Al Jazeera reporter defends disputed Peyton Manning story

Deborah Davies said Tuesday morning that her reporting still stands, because she didn’t actually accuse the NFL star of using performance-enhancing drugs.

“We have not said that in the program,” she said in an interview on NBC News’ “Today.”

The program she is referring to a documentary titled “The Dark Side: Secrets of the Sports Dopers.”

In it, Charlie Sly, a former employee of the Guyer Clinic in Indiana, alleged on camera that they would send hormone drugs to Manning’s house, specifically addressed to the football star’s wife, Ashley.

“I did part of my training at the Guyer Institute, which is this anti-aging clinic in Indiana. Him and his wife would come in after hours and get IVs and s—t,” Sly can be heard saying on tape.

The institute is named after Dr. Dale Guyer.

“So one thing that Guyer does is he dispenses drugs out of his office, which physicians can do in the United States. It’s just not very many of them do it. And all the time we would be sending Ashley Manning drugs,” he added, referring to the football star’s wife. “Like growth hormone, all the time, everywhere, Florida. And it would never be under Peyton’s name. It would always be under her name.”

In response to a question about whether Dr. Guyer was prescribing HGH, a specific human growth hormone, Sly said, “I know for a fact he does. I would see patients with him part of the day and the other part of the day I would work in his pseudo-pharmacy,” he said.

“I’m surprised his place has not been shut down yet,” he added.

The 40-plus minute documentary, which aired Sunday evening, shook the NFL, and left Manning’s team furiously denying its suggestions.

The implications seemed clear: An anti-aging clinic covertly shipped drugs to Manning’s wife so that he could later use them, gaining an illegal performance-enhancing advantage. The suggestion was in line with the rest of the documentary’s broader point about doping in professional sports.

However, not long after the report aired this weekend, Dr. Guyer came forward to dispute allegations that he helped the quarterback engage in illicit drug use.

Guyer said that Sly was never a full-time employee, but was only an intern. The doctor also said that Sly only worked at the clinic in 2013, and not in 2011 as reported in the Al-Jazeera America documentary.

And perhaps most damaging to the doping story is the fact that Sly came forward almost immediately to deny the report’s suggestions regarding Manning.

The denials from Guyer and Sly have apparently put Davies on the defensive, but she continued to defend the story this week.

“The only allegation in the program from Charlie Sly is that growth hormone was sent repeatedly from the Guyer [Institute] to Ashley Manning in Florida. We’re not making the allegation against Peyton Manning,” she said Tuesday.

She stressed that the documentary only hinted heavily that Manning was receiving shipments of growth hormone.

“Let’s make it clear what the allegation is. The allegation in the program is very simple, that when Charlie Sly worked in the Guyer [Institute] doing part of his training … the clinic was sending out not one shipment but repeated shipments of growth hormone to Ashley Manning in Florida,” she added. “That’s it.”

NBC Sports’ Mike Florio did not appear amused Tuesday with Davies’ shift in tone.

“Given the context … the allegation that the Guyer Institute was sending HGH to Ashley Manning is part of a broader (albeit implied) allegation that the drugs were meant for Peyton,” he wrote.

“While no one has denied that Ashley Manning received HGH, the entire point of the story is to suggest that it was for Peyton, not Ashley,” he added. “The tactic (essentially, ‘we’re not saying/we’re just saying’) isn’t a surprising strategy, especially with Peyton Manning suggesting that he may sue for defamation.

He concluded by saying her defense Tuesday marked a “subtle shift on the surface,” and a “very real change in the tone of the report.”