If you saw the click-bait headline, you may have felt a jolt.
Perhaps some anger. Shock. Rage. Confusion.
It read, "Peyton Manning" blah blah blah "bench."
"What the? Peyton Manning on the bench?" Thus, said person clicks on the headline and they just got had.
This is in reference to the annual NFL meetings in Phoenix. And this particular shocker is from Denver Broncos coach Gary Kubiak.
Here's his exact quote when he was asked about Manning's age and if he or his offense have to make any modifications because of that:
"It’s interesting. He and I talked about that and I know his mindset is totally the other way but I have to get a feel for that. I think that as a coach you have to make those suggestions to players. You have to say, ‘Hey, maybe you take a Wednesday (off) here or there.’ I don’t know what that’s going to be until I get involved with him on a day-to-day basis. The great ones — the reason they’re great is you have to battle them on things like that because they are used to being a part of it every day. They are used to having that under-control every day situation. So we’ll see how it works out. We want to do what’s best for him. I went through the same process with John (Elway) late in his career. It was a battle for me and (former Broncos head coach) Mike (Shanahan) to do some things with him. I can remember some of the adjustments we made with John — from a meetings standpoint, from a practice standpoint, from training camp, things like that. But he battled us too and that’s why they are who they are."
Where anywhere in there do you get, "Peyton Manning" blah blah blah "bench?" Kubiak may have hinted to that fact, but he never came out and said that.
Ever since Kubiak was hired, the speculation has run rampant on how his offense would mesh with Manning. It's run the gamut. "It won't work" to "It could be the best offense ever when you consider how this system runs the ball."
As one would imagine, Kubiak and his offensive staff have spent the last two months putting in the hours to make sure it's as close to perfection as they can make it ... at least at this point since the players have yet to step on the field or look at the playbook.
"I’m the one who has to adjust and find out how I’m going to mesh everything together," Kubiak said. "That’s what we’ve been doing and I told Peyton that from the start. We are going to run his offense and do what he does best, but it’s going to be the Broncos’ (offense). We’re going to mesh things together. Obviously, I love to run the ball and I love the play (-action) pass. I love to do those things so there is going to be a commitment there, but there is 17 years of investment in what he’s done better than anybody and we’re not going to run away from that.
"We’ve been in a modifying state for the past two months. We’re just trying to mesh it all together. Basically, what I’ve done is study what he’s done. He’s been doing those things for so many years. Then you take the things that we do and we feel are very important to us to be successful offensively and we mesh them all together. Now it’s time to go to work on the total product."
Sean Payton was dead on at the NFL meetings on Wednesday when he said there's a lot of silly speculation in the media today. Of course that stems from the rumors Payton and the New Orleans Saints would trade quarterback Drew Brees.
When you can't create consistently great content to remain relevant, you're forced to do click-bait garbage. There's nothing wrong with that, but don't push it off as "journalism." Don't pretend it's anything more than that.
The problem is you start to lose your credibility. There's one nameless national reporter who has done at least four click-bait articles for the Broncos. When it comes to the media, the credibility aspect is not too high in most circles. The whole "silly speculation" and click-bait aspect.
Think of how many people got had when they clicked on those Brees headlines.
Probably as many who clicked on the one that said "Peyton Manning "blah blah blah "bench."
