SANTA CLARA, Calif. — On the final day of media interviews ahead of Super Bowl 50, Peyton Manning was given a reprieve from answering many of the same questions, albeit a brief one.

Standing to the side of the podium Thursday was the rapper Snoop Dogg (credentialed as Cordozar Broadus), who spent his morning as a correspondent for The Rich Eisen Show.

After first asking Manning if he could get a 50 percent discount at Papa John’s in Colorado — “Absolutely. Absolutely,” Manning said — Snoop followed with a real question.

“With this big game right here,” he asked, ” is it safe to say you’re getting advice from Archie and Eli?”

Manning’s response: “Well, Snoop, I’ve always enjoyed my conversations with my dad and Eli, as far as things that have to do with the NFL. I had dinner with Eli the other night. He and I talked about a lot of things. Certainly he played against these guys earlier in the year. We talked about the practice routine and the setup. He is great to bounce ideas off of. My dad has always been a great sounding board from me throughout my lifetime. I am very grateful to have both of those guys, who have played in the NFL and still in the NFL, to be able to talk to. I feel very fortunate.”

The celebrity sighting shifted the focus, if temporarily, but added to the light mood on the Broncos’ final media blitz before Sunday’s game.

Some quick hits:

• Manning, again, reflected on the many coaches he’s played for over the years and said he’s spoken to many of them this week in advance of Super Bowl 50.

“I think it’s important to adapt as a player,” Manning said. “I’ve played for five head coaches and I’ve heard from all of my former coaches this week, which has been special. I had a nice conversation with coach (Tony) Dungy and got some really nice text messages from Jim Mora, my first coach, and Jim Caldwell and John Fox. And, as I mentioned earlier, I called both my high school coach and college coach this week, coach Tony Reginelli and coach (Phillip) Fulmer. I do think about coaches when you play in a game like this. Every coach has different styles, different philosophies and I’ve enjoyed learning something from all of them.”

• Asked if he thinks the Broncos would have made it to the big game this year with former Broncos coach Fox coaching them, Manning responded: “Yes.” The quarterback refused to compare Fox vs. current Broncos coach Gary Kubiak, choosing instead to laud both for how they helped him in recent years.

“I don’t get into comparisons,” Manning said. “I don’t. It is easy to do, but like I mentioned earlier, I was grateful to play for coach Fox. Coming off a year, there wasn’t a lot of fun in 2011. Not playing, being injured. I had more neck surgeries than snaps that year. John Fox was a big reason why I came to Denver. We had a great three years together. We had a special team on that Super Bowl team that got beat by a better team. I just don’t do the comparisons. I was grateful to play for him. I have enjoyed playing for coach Kubiak. He has led us into this position. I am grateful and felt fortunate to have played and learned from both of them.”

• Manning was asked if he saw any similarities between Jeff Saturday, his longtime center in Indianapolis, and Matt Paradis, his second-year center in Denver.

“I really enjoy playing with Matt,” he said. “He really reminds me a lot of Jeff Saturday, the center that I played with in Indianapolis. He is smart. He is a student of the game. Obviously, only his first year starting and Jeff played for 14 years as a center and had great experience. I think Matt is off to a great start in his career. He is a tough guy. He is a guy you like having in front of you. You know he is going to fight for you. The only difference between him and Jeff is that he doesn’t have the unibrow that Jeff had his second year, and Matt’s arms are a lot longer and he doesn’t, as far as I know, have an O-line tattoo on his right shoulder like Jeff does. Besides that though, I see a lot of similarities.”

Nicki Jhabvala: njhabvala@denverpost.com or @NickiJhabvala