Broncos QB Peyton Manning on Thursday "quickly denied any notion" that an NFL review into the Al-Jazeera America report on HGH being shipped to his wife "will be a distraction," according to Cameron Wolfe of the DENVER POST. Manning said he "welcomes" the investigation. Manning said of the initial report, "It was garbage from the first day it came out and it's still garbage" (DENVER POST, 1/29). USA TODAY's Lindsay Jones noted the NFL’s review "will include all of the allegations in the report, not just those made against Manning." Other NFLers "implicated in the story, via comments captured on undercover video by a former employee at an Indianapolis anti-aging clinic," include Steelers LB James Harrison and Packers LBs Clay Matthews, Julius Peppers and Mike Neal. All have "denied any involvement with banned substances." But none of those players "remain active or face a week’s worth of intensive media scrutiny like Manning will when the Broncos arrive in California for Super Bowl 50 next week" (USATODAY.com, 1/28).
COINCIDENTAL TIMING? ESPN's Dan Le Batard discussed the timing of the NFL making its investigation public and wondered if the league should have waited until after the Super Bowl. However, he said, "If they had waited until after the Super Bowl, we'd have accused them of a cover-up." ESPN's Bomani Jones: "When they say they're conducting an investigation, I can call anything an investigation. ... We're having this discussion because Major League Baseball announced they'd be working with USADA." Jones added the NFL has "no incentive whatsoever to look into this because worst case scenario for them, we sully the legacy of Peyton Manning. Who does that help? Nobody" ("Highly Questionable," ESPN, 1/27). SNY's Sal Licata said the NFL is "not going to try to dig something up on the face of the league at the moment with Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl" ("Loud Mouths," SNY, 1/27).
DIGGING DEEPER: THE MMQB's Emily Kaplan wrote the NFL faces "significant hurdles" in its investigation of Manning and the other players. At the moment, there "appears to be no tangible evidence -- documentation, legal proceedings, failed tests, etc. -- of a policy violation." Moreover, the NFL has "no power to compel key figures from the report" to cooperate, and those figures "may have little motivation to speak to the NFL" (MMQB.SI.com, 1/28).
