Bruce Arians Recalls Young Peyton Manning Asking out of Blowout: 'F--k No'

Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians is a quarterback guru.

The 64-year-old has worked with Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck, Carson Palmer and others during his NFL career, so he's as qualified as anyone to talk about coaching QBs.

In his new book, The Quarterback Whisperer: How to Build an Elite NFL Quarterback, which was written with B/R's Lars Anderson and hits shelves July 11, Arians recalls a young Manning asking out of a blowout.

With the Indianapolis Colts well behind the New England Patriots, Arians, who was then the Colts' quarterbacks coach, called out the franchise player—and it worked (h/t Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk).

"Midway through the fourth quarter of the game, with the outcome already decided, Peyton was so frustrated that he asked for mercy. He wanted to be pulled from the game."

"'F--k no, get back in there,' I told him. 'We'll go no-huddle and maybe you'll learn something. You can never ask to come out. You're our leader. Act like it.'"

Arians then describes what happened next as a "sight to behold," with Manning leading a late drive that ended in a touchdown pass. Arians saw the drive give Manning a "shot of confidence."

Anyone who saw Arians on Amazon's All or Nothing series last summer knows he often uses, uh, colorful language. But it's always about the football player, not the person.

It seems like that approach worked with Manning, who went on to become an all-time great.

[Pro Football Talk]