Good Chance Manning is coming back

[cdumler7]

So take this for what it is worth I guess because it is coming from Woody Paige but it does sound like Manning wants to come back. Kubiak has been in talks with him quite a bit after being hired by the Broncos and Manning was a part of the coaching hire so all of that does point towards Manning giving us one more year. The issue will be the physical on March 9th though. Obviously Manning has to pass that to continue.

 

[Broncos6482]

Great news.

[ame="[MEDIA=twitter]557928140702752768[/MEDIA]"][/ame]

 

[WalkerBoh]

Only if he's physically able to handle an entire season. If not it's a waste of $16 MM in cap space, with FA consequences. So I REALLY hope Manning's physically up for this.

 

[cdumler7]

Only if he's physically able to handle an entire season. If not it's a waste of $16 MM in cap space, with FA consequences. So I REALLY hope Manning's physically up for this.

That definitely is the question. I will say though before his injury Peyton was in the top-5 in the league for MVP talks. I mean he started out the season throwing 22 touchdowns to only 3 interceptions so if he can return to being healthy then this team can still go very far with him.

 

[Broncos6482]

Only if he's physically able to handle an entire season. If not it's a waste of $16 MM in cap space, with FA consequences. So I REALLY hope Manning's physically up for this.

Well he's going to have to pass a physical first, so if he can do that he's probably healthy enough to keep playing.

 

[WalkerBoh]

That definitely is the question. I will say though before his injury Peyton was in the top-5 in the league for MVP talks. I mean he started out the season throwing 22 touchdowns to only 3 interceptions so if he can return to being healthy then this team can still go very far with him.

True, but how dinged up can he get before it affects his performance? Seems the margin for error, so to speak, is quite narrow now. You look at Rodgers, and he was still effective enough to win even though he had a leg muscle tear. If Manning has to be in pristine condition for him to put up effective numbers, how much good is that over a 16+ game season?

If it's deemed certain he is able to take Denver to a Super Bowl, then I'm all for it. But until then I'm having some doubts.

 

[Broncosr0k]

If it's deemed certain he is able to take Denver to a Super Bowl, then I'm all for it. But until then I'm having some doubts.

There is not one player to ever play the game that made a trip to the SB a certainty. Health is a question mark for all players regardless of age.

I understand the concerns of Manning being healthy due to age but I think the coaching staff also realizes age and adjusts accordingly. Improvements in pass protection and continued dedication to the run will help Manning greatly. On top of that, it would be my hope that we take Manning out for a few weeks to heal minor injuries rather than keeping him in as much as we did this past season.

I would much rather enter into the playoffs with a 4th seed and a healed Manning than limp into a 2nd seed and watch and injured Manning struggle.

 

[WalkerBoh]

There is not one player to ever play the game that made a trip to the SB a certainty. Health is a question mark for all players regardless of age.

I understand the concerns of Manning being healthy due to age but I think the coaching staff also realizes age and adjusts accordingly. Improvements in pass protection and continued dedication to the run will help Manning greatly. On top of that, it would be my hope that we take Manning out for a few weeks to heal minor injuries rather than keeping him in as much as we did this past season.

I would much rather enter into the playoffs with a 4th seed and a healed Manning than limp into a 2nd seed and watch and injured Manning struggle.

You miss my point. I know there are no certainties or guarantees against injuries that prevent players from playing. That's obvious. What I'm referring to is can Manning handle enough wear and tear over a 16+ game season to take Denver to a Super Bowl. Nearly every player will be a bit dinged up by playoff time. My concern is whether or not those dings will severely affect Manning's performance as opposed to a younger QB like Rodgers.

 

[Broncosr0k]

You miss my point. I know there are no certainties or guarantees against injuries that prevent players from playing. That's obvious. What I'm referring to is can Manning handle enough wear and tear over a 16+ game season to take Denver to a Super Bowl. Nearly every player will be a bit dinged up by playoff time. My concern is whether or not those dings will severely affect Manning's performance as opposed to a younger QB like Rodgers.

Hence the middle paragraph about getting Manning better protection and running the ball. Both will lessen the blows.

