He is still Peyton Manning mentally, but his body just does not match up the way it once did and as a result, he actually lost his job as the Broncos.
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All those athletes are from the same Era and Ming went home in 2011 with Jeter going home in 2014. A team in which Manning controls the offense to his liking and enjoys say in personnel may be more attractive for the National Football League leader in career passing yards.
But the Broncos also had to be breathing a little easier after Osweiler showed he just might be able to step in for Manning on a long-term basis. Prior to the game on Sunday, Brock Osweiler was limited to 54 regular-season passes.
Is this an indication of the end of the Manning Era in Denver and the NFL?
The Bears (4-6) were trailing by eight when Cutler led them on a six-play drive from the Chicago 35 to the Denver 2. Although you don’t want to rush to judgment regarding Osweiler’s debut – especially with a Bill Belichick-led defense looming next week – the 20-for-27, 250-yard, two-touchdown performance was a flawless start. The running game was working with Ronnie Hillman and the ran their play-actions and waggles off of it. Instead of taking points by kicking yet another field goal, head coach John Fox chose to let his offense go for it on 4th and goal from the 4 yard line.
CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora reported on Sunday morning that Osweiler would “likely” be given at least two starts, meaning he’d likely be starting against New England.
“Even though Brock’s been with us, this is his fourth season, you know, it’s the first time fans have gotten a chance to see him”, said team store GM, Scott Franklin.
“I knew that was coming”, Kubiak said of the quarterback question.
Prior to that, Florio said Manning is “absolutely determined to get himself healthy as soon as possible”. In the games that we’ve won, we figured out a way to do that. “So we’re going to focus on winning today and enjoy winning and we’ll go back to work next week”. “You’re going to look at the tape as much as you can to try and get an idea of what he is from a player standpoint and his physical attributes from there, and then put that into the system with Coach Kubiak and Dennison and understand how they’re going to incorporate him into that and what they’re going to ask him to do”. “He can do everything”.
It is always sad to see a veteran hold on for too long and get the boot before they have the courage to call it a career themselves, and that is exactly what is happening with the Denver Broncos, to quarterback Peyton Manning.
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If that’s really how Kubiak feels, the Broncos should move forward with Osweiler from here on out. I have far more trust in the Pats quarterback than the Broncos QB who has less than 100 pass attempts the last two seasons.
