Are we really going down this road of doubt again with Peyton Manning?

Roger Federer is washed up.

He has nothing left.

He may very well be the greatest tennis player of all time, but he’s a shell of what he once was.

Federer just doesn’t have it anymore.

It was fun while it lasted, but you never stop the clock on Father Time.

What are those people saying and thinking now that Federer is in position to win his eighth Wimbledon title on Sunday?

Oh, that’s right, it’s probably just a fluke … even though he dominated Andy Murray in every way imaginable.

Federer still has to win but it shows, yet again, to never doubt or question one of the best to ever step foot on the court.

Sound familiar?

All that’s been ballyhooed about with the Denver Broncos since the end of last season is the same nonsensical garbage about Peyton Manning. The same questions. The same doubts. The same statements.

Do people remember these same things were said and asked four years ago after Manning underwent four neck surgeries?

Do they even bother to remember he couldn’t throw a football 5 feet or that he missed an entire season not knowing if he would play again, let alone pick up a football?

Those are rhetorical questions. Besides, they would say, “Yeah, well, he wasn’t 39, though.”

Prior to Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego, the same was said about John Elway. The only difference, thankfully, the Chicken Littles couldn’t voice their expert analysis because social media didn’t exist.

Given how Manning performed in his first season, in a new system, after four neck surgeries, he has shown what can happen when people doubt him. When they say he can’t. He won’t. It’s not possible.

The odds seem to weigh in the favor that he will do it again, in a new system, after “struggling” down the stretch last season.

People like Federer and Manning are driven beyond the layman’s comprehension. Nothing will ever stop them. The success they have had does not matter. It’s not enough.

They possess an inner quality that will not allow them to fail.

If Manning couldn’t succeed or play up to his expectations, he wouldn’t have come back to the Broncos. He wouldn’t put in the time to learn that new system (another tired question that has run its course) if he wasn’t certain he would thrive and win.

Here’s a cliche for you: No one can predict the future. If they could, the people who said what they did about Federer would have kept their mouths shut … unless, of course, they’re just trolls.

We have been down this road once before with Manning.

The doubts.

The questions.

The “he doesn’t have it anymore.”

Since his arrival in Denver, this is nothing new for Manning. Incapable of enjoying the brilliance of a once-in-a-lifetime player (for the second time), people focus on what they deem as a certainty.

A word of advisement: Proceed with caution.

Look no further than the Wimbledon final for the latest evidence.

Or just travel back to four years ago.