I would also entertain replacing Manning but unless there just happens to be another Rodgers or 15 year younger Manning floating around it would be difficult to replace his skill set. I wish we could see more of Osweiler so we know what he brings but we have to trust in the coaching staff.

No one knows the what ifs right now. I think Elway may have blinders on due to his SB aspirations and believes Manning is the best chance for that. We may also see Manning come back and show a last gasp of greatness.

And there is always the possibility Manning renegotiates and frees some cash for us. At this point I want to just go along for the ride and try not to get worked up.

 

[notorious98]

There is not one player to ever play the game that made a trip to the SB a certainty. Health is a question mark for all players regardless of age.

I understand the concerns of Manning being healthy due to age but I think the coaching staff also realizes age and adjusts accordingly. Improvements in pass protection and continued dedication to the run will help Manning greatly. On top of that, it would be my hope that we take Manning out for a few weeks to heal minor injuries rather than keeping him in as much as we did this past season.

I would much rather enter into the playoffs with a 4th seed and a healed Manning than limp into a 2nd seed and watch and injured Manning struggle.

I completely agree with most of this. However, I think that any QB can make into the postseason in relatively good health, even older ones. I have less concern for his physical health as opposed to his ability to play the position at a high level and put Denver in position to win a Super Bowl.

Here's the thing. There is no such thing as a "sure thing". I bet that the Patriots thought they would be well on their way to another Super Bowl appearance before Brady went down in Week 1 of the 2008 season. Things like injuries or getting dinged up worse than expected aren't things that you can even remotely predict. It happens. Manning is older, but he could survive a season just fine at 39. Brett Farve did and took his team to an NFC title game.

But we won't know until we know. So there's no point in making such outrageous demands as "If he can't make it through the season", etc. etc.

 

[randymon]

One thing, well,2 things we can be certain of... Elway and Kubiak have a plan in mind and are in the process of implementing those plans as we speak. The 2nd is, don`t be surprised to be surprised when we find out which way they go heading into these next few months.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Someone posted this question on the general board: Why did Manning play in the Oakland game two weeks prior to the playoff game against Indy? I thought it was a good question and I don't know the answer.

I think it's reasonable to assume that a player PM's age is more likely than a younger player to get injured the longer the season progresses. Made me wonder if the team might try to take some steps to keep PM "fresher" during the regular season, to make it more likely that he's healthy in the postseason. Football, of course is so different from basketball, but I've wondered about the possibility of the Broncos trying to somehow emulate what the Spurs have had success doing with their older players.

 

[notorious98]

Someone posted this question on the general board: Why did Manning play in the Oakland game two weeks prior to the playoff game against Indy? I thought it was a good question and I don't know the answer.

I think it's reasonable to assume that a player PM's age is more likely than a younger player to get injured the longer the season progresses. Made me wonder if the team might try to take some steps to keep PM "fresher" during the regular season, to make it more likely that he's healthy in the postseason. Football, of course is so different from basketball, but I've wondered about the possibility of the Broncos trying to somehow emulate what the Spurs have had success doing with their older players.

He played because they NEEDED the bye week. And are you going to entrust Brock Osweiler to make sure that happens?

 

[randymon]

He played because they NEEDED the bye week. And are you going to entrust Brock Osweiler to make sure that happens?

That` a big "BINGO" !!!!!

 

[TDs3nOut]

He played because they NEEDED the bye week. And are you going to entrust Brock Osweiler to make sure that happens?

Yeah, I had forgotten that we had to win that game in order to stay ahead of the Colts for the two seed. The question that you ask, however, does, at least in my mind, speak to what I mean about trying to keep PM "fresher" during the season. For a start, I think it might be very useful to make it a priority to have a backup QB that we are willing to start when PM is much less 100%, as he presumably was down the stretch this year.

 

[notorious98]

Yeah, I had forgotten that we had to win that game in order to stay ahead of the Colts for the two seed. The question that you ask, however, does, at least in my mind, speak to what I mean about trying to keep PM "fresher" during the season. For a start, I think it might be very useful to make it a priority to have a backup QB that we are willing to start when PM is much less 100%, as he presumably was down the stretch this year.

