An emotional Peyton Manning signed off from his 18-year NFL career with the words “God bless football” — and one final “Omaha”.

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning refused to confirm if he is heading for retirement after his Super Bowl 50 victory, but he did promise a celebratory alcohol-filled night in San Francisco.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning refused to confirm if he is heading for retirement after his Super Bowl 50 victory, but he did promise a celebratory alcohol-filled night in San Francisco.

Quarterback Cam Newton threw five touchdown passes to lead the Carolina Panthers to a 10th straight NFL victory on Sunday, a 44-16 pounding of the Washington Redskins.

The New England Patriots stretched their NFL season-opening win streak to nine games as Stephen Gostkowski’s field goal with one second left lifted them to a 27-26 win over the New York Giants.

Jamie Heaslip has challenged his Ireland team to forget the scrap for World Cup places and get on with their jobs when they face Wales at the Millennium Stadium this afternoon (2:30pm).

Question marks over the future of one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time dominated the aftermath of the Indianapolis Colts’ deserved play-off victory at the Denver Broncos late Sunday night.

American Football

The Dallas Cowboys blew a 21-0 lead before rallying to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-27 and move to 10-4, one game ahead of Philadelphia at the top of the NFC East standings.

The Pittsburgh Steelers came on strong in the fourth quarter on Sunday night for a 42-21 NFL triumph over Cincinnati that blew open the AFC North division race.

Andrew Luck enjoyed a landmark day as the Indianapolis Colts beat the Washington Redskins 49-27 on Sunday.

Tom Brady sparked the New England Patriots to their seventh consecutive victory in a 34-9 rout of Detroit, while Indianapolis receiver T.Y. Hilton scored a touchdown for his newborn daughter.

US federal agents conducted surprise inspections of National Football League team doctors and trainers on Sunday as part of an ongoing probe into painkiller drug abuse, the US media reported on Sunday.

Tom Brady won the battle of the marquee quarterbacks over Peyton Manning, while the Arizona Cardinals knocked off the Dallas Cowboys to claim the NFC’s best record.

Chicago Bears’ defensive end Lamarr Houston will miss the rest of the season after a freak injury while celebrating a sack.

Peyton Manning broke Brett Favre’s all-time record for touchdown passes, leading Denver to a 42-17 rout of San Francisco to cap a scintillating Sunday in the NFL.

There was a nice little documentary on the radio here a couple of weeks ago which sought to debunk the corporate creation myths of the most successful entrepreneurs who rose up to dominate our daily lives.

An embattled NFL, reeling from off-field brutality issues, received more bad news with numerous injuries to key players in the second week of an already tumultuous campaign.

Baltimore Ravens have released running back Ray Rice hours after a shocking video surfaced showing the NFL star punching his then-fiancee.

The most highly anticipated Super Bowl in recent memory somehow also managed to be the biggest disappointment.

Floyd Mayweather Jr has denied reports that the Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl victory cost him $10.4m (€7.7m), and claimed he didn’t even put a bet on the NFL showcase match.

Seattle Seahawks 43 Denver Broncos 8

The Seattle Seahawks produced one of the most dominant performances in Super Bowl history as Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos were neutralised in a 43-8 humbling.

New York takes all the credit, talking a big game and laying on the hottest Super Bowl bashes.

With weather forecasts firming up to suggest that Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVIII may be spared the sort of intense snowstorms which have struck the New York area twice this month, both the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks arrived to their team hotels in Jersey City on Sunday ahead of a week of scrutiny.

It’s rare that the two best teams in the NFL make it through to the Super Bowl.

All eyes will be on Denver tomorrow as Peyton Manning and Tom Brady face each other for the 15th time.

The NFL play-off picture was completed on Sunday with a dramatic final series of regular season games delivering big results for the Green Bay Packers, the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Diego Chargers.

The NFL couldn’t have scripted it much better heading into the last week of the regular season.

The Green Bay Packers needed their biggest comeback in history on Sunday to somehow keep their play-off hopes alive ahead of the long-awaited return of Aaron Rodgers from injury.

A win over divisional rivals Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday evening saw the Denver Broncos emerge from the toughest part of their NFL campaign relatively unscathed and in poll position in the AFC and will now retain home advantage throughout January’s play-offs.

In the small hours of Monday morning, just south of a bitterly cold Boston, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots finally overcame the Denver Broncos in an instant NFL classic that provided almost everything.

After a rip-roaring start to the season, the Kansas City Chiefs finally fell to their first defeat in the NFL this year, losing an absorbing clash by ten points at the home of Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos on Sunday.

The Denver Broncos will be sweating this week on the fitness of quarterback Peyton Manning, who led them to their eighth win of the season on Sunday but saw his injury-prone ankle targeted in the process.

The highly-anticipated showdown between Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and his former team, the Indianapolis Colts was as tense as it was emotional on Sunday night.

Just short of 100 points were scored in an incredible Texas shoot-out between the Denver Broncos and the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday which left Peyton Manning’s Broncos in control of one of the three unbeaten records in the NFL thanks to a 51-48 win.