Jeff Saturday Jeffrey Bryant Saturday ( born June 18 , 1975 ) is a former American football center who played for the Indianapolis Colts and the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League ( NFL ) . He played college football for the University of North Carolina , and was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 1998 but was cut by the team without playing a game . Saturday played 13 seasons for the Colts , where he won a Super Bowl ring and was selected to four All - Pro teams and five Pro Bowl s . He made his sixth and last Pro Bowl as a member of the Packers . Early years . Saturday was born in Atlanta , Georgia . He attended Shamrock High School in Decatur , Georgia , in 1993 . His high school coach Ron Gartrell said in a 2012 " Sports Illustrated " story on Saturday , " Eighty percent of our offense was behind Jeff . On defense we put Jeff on one side and all our other good players on the other side , because teams ran away from Jeff . " However , Gartrell could not sell Southeastern Conference schools on Saturday ' s abilities ; in the same interview , he said that coaches at Georgia and Tennessee considered Saturday too short to play in the conference . He received a scholarship offer from the University of North Carolina partly because of Gartrell ' s friendship with UNC ' s then - defensive coordinator Carl Torbush . College career . Saturday received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , where he was a four - year letterman for coach Mack Brown ' s North Carolina Tar Heels football team from 1994 to 1997 . As a junior in 1996 and again as a senior in 1997 , he was one of the Tar Heels ' team captains . He was recognized as a first - team All - Atlantic Coast Conference ( ACC ) selection at center in 1996 and 1997 , and an Academic All - ACC selection in 1997 . Saturday ' s college roommate Nate Hobgood - Chittick , a defensive tackle who would himself play three seasons in the NFL , later said , " Jeff kicked our asses all over the practice field . I could count on one hand the number of times I beat him in a one - on - one drill , and if it happened , I celebrated . " Professional career . Baltimore Ravens . According to " Sports Illustrated " , Saturday was ranked as the No . 11 center available in the 1998 NFL Draft . He was described as " somewhat an overachiever , has worked to make himself better , " but also as " an undersized guy [ who ] simply has trouble matching up against power NTs that can overwhelm him " . He went undrafted , but the Baltimore Ravens signed him as a free agent on April 27 , 1998 , only to waive him on June 12 , 1998 . He then returned to Raleigh , North Carolina , and took a job as a manager at an electrical supply store . Indianapolis Colts . Saturday first came to the attention of the Indianapolis Colts during the 1998 season , when Hobgood - Chittick was on the roster . As Hobgood - Chittick would recall in 2012 , I had no footing at all with that franchise , so I stood outside [ Bill ] Polian ' s door in my dirty sweats , saying a prayer . I walked in and said , " There ' s a guy selling electrical supplies in Raleigh right now who whipped all those first - round draft choices at North Carolina every day . " Polian looked at me and said , " I love it . Let ' s get him in here for a workout . " The Colts signed him as a free agent on January 7 , 1999 . In his rookie season , Saturday backed up starting guard Steve McKinney , and earned his first NFL start at left guard on November 21 , 1999 , against the Philadelphia Eagles . After only 2 regular season starts in 1999 , Saturday started all 16 regular season games of the 2000 season at center for the Colts , and continued to start every game thereafter - for a total of 85 consecutive games - before sitting out 2 games with an injury in December of 2004 . Saturday finished his time with the Colts as the team ' s starting center for 12 straight seasons , and was the anchor of the Colts ' offensive line , which gave up the fewest quarterback sack s among all NFL teams in the 2004 , 2005 , and 2006 seasons . Trivially , Saturday attempted a pass once , during a game in 2004 , but it fell incomplete . Though the Colts won at least 10 regular season games for five consecutive years under Head Coach Tony Dungy , the team could not get to the Super Bowl , losing in the AFC Playoffs from 2002 to 2005 . In 2006 , the Colts went 12 - 4 in the regular season and earned the 3rd seed in the AFC . On January 21 , 2007 , Saturday helped the Colts win the AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots when he recovered a teammate ' s fumble in the end zone and scored a touchdown . Saturday also provided the key block on the game - winning touchdown run by Joseph Addai , pancaking Vince Wilfork . Peyton Manning , the Colts Quarterback at the time and a longtime friend , claims that Saturday wants this play to be known as " The Block . " Two weeks later , Saturday helped the Colts win Super Bowl XLI against the Chicago Bears . On February 26 , 2009 , Saturday signed a three - year $ 13 million dollar contract with the Colts including a $ 7 . 45 million dollar signing bonus . During his time with the Colts , Saturday started 188 of 197 games . He became a free agent after the 2011 season . Green Bay Packers . Saturday signed a two - year deal with the Green Bay Packers on March 23 , 2012 . After an up - and - down season , Saturday was benched on December 21 , 2012 . Despite this , Saturday was later announced as the Back - Up Center for the NFC in the 2013 Pro Bowl . Retirement . On January 25 , 2013 , Saturday announced he would retire following the 2013 Pro Bowl Game . During the game , Saturday ( an NFC player ) was allowed to make the final snap of his career to Peyton Manning ( an AFC player ) , whom he had played with for 13 seasons . Saturday announced he would retire as a Colt . On March 7 , 2013 , Saturday signed a 1 - day contract with the Colts to retire with the team he spent much of his career with . Honors and awards . Saturday has been voted onto six Pro Bowl teams in 2005 , 2006 , 2007 , 2009 , 2010 and 2012 . . For the 2005 and 2007 seasons he was named to the Associated Press NFL All - Pro First Team . Saturday also received the " Tuesday Morning Quarterback Non - QB Non - RB NFL MVP Award " from ESPN columnist Gregg Easterbrook in January 2007 . Personal . Saturday is a member of the Executive Committee of the National Football League Players ' Association , where he was the key negotiator in completing the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement ( CBA ) between the NFL and NFLPA . He has three children with wife Karen Saturday : Jeffrey Douglas Saturday , Savannah Faith Saturday , and Joshua Bryant Saturday .