. Little did we know that it would be his last. Denver went ahead 14-6 and added two field goals to hold on by a score of 20-18. Peyton was 17-of-32 for 176 yards and two scores as the Broncos advanced to Super Bowl 50 where he would get his second ring and ride off into the sunset.
The orange jersey is a size "46" as indicated on the Nike tagging
inside the collar. The year "2015" flag tag is attached to a
“219110030544” serial number label with “Q-BK” below. Manning’s Captain
"C" patch (with four gold stars) is sewn on the right chest above his
iconic No. 18, which comes in white-on-navy tackle twill. "BRONCOS" is
stitched on the upper chest between the numbers and NFL logo at the
collar. Navy trim runs around the collar and up the sides of the body.
Each shoulder displays No. 18 as does the back, all in the same
white-on-navy format. "MANNING" appears across the back in white tackle
twill on an orange nameplate. The jersey shows excellent game use with
some grass stains on the back letters and scattered contact marks and
paint transfers throughout.
Fresh to the market, this prized piece of NFL history comes with a team letter and has been photo-matched by the experts at MeiGray to the 1st half of the 2015 AFC title game. Peyton changed into a different shirt for the 2nd half (a well-documented practice), but the Broncos did not score a touchdown. In the Super Bowl Denver’s vaunted defense, led by Von Miller and company, smothered Carolina 24-10 without a TD pass from their legendary quarterback. So there it is. 539 in the regular season and 40 in the postseason. The record for any Peyton jersey is $33,350, a non-descript example from the 2013 season. So what will it take to own perhaps the finest Manning jersey ever to hit the auction block?
Includes COA from Denver Broncos equipment manager. MeiGray LOA includes two printed 8x10 Getty images (507242440 and 506631022) used to establish the photo-match.