I remember reading a story a while back about Chad Pennington. When he broke his wrist during the 2003 season, one of the first people to call him and see if he was OK was Peyton Manning. Knowing this about Manning, it's not surprising that he contacted Carson Palmer after his horrific injury in last year's playoffs.
SI's Michael Silver has a nice article penned here about Manning trying to get a hold of Palmer on the phone after Palmer was hurt. Manning and Palmer only know each other on a casual basis. However, Manning called Palmer again and again and again to check on his progress after the injury. Manning often does this for quarterbacks when he sees them go down:
When [Manning] saw Palmer go down after releasing his lone pass early in the Bengals' first-round playoff game against the Steelers, a 66-yard completion to Chris Henry, Manning viewed the injury in a context beyond football.
"I don't know, I just think sometimes in the offseason guys get hurt and people kind of forget about them somewhat," Manning explains. "It's kind of the same way when guys retire all of a sudden -- I'll usually send them a bottle of wine or a note when that happens -- and I'm just kind of sensitive to that [feeling of being forgotten]. And Carson's a good guy and a hard worker and obviously a very talented player."
Manning's advice to Palmer was simple: What you should be doing right now is looking out for Number 9.
"What a great guy he is," Palmer says. "Here he is, the best quarterback in the league, and he tracked down my phone numbers and kept calling until we could have an actual conversation. All I could think was, Wow, he must respect the way I play a little bit."