Below is a ranking of the possible starting 2016 quarterbacks in terms of probability and viability. So here we go and remember, the opinions of John Elway and Gary Kubiak will be the only ones that ultimately count:
Continue reading A Ranking of the Broncos 2016 Starting QB Options
Chris Mortensen reports that Peyton Manning will not be healthy enough to play “anytime soon”. This is not surprising given the nature of the injury.
From Jason La Canfora, the guy who called the meltdown in the Chiefs game before it happened, a report indicating the Broncos may be prepared to stick with Osweiler over a healthy Manning.
Everyone in the Broncos hierarchy, from football czar John Elway on down, is committed to giving this offense a chance to thrive under the first-year starter, and Elway and Kubiak — who passed on acquiring Manning when he was head coach in Houston — are strong-willed enough to do what they believe is best for the organization regardless of the political fallout. “They are not going to be bullied into doing anything they don’t want to do, by anyone,” as one team source put it.
In the NFL it’s almost taken as a given that a young inexperienced quarterback will likely struggle early in their career. Often rookie QBs are thrown into the fire without full knowledge of their team’s playbook or adequate preparation for the difficulties of playing QB at the NFL level. Most teams draft a QB with the intent of letting him learn for at least a year before starting but many times impatience or circumstance scraps that plan. So how do first time starters do when they actually are given the time that every NFL coach and GM will tell you that they need? That is what I am going to look at here. Here are the results from first time starts of non-rookie QBs in recent years: Continue reading How Have Recent Non-Rookie First Time Starters Fared?
As Brock Osweiler’s first NFL start approaches, seemingly everyone interested in football on the internet has an opinion about his prospects. I tend to be more interested in the ones that take the time to study his play. With that in mind here are the film based analyses I have found so far this week. Feel free to add more links in the comments.
From Albert Breer this speculation.
Most believe Peyton Manning will hang ’em up after this season. Well, there’s also a widely held assumption in NFL circles that — with all the turnover expected to come across the league in January — Manning could well re-emerge as a leading executive in 2016.
The most obvious parallel is Peyton’s current boss John Elway. What Elway did, stepping in as head football operations executive with no previous NFL front office experience and being immediately successful, is pretty remarkable. Elway had the benefit of an existing front office infrastructure in place and an existing GM who was willing to take a subservient role. Peyton would need a similar scenario to have a good chance of success. What is certain is that Manning would instantly go from being one of the oldest and physically weakest players in the league to one of the youngest and fittest high ranking executives.
In other news, Peyton’s ribs are now injured too.
The Broncos injury report lists Peyton Manning as limited for Thursday’s practice. While Manning has frequently missed Wednesday practices this season, this is the first time he has been reported as limited on Thursday. The Denver Post reported positive news for his status based on the portion of practice open to the media.
Quarterback Peyton Manning returned to Broncos’ practice Thursday and did not appear to be limited by a right foot injury that kept him out of Wednesday’s session.
Manning moved well on three- and five-step dropbacks not showing any favoring to either of his legs.
However, some of head coach Gary Kubiak’s comments were more equivocal:
From a football knowledge standpoint this film study with Joe Thomas is gold.
If you’re the least bit curious about offensive line play, a conversation with Thomas is like a personal Ted Talk.
From a Broncos fan perspective it makes one think of what might have been. When the potential trade was being discussed someone asked about Thomas’ experience and ability in a zone scheme. This answers that pretty well and explains the strong interest from the Broncos. In fact, Thomas specifically mentions Kubiak and Shanahan when discussing scheme.
From a Browns fan perspective, how maddened must it have been to see Thomas go on the block? How angry would we have been if McDaniels had tried to trade Clady or Bailey when the 2010 season started to go bad?
Looks like Kapri Bibbs will be promoted from the practice squad to active roster for the second consecutive year.
But with Broncos’ No. 3 running back Juwan Thompson not expected to play this week because of a hamstring injury, Bibbs is expected to be promoted to the Broncos’ active roster Friday afternoon.
I didn’t hear any mention of this during the broadcast but Peyton Manning has achieved another historic milestone:
In Sunday’s win against the Raiders, the Broncos quarterback took the NFL’s No. 1 spot in combined regular season and playoff passing yards with 77,725. He surpassed Brett Favre’s mark of 77,693.
Peyton also inched closer to the more high profile regular season mark:
Given his current average of 246.8 passing yards a game this year, Manning should surpass Favre’s regular-season mark at home in Week 10 against Kansas City.
There is a good chance we are witnessing Peyton’s swan song this year. If so, let’s be happy the Broncos have constructed a strong team to send him out on a winning note. Fivethirtyeight.com gives the Broncos a 94% chance to make the playoffs so it looks like Peyton, the Broncos and the rest of us will have at least one more ride.
Many have wondered how long into the season it will be before we see Peyton Manning start getting banged up. As it turns out, not long. As Leo just pointed out, he is listed on the team’s injury report with a back injury. However, he was a full participant on Monday and Tuesday’s practice. This brings up a number of questions:
Continue reading So it begins: Manning on Week 2 injury report.