Divided in Orange: Broncos Country split over Manning matter

For fans of the National Football League it’s impossible to forget the image of Peyton Manning bidding farewell to Indianapolis. Having sat out the entirety of a 2011 season (during which he watched the only NFL team he had ever known amass the league’s worst record), number 18 stood behind a podium with Colts’ owner Jim Irsay and announced that the team, which held the top overall pick in the coming draft, was ceremoniously giving the veteran his release in anticipation of picking the pro-ready Andrew Luck and immediately naming him the Colts’ starter.

“I haven’t thought yet about where I’ll play, but I have thought a lot about where I’ve been. And I’ve truly been blessed. I’ve been blessed to play here. I’ve been blessed to be in the NFL.” – Peyton Manning, March 7, 2012

For fans of the Denver Broncos it’s impossible to forget the frenzy that ensued when speculation broke that the great Peyton Manning was flirting with their beloved team. The entire Denver sports media lost its fool mind – chasing Manning’s entourage down the highway by land and by air and climbing fences just to get a glance at the surgically-repaired veteran as he met with Bowlen and Elway. Manning’s every movement around town was documented and his travels around America were spied on while speculation abounded as to where the man would finally land.

Once Manning’s mind was made up to become a Bronco there was the matter of a certain number 15 to be settled.

Popular as Tim Tebow still was both in Denver and around the globe, it was clear that Peyton would need him gone so that he could go about the business of adapting to his second pro team. Despite his having helped topple the favored Steelers in the 2011 AFC Wild Card game, the Broncos could not be rid of Tebow quickly enough. He was unceremoniously cut and the Peyton Manning era began in Denver.

Manning’s first regular season as a Bronco started out slowly but evolved into an unqualified success, starting with an unforgettable week six second-half 35-point whooping of the San Diego Chargers who lead 24 – zip at halftime. Manning found his groove in that game and prevented Denver from falling to 2-4 on the season. Denver never looked back from that second-half onslaught. They went on to crush everything in their path, rattling off eleven straight wins on their way to a 13-3 regular season record, a first-round playoff bye and almost an MVP award for their quarterback (who ultimately settled for comeback player of the year).

Sadly, Denver’s playoff run that season ended in a fashion that Indianapolis fans might have predicted. The knock on Peyton Manning during his career in Indy was that he had a tendency to crumble under the pressure of the post-season. While he did earn one ring in Indy (against Rex Grossman and the Bears), the general feeling amongst the Indy fan-base (which was shared by owner Irsay) was that their quarterback was capable of posting jaw-dropping (Star Wars) numbers during the regular season but that he floundered to a frustrating degree in the playoffs. The 2012 Broncos were considered by most to be a near lock to win the AFC Championship and advance to the Super Bowl but that distinction went instead to the Baltimore Ravens who dispatched Manning’s Broncos in a stunning double-overtime game at Mile High. The loss to the Ravens would be a harbinger of things to come in Manning’s Denver era.

In 2013 Manning assembled playoff wins against both the Chargers and the Patriots and was able to lead the Broncos to their first Super Bowl berth since 1999. That Super Bowl turned out to be an unmitigated disaster, however – one of epic proportions. The Broncos were pasted by the Seattle Seahawks 43-8. Manning’s performance in the game was dismal – even by the standards of his spotty post-seasons. He was ineffective and disheveled throughout in a performance that every Broncos fan would prefer to forget. Once again, Colts Country hissed a hearty “we told you so.”

Manning’s reputation for whiffing with everything on the line remained very much in play after that game, causing some Broncos fans to begin to doubt that number 18 was ever going to lead them to the promised land.

As if the narrative surrounding Manning’s playoff career needed reinforcement the Indianapolis Colts, Peyton’s former team, visited Mile High for the divisional round of the 2014 playoffs. After yet another stat-packed regular season for Denver, Indy handed Peyton Manning his ninth first-round playoff loss. No other quarterback in NFL history had more than four of those. They also left Broncos Country wondering once again if Manning would ever get the Broncos over the hump. Again, Colts fans simply nodded in sympathetic understanding. They had been down this road with Peyton time and time again.

This current season is Peyton Manning’s fourth in Denver. The Broncos are undefeated heading into their week seven bye; but one would not necessarily know that they were gauging the reaction on social media to the way they’re playing. Peyton Manning leads the entire NFL with 10 interceptions and his passer rating of 72.5 is second-to-last in the league. Only Houston’s Ryan Mallett is looking up at the great number 18 with a rating of just 63.6. By all accounts Peyton has been completely out of sorts in 2015.

Some in Broncos Country point to Gary Kubiak’s offensive schemes as the primary reason for Manning’s fading statistics. Others believe that the old man’s days as an effective signal-caller are simply over – that his physical skills have broken down.

Aside from a 12 point victory over the Detroit Lions the Broncos are yet to hand an opponent more than a six-point defeat. Fact is, had things swung just slightly differently in any number of Denver’s 2015 tilts their record could easily be far less impressive than it is. Things have definitely broken the Broncos’ way, particularly at the end of games. The defense has been the primary reason that they have beaten teams like the Chiefs and the Vikings.

As the schedule becomes trickier beginning week eight against the Packers and with teams like the Patriots and the Bengals still on the schedule the Broncos are going to need better production from their offensive unit if they hope for anything more that a quickie first-round exit from the playoffs.

That starts with better quarterback play.

There seems to be about a 50 / 50 split in the Twitterverse between fans that support Peyton Manning come heck or high water (and who remain convinced that the veteran gives the Broncos the proverbial “best chance to win”) and others who believe that John Elway should sit Peyton down and give Brock Osweiler a chance to show his wares.

Those on the Manning side of the argument say that Osweiler could hardly be better than the Hall-of-Famer while those on the Osweiler side assert that he could hardly be worse. What all sides agree on is that Manning has never looked less mobile or less effective as a passer. Still, the rift between Manning’s devoted fans and Broncos fans who have grown weary of Manning’s fading abilities would seem to have Broncos Country divided in orange.

Osweiler was drafted the same year that Manning was signed and, as it happens, his contract expires at the same time, too. Both quarterbacks have precisely one year left on their deals. As much consternation as there is today surrounding the Manning matter there’s bound to be even more should Peyton decide not to retire after the 2015 season and to instead play out his contract. That would put the Broncos in a position where they had to either release a legend or pay two quarterbacks starter’s salaries in 2016. Then the rift within the Broncos fan-base would grow even wider.

The Broncos are slightly more than a third of the way through the season. They still have ten regular season games to play before what appears to be an inevitable playoff berth. There is still every chance that Kubiak and Manning will sort out a way to improve the thus-far dismal performance of the offense. But, should they not, and should things continue to the way they have been going, fans will remain divided over the Manning matter.