Appearing with acting Surgeon General Adm. Steven Galson before a crowd that included two-time Olympic softball gold medalist Dr. Dot Richardson and Northern Virginia-based fitness guru Denise Austin, Manning launched a challenge to adults to exercise 30 minutes a day, five days a week, for six weeks.

In case you were wondering, he told the partisan crowd that he does about 45 minutes of cardio and an hour to an hour and a half of weightlifting each day during the off-season.

He stayed on message, too. When a questioner asked how he famously escaped a sack late in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, he replied, “I’m not sure if I know, and if I did, I don’t know if I could reveal my secret. I guess it was all that physical fitness I had.”

In fact, after four years of taking questions from the New York press, he showed he’s media-savvy. He declined to comment on his relationship with ex-teammate and current NBC personality Tiki Barber, who criticized him at the beginning of the season. He said he has no regrets about refusing to be drafted by the San Diego Chargers.

And when asked whether it was a bigger thrill to appear on David Letterman’s show or go to the White House, he said, “I’m a big fan of both,” even adding that like Letterman, the president is “funny.”

After a half-dozen or so pointed questions, he even joked that it feels like “we have some New York media in here right now.”

He said the press magnifies the sibling rivalry between he and brother Peyton. With both being quarterbacks, it’s not a big deal, but “If I was playing defense and I got to sack him, that would be kinda fun. … I’d give him a little extra elbow.”

And no, he said, he has no advice for the Redskins on how to improve. “Any advice I could give you would be false,” he said.