I was watching Peyton Manning’s retirement speech and found it pretty humbling.

He retires with the best numbers in the NFL, he’s worth a fortune, he’s got those two adorable kids, he’s married to his college sweetheart, and his concluding act was to work his way back from an injury to win Superbowl 50.

Related: Seahawks’ Ricardo Lockette says handling of neck injury saved his life

He retires with as many seasons as the number on his jersey, and because of the way he called his plays, when you Google the word “Omaha,” his name comes up before the state of Nebraska.

How can we ordinary people not feel utterly inadequate? Especially when he’s still two weeks shy of his 40th birthday! What’s his secret?

I think you can find it in a single word.

“Because every moment, every drop of sweat, every bleary-eyed night of preparation, every note I took and every frame of film I watched was about one thing, reverence for this game,” Manning said during his retirement speech on Monday.

Reverence. That is a strong word. It’s saying he found something holy in what he was doing. Not necessarily the first word you would associate with the NFL, but I think he meant it.

“When I look back on my NFL career, I’ll know without a doubt that I gave everything I had to help my teams walk away with a win,” Manning said. “There were other players who were more talented but there was no one who could out-prepare me and because of that, I have no regrets.”

Reverence is what kept him pouring himself into his job even after he already had all the money and success he’d ever need. I admire that. Which is why I’m quietly hoping that little human growth hormone investigation doesn’t find anything. That would really ruin the biopic.

Sign up for breaking news alerts