The defense did all of the celebrating. The special teams did most of
the scoring. But it was Peyton Manning who quietly and matter-of-factly
led the Denver Broncos to a fourth consecutive victory at the Carolina
Panthers.
Manning’s play in a 36-14 victory vs. the Panthers (2-7) strengthened
the case for him to be the first MVP and comeback player of the year
winner in the same season since the latter award was introduced in 1998.
He passed for 301 yards with a touchdown, completing 71% of his
passes, as the Broncos moved to 6-3 and extended their AFC West lead to
two games.
The only thing Manning didn’t do well Sunday was scramble. He escaped
the pocket for 6 yards in the second quarter, sliding and jamming his
knee into the ground when the knee brace he was wearing dug into the
turf.
Manning sat and grimaced, stood and adjusted the brace and then
completed his next three passes amid Denver’s run of 29 unanswered
points. Broncos tight end Jacob Tamme, who made the hop from the
Indianapolis Colts to Denver with Manning, saw the tail end of the play.
“I guess his brace buckled up or something, because when I saw it, I
was like, ‘Ooh!’ You know? I asked him if he was all right, and he just
kind of hopped up,” Tamme said. “Obviously it’s a priority for us to
keep hits off of him, and everybody takes a lot of pride in that.”
Tamme said he had never played with someone as important to a team as
Manning. “He’s a different type of player,” Tamme said. “Not only can
you not replace what he does, you can’t really get an understanding for
it unless you’re with him every week, preparing.”
The Broncos have shifted into a higher gear over the last month. The
defense has posted 12 sacks over the last two weeks, with seven Sunday
plus a few Superman celebrations mocking opposing quarterback Cam
Newton’s signature move.
Special-teams newcomer Trindon Holliday has returned kicks for touchdowns in consecutive games.
And Manning has vaulted himself into the MVP conversation after a 2-3 start to the season.
With his first-quarter touchdown pass to wide-open Brandon Stokley,
Manning tied retired Dan Marino for second all time on the NFL’s passing
touchdown leaderboard with 420. Retired Brett Favre owns the record
with 508.
Yet Manning says he’s not 100% after having offseason neck surgery.
Furthermore, the Broncos aren’t clicking as well as he would like.
“I didn’t know what kind of progress I would make physically,” he
says. “I’ve made some, and I continue to have some that I still need to
make. I continue to do my rehab. And the team, I think we have improved
on certain things and are developing some type of chemistry.
“This is not a team that has been together four or five years, so we still have some things we can do better.”
That’s evident to one man who’s close to Manning: former Colts
general manager Bill Polian, who attended Sunday’s game along with Colts
offensive coordinator Tom Moore to watch the Broncos quarterback.
“Obviously they need to do a better job protecting him,” Polian said
of Manning. “He got knocked down a little bit more than I’m used to
seeing.”
Polian lives in the area, having once served as general manager for
the Panthers. He didn’t like seeing the Broncos’ protection break down
early on a few occasions, leading to one sack.
Polian was one of two prominent former employees of Panthers owner
Jerry Richardson on hand. Broncos coach John Fox was not retained when
his contract expired after the 2010 season after nine years as
Carolina’s coach. He didn’t express a desire to stick it to his former
team, though his players recognized the significance and gave him the
game ball. He wanted to avoid any emotional encounters before the game
but got a hug from Carolina wide receiver Steve Smith as soon as he
walked out of the tunnel leading to the field for pregame warm-ups.
“There’s a lot of people here that I have fond feelings about and
players on the other side, so you try not to see them too much before
the game,” Fox said. “But after the game, it was nice to see a lot of
those faces.”
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