Like I said on Twitter earlier, if you told me that going into the playoffs I could have the top defense in the league, Peyton Manning, and home field advantage throughout, I would take that deal 100 times out of 100.
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Kubiak met with Manning and the previous starter, Brock Osweiler, on Thursday before informing all the players about his decision, the Broncos announced on their website.
The decision to start a healthy Manning over the inexperienced Osweiler is unsurprising. Manning has thrown nine touchdowns and 17 interceptions this season with a 67.9 quarterback rating. I feel good about how far Peyton has come, where he’s at physically, mentally and everything.
It’s very clear to me that Kubiak did not want this hanging over his teams head.
“He actually worked harder probably than he would have worked had he been with the team, just because it was individualized workout”, Kubiak said. Manning is 11-13 in his playoff career, a bad look for one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. “I’ve got nothing for you, so we’ll just get ready to go and we’ll go back to work Thursday”.
Manning says that now that he’s been through rehabbing his foot and missed some time, he’s grateful to be back on the field.
He also suffered no lingering effects from a textbook helmet-to-chest hit from Damion Square of the San Diego Chargers on Sunday in what the 39-year-old quarterback called his welcome-back-to-football moment.
“Just picking it up and taking it to another level you know the speed of the game picks up for everybody and I need to make sure I can compete at a high-level”, Shane Ray, rookie linebacker, said. “I’ve played every single game that I’ve been in football except for four years ago [when he missed the 2011 season while recovering from a neck injury]”.
According to oddsmakers at RealBets, Denver is now listed with odds of +580 to win Super Bowl 50. The Broncos faced a deficit, but Manning led the team to a 27-20 win to clinch the first seed in the AFC.
It will be the first time the Cowboys have coached in the annual college all-star game since 1965, the last of four consecutive years involving Tom Landry’s staff. The game is January 30. “We made a lot of progress”. Coach Wade Phillips (now Denver’s defensive coordinator) chose to give the now-healthy Johnson the start, and the quarterback responded with a 287-yard performance in a 31-6 victory over the Colts.
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Talon Peterson, 14, from Orem, Utah, entered the weekly Sunday NFL Countdown Super Bowl Contest put on by ESPN.
