The Denver Broncos find themselves in a truly unusual situation. Despite being the first seed in the AFC playoff picture, they’ve got a quarterback controversy. In an NFL that lives and dies on the arm of the quarterback, it’s incredulous to think the position could be up in the air in the post-season, especially when one of the men is Peyton Manning. But when Manning was benched in the middle of an ugly loss to Kansas City in week eleven, that’s exactly what happened—a Denver Broncos Quarterback controversy.
Against a red hot Chiefs team, Peyton Manning looked dreadful. Despite throwing the ball twenty times, he only amassed 35 yards on five completions. More importantly, he threw four interceptions, and put the Broncos in a deep hole. Brock Osweiler stepped in after Peyton’s fourth interception, and he tried to get the Broncos back in the game, but it was ultimately too little, too late. After the game, it was revealed that Manning had been battling plantar fasciitis and a rib strain for quite some time and that his condition had worsened.
Osweiler would step in as the full-time starter while Manning recovered, and he started by winning three in a row, including a monumental win over the undefeated New England Patriots.
Unfortunately for Osweiler and the Broncos, it was all downhill from there. After narrowly defeating the hapless San Diego Chargers, Denver lost to the Oakland Raiders at home, and then got absolutely trounced by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In Week 17, Manning was cleared for practice, and after a rough start by Osweiler, Manning entered the game. Despite only completing five passes for sixty-nine yards, Manning helped lead the Broncos to a victory over the Chargers, as well as a division championship and the top seed in the AFC Playoffs.
Conveniently enough, the regular season has come to an end, and the Broncos earned the first round bye. John Elway, Gary Kubiak, and the rest of the Broncos office have a whole week to decide who they want to start against either Kansas City, Pittsburgh, or Houston.
Despite the accolades that accompany him, it’s no secret that Peyton Manning isn’t who he used to be anymore. Two years removed from the greatest passing season in NFL history, Manning has become more of a hindrance than a helping hand on offense. Some blame injuries, some blame father time, but Manning just can’t make all the throws he used to. Just look back to the Super Bowl two years ago. That year, Manning and his offense lit up the league, scoring an NFL record 76 touchdowns. Manning himself threw 55 touchdowns, obliterating the record of 50 set by Tom Brady a few years earlier. Many consider this the greatest offense of all time. But when they got to the Super Bowl, they were systematically shut down by the Seahawks. Richard Sherman and the “Legion of Boom” roughed up receivers at the line and forced Manning to throw the ball deep. The result was a 43-8 beatdown, and one of the biggest blowouts in Super Bowl history.
This season, Manning is nowhere near 55 touchdowns. In fact, in his nine starts, he’s only thrown for 9 touchdowns to pair with his 2,249 passing yards. And to make things worse, he’s also thrown 17 interceptions, the second most in the league. If you average those numbers, he tosses for about 250 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions a game. Meanwhile, his counterpart has thrown for 10 touchdowns, 6 interceptions, and 1,967 yards in his 7 starts. That’s an average of 1 touchdown, 1 interception, and 281 yards per game.
Osweiler is fourteen years younger than Manning, and has taken significantly fewer hits. He isn’t being hampered by neck, rib, and foot injuries like Manning is, and he’s perfectly capable of making any of the throws. Osweiler has been physically and statistically superior to Manning this season, and while many would argue that Manning has earned the right to start this game because of all he has accomplished in his career, the same could be said for Osweiler this season.
When Manning went down, Osweiler stepped in and elevated the passing game, throwing more touchdowns and fewer picks in fewer games than Manning had against teams like the Patriots and Bengals.
One thing that Manning has that Osweiler does not is experience. However, it isn’t like Manning’s post-season history is something he’s proud of. No quarterback in NFL history has been one-and-done in the playoffs as often as Manning has in his illustrious eighteen year career (9 times). That said, one advantage of this experience is the fact that Manning is more capable of reading a defense at the line of scrimmage. However, this season that advantage hasn’t translated to success on the field.
It seems obvious that Osweiler should be given the opportunity to deliver the Broncos their third Lombardi Trophy.
An interesting note, however, is that many suspect Elway was able to convince Manning to come to Denver was by comparing their careers. In 1998, Elway’s last season, he also split time with a couple of young quarterbacks. During the regular season, both Bubby Brister and Brian Griese took snaps for the Broncos. However, when the playoffs started, Elway took control and the rest is history. It’ll be interesting to see if that plays a part in Kubiak’s decision.
