Well this is a shocker.
Word on the street is Peyton Manning is working on a contract to play for the Denver Broncos. The Broncos – namely executive John Elway – get the prototypical QB it long desired since the Tebowmania wrecked havoc in Denver. Plus, it makes the Broncos the team to beat in the AFC West.
While this was a great move for the Broncos, it’s a questionable one for Manning.
First of all, there were better teams out there that were recruiting Manning. You cannot say with a straight face that the Arizona Cardinals, Tennessee Titans AND San Francisco 49ers are not better than the Broncos. Hell if you stick Manning on the 49ers, they would be an instant favorite to WIN the Super Bowl.
So why wouldn’t Manning want to ball in San Fran? I think it’s because he will not have complete control of the offense. Niners’ coach Jim Harbaugh is himself a control freak, and would have a cow if Manning kept audibling out of offensive plays.
Meanwhile, Broncos’ coach John Fox and Elway have said that Manning can do whatever the hell he wants on the offensive side of the ball.
So what about Denver? The Broncos have a wide receiving corps that is in the Witness Protection Program. Their defense outside of Elvis Dumervil, Von Miller and Champ Bailey is suspect. At least they have a running game with Willis McGahee, but the Broncos still do not measure up with those other teams.
Hell as much as I love the 49ers fit, I thought the Titans would be a shoo-in for Manning. He went to school at the University of Tennessee (and yeah, I know Vanderbilt is in Nashville where the Titans play, but who gives a damn about the Commodores?). Plus last I checked, Nashville is a helluva lot warmer than Denver.
At any rate, good move – check that, GREAT move for the Broncos. Elway finally gets his man, and Tim Tebow will be shown the door.
And as long as Manning is willing to accept being no better than second-place in the AFC, then it’s a great move for him as well.
Categories: NFL, sports story
Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker are young studs in the making in the receiving corps and having a quarterback who actually throws the ball is going to jumpstart their development. They’re certainly better than dropsy Crabtree and Ted Ginn in San Fran and an unknown in Randy Moss. The best receiver on the Titans is coming back from a torn ACL. Fitzgerald is at the top of the pyramid, though, no arguments there.
The defense is young and improving, holding teams under 15 points six times in the last eleven games and is going to continue to get better as Miller plays a full season and Dumervil gets all the way back from his torn pec in 2010. The defense is the only reason Tebow was in a position to make any of those late game heroics happen. Denver’s defense is as good if not better than any of the teams that were courting Manning, outside of San Fran’s of course.
As for the “being too cold” argument, the average game time temperature for home games in Denver is 61 degrees, which seems pretty comfortable to me. People sleep on the talent Denver has because they didn’t look great with a guy who wasn’t great at passing the ball, but they should flourish and be a very good team as long as Manning stays upright.