“Brock [Osweiler] is our starter moving forward, and we’re trying to get Peyton [Manning] healthy,” Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak told reporters on Wednesday. “That’s where we’re at. The team knows that. If something were to change, you all will be the second guys to know, I hope. The team should always be first.”
The team was the first to find out on Wednesday morning that Osweiler would be the starter for Monday’s matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals before a release was sent out by the Broncos, but even after the team made it clear, of course, there were still many questions.
Is there still optimism that Manning could return this season? The coach was noncommittal.
“The most important thing is we get him healthy,” Kubiak said. “We took some steps last week toward doing that—I think a couple of good steps—and then obviously Friday wasn’t a good day compared to the others. The last time he worked was last Thursday and then this morning. Hopefully, we’ll have a good week this week and we’ll see. Just trying to get him healthy.”
Was there too much optimism surrounding the return of Manning?
“I don’t know about that,” he told. “I mean I think that’s a good thing that he’s working to try to get himself back healthy that he feels like he can go. No, I wouldn’t go there. I just think that we were taking the steps we felt like were necessary to take last week and had a little hiccup along the way. We’ll start the process again.”
Is it tough for Brock to handle the week-to-week nature of his starting status?
“I don’t think so. I think that’s part of growing up,” Kubiak explained. “If you want to be a great quarterback in this league, you’re going to have to overcome a lot of things. He’s six games into his career—or five I should say—here we go on six, and I think he’s doing a really good job.
“Along the way, there is noise all the time,” he added. “That’s part of the business, and if you want to be a great player, you ignore the noise and you get yourself ready to play. I think he’s done an excellent job of that.”
The Broncos have had a tight grasp on the information they want to release on this quarterback situation. Brock is the starter and they’re trying to get Peyton healthy, believe it, don’t believe it or spin it how you want, that’s their story and anything reported differently will be denied vehemently.
