Winston’s 5 TD day has Bucs in playoff picture
Rookie quarterback’s quick improvement is making Tampa Bay ‘relevant again.’
Peyton Manning is,
CHICAGO without question, one of the best quarterbacks ever to play the game.
But he’s not the best quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Not now, anyway.
Maybe not ever again.
Brock Osweiler’s solid play Sunday in Denver’s 17-15 victory against the Chicago Bears not only proved he could carry a team, it also showed just how limited the Broncos offense has been with aging and ailing Manning. With a season-high 170 yards rushing, including a 15-yard run by Ronnie Hillman that set up Osweiler’s 48-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas on the opening drive, the Broncos opened up their playbook in a way they’ve rarely done in 2015.
When a team is running the ball well, defenses can’t load up in the secondary for fear of leaving gaps at the line. Piling up big chunks of yardage, especially on first or second down, takes the CliffsNotes version of a playbook and turns it into a novel.
“Anytime you’re getting 4,5,6, 7 yards on first down, you’re putting your whole team in a great position,” Osweiler said. “If you’re getting those chunks and you’re getting first down, second down, first down, or even first down, second down and third-and-1 or 2, now you have a choice. We can run the football here, we can do a keeper or we can throw it.
“You’re really keeping the pressure on the defense.”
It’s easy to say the Broncos could just run those same plays
for Manning, who missed Sunday’s game with a torn plantar fascia in his left foot and sore ribs. Except it’s not that simple.
Injuries and age have Manning, never the most mobile of quarterbacks, operating almost at a standstill. Playing under center isn’t an option because it requires mobility Manning, 39, no longer has. Denver’s playbook has largely been whittled to handoffs or throws between the numbers because Manning isn’t going to run a bootleg, scramble for a first down or even make a throw down the sidelines. And defensive coordinators know all this. Stopping the run becomes the first order of business vs. Manning’s Broncos, because it forces him to carry the offense, and he can’t do that anymore. He has an NFL-high 17 interceptions this season, and his passer rating when he was benched in the third quarter last week was 0.0. Yes, you read that right. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Osweiler, meanwhile, finished Sunday with a 127.1 rating and no turnovers. He took one of his five sacks because he didn’t want to take a chance of losing the ball.
“We came into the game knowing we had a pretty good quarterback who was going to make some throws and not turn the ball over,” Von Miller said. “That’s what he did.”
Osweiler, who turned 25 on Sunday, isn’t Manning. He couldn’t take advantage of some great field position, coming up empty when he got the ball on the Denver 48 and the Chicago 25. He also robbed the Broncos of a touchdown when he inadvertently tripped Hillman on fourthand-1 at the Chicago 2.
“I have to get my big feet out of the way,” Osweiler cracked.
But the Broncos don’t need a Hall of Famer at quarterback when their defense is stingier than Scrooge. All they need is a running game and a quarterback who can make a play or two, and that’s exactly what they got with Osweiler on Sunday.
“The message this week was, ‘Let’s protect the football and play,’ ” Kubiak said. “It got down to playing good defense and protecting the football. That’s a good combination in this league.”
Though Kubiak knew the questions were coming, he wasn’t ready to say who would start against the New England Patriots next week if Manning is ready to go. While the 4-6 Bears are one thing, it’s a stretch to think Osweiler can topple the unbeaten Patriots and Tom Brady.
But it’s also a stretch to think Manning could. Not with the way he’s playing these days.