The NFL has said it will investigate the allegation from Al Jazeera that Peyton Manning used HGH Ashley Manning received HGH and Peyton Manning had not a thing to do with it at all, period, now please don’t sue us. Peyton Manning says, “Bring it on.”
“That’s certainly, probably, appropriate,” Manning told reporters on Wednesday regarding the league’s plan to review the situation. “I’d be glad if they would come in here tonight -- tomorrow to do it and get it over with. I don’t have a whole lot to add to what I said on Sunday. The report wasn’t true Sunday, it’s not true today and it’ll never be true. I’m still angry about it, but if the league has to do that, I’ll cooperate. The sooner the better, though, if they’re listening.”
If/when the league shows up to talk to Manning, he’ll surely repeat everything he said to ESPN’s Chris Mortenson and NBC’s Peter King and ESPN’s Lisa Salters. But the league has no way to confirm or debunk Manning’s version of the event.
The real question is whether Manning will sign the appropriate paperwork to allow the NFL to obtain information from the Guyer Institute, and whether Ashley Manning will choose to cooperate in any way with the investigation. Neither the Guyer Institute nor Ashley Manning fall within the jurisdiction of the league, giving it no power to force anyone but teams, players, and league employees to cooperate.
Absent the ability to obtain information about the allegations directly from the Guyer Institute, the NFL will have no choice but to take Manning at his word. If the NFL had been in that same position with Tom Brady, he never would have been suspended.