A few minutes into the conversation, Peyton Manning hesitates. “You know,” he says, speaking in that slow-roasted southern drawl of his, “it’s been, what, 16 years since that game? I’m not sure how much of I can remember.”



I tell him I’m not sure I believe that.



Granted, during his 14-year run with the Colts, the man authored every type of fourth-quarter comeback imaginable — in the snow in Denver, down 17 in Houston (twice), down 18 to Tom Brady and Bill Belichick in the AFC Championship Game. There was a staggering 35 in all. These days, they probably blend together.



But this one — this one was different. He’s gotta remember this one.



Sure enough, the more we talk, the more it starts coming back to him, piece by piece, play by play, the scene and the storylines, the calls and the checks, the hole they dug themselves and the utter disbelief inside the stadium when they climbed...