It was the Bengals. We already had the tiebreaker against the Colts. But since the Bengals had that half game from the tie with the Panthers, they were 10-3-1 heading into Week 17 while Denver was 11-4. The biggest problem was that the Bengals played on Sunday night, so Denver had no way of knowing what would happen beforehand. That's why the NFL pushed that game into Sunday night, to force all teams with a playoff spot on the line to have to play.

 

[HOF-ELWAY-7]

First of all he didn't have problems with his neck and that's the focus of the physical. Second Manning has been very durable and if Elway & Co builds an offensive line around him that won't get him hammered, he'll be just fine.

 

[TDs3nOut]

First of all he didn't have problems with his neck and that's the focus of the physical. Second Manning has been very durable and if Elway & Co builds an offensive line around him that won't get him hammered, he'll be just fine.

You are right that he has been durable. At the same time, I do think that leg injuries down the stretch have been a problem in each of the last two years and that, at his age, holding up for an entire season becomes increasingly unlikely.

In addition to building a better offensive line, I favor any possible measures aimed at keeping PM as healthy as possible for the entire season, including the playoffs. Having a reliable backup QB to play when PM is hurt is one such measure. An emphasis on putting games away early and removing him from the game is another. Obviously not easy, or even necessarily possible to do such things, but neither is achieving the goal that Elway intends.

As someone mentioned in a post above, Manning is unlikely to play more than two years and this is the least year on Osweiler's contract. Rather than try to trade him, I prefer that we see more of Osweiler this year in an attempt to both evaluate him and to keep PM healthier for the entire season.

 

[cdumler7]

I'm very interested to see what the Broncos do with the OL. So far in Elway's tenure we haven't really done a ton with the OL. We re-signed Clady, drafted Franklin, and signed Vasquez. Those are the only really big moves we have made for the OL. Otherwise they have all been journeyman type players. So I am hoping we actually decide to invest in the OL finally either through the draft or FA or both but time to actually do more than just sign some journeyman players.

I'm honestly very surprised with the fact that Elway hasn't done more for the OL considering he signed a quarterback coming off 4 neck surgeries and the fact that he was a quarterback so he knows how important a good OL is. I mean he knows the game is won and loss in the trenches. Look at our drafts and FA geared towards the DL. We have drafted Miller, Williams, Wolfe, and Jackson to help on the DL. Then we have signed Knighton and Ware to help out as well.

Anyway to me with Manning coming back it is a matter of fixing the OL, going to a very heavy run game that Kubiak likes to run, and just limiting the opportunities for Manning to get hurt in these games. Yes we would be taking a huge chance that Manning will suffer some kind of injury as the wear and tear of the season is enough to do that but I do think Manning showed 2 seasons ago that even with both of his ankles being tore up he still did pretty well. Yes the Super Bowl didn't go our way but before that Manning did really well in the playoffs and obviously pretty much rewrote the record book for Quarterbacks with his regular season. I mean he got hurt in week 7 of that season so most of his passing stats happened after the injury.

 

[WalkerBoh]

You are right that he has been durable. At the same time, I do think that leg injuries down the stretch have been a problem in each of the last two years and that, at his age, holding up for an entire season becomes increasingly unlikely.

In addition to building a better offensive line, I favor any possible measures aimed at keeping PM as healthy as possible for the entire season, including the playoffs. Having a reliable backup QB to play when PM is hurt is one such measure. An emphasis on putting games away early and removing him from the game is another. Obviously not easy, or even necessarily possible to do such things, but neither is achieving the goal that Elway intends.

As someone mentioned in a post above, Manning is unlikely to play more than two years and this is the least year on Osweiler's contract. Rather than try to trade him, I prefer that we see more of Osweiler this year in an attempt to both evaluate him and to keep PM healthier for the entire season.

THIS! One of my concerns is how much influence does Manning have in these decisions? There were a couple occasions (at least) last season where Osweiler should have come in (and expected to come in) only to have Manning trot back onto the field. While we finally DID see Oz in the Raider game, he should have been put in at least one series prior, if not earlier. (I did like what I saw in his TD drive though. Showed good touch in those passes to Green.) After 3 seasons, Oz shouldn't still be an enigma to outside observers. While the Denver brass said they were confident in Osweiler's skills, they need to SHOW that confidence more.