Manning set to return to practice for first time in a month

Coach Gary Kubiak ruled out Manning for the Denver Broncos’ showdown at Pittsburgh. He is not expected to play this weekend-Brock Osweiler is still the starter, but probably not for long.

But the Broncos still consider the fourth-year quarterback out of Arizona State as the man who can take them the farthest, according to Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole.

Manning threw a league-high 17 interceptions in his nine starts, including four against Kansas City on November 15, when he had a career-worst 0.0 passer rating on the same day he broke Brett Favre’s NFL record for career passing yards. But things are progressing quickly: Manning was cleared to resume throwing drills last week, and returned to the sideline on Sunday for the first time since the injury, earpiece in so he could get back up to speed on the playcalling. We need to do a better job of protecting him.

“It was a little odd to watch Peyton take those scout team reps today, but, once again, that’s just something out of my control”, Osweiler said. This is the first time he has had to work his way back, and the first time his team has had to seriously consider if he will be inserted back into the starting lineup when he gets healthy.

“I’m not going to talk about what’s going on three weeks from now, two weeks from now; we’re committed to playing Pittsburgh”. Wednesday’s practice was held on turf, in the team field house. The Steelers are the first team out of the AFC Wild Card, and also have an outside chance of winning the AFC North with the Bengals ailing after losing Andy Dalton to injury.

“That’s the next step, that he’s coming back to practice”, Kubiak said Monday. “As we try to get David (Bruton Jr.) healthy and Omar (Bolden) healthy, those guys are going to have to play well for us”. Osweiler has been very efficient for Denver in his time at quarterback.

The one constant with Osweiler in 2015 is him being prone to making a mistake. If the Broncos can get back to mistake-free football, they should have a shot against the Steelers who are thriving at this point in the season. “I had just gotten out of a team meeting, we’re doing some Pro Bowl voting [Monday] and what I said was, as of [Monday], nothing has changed”.

“I’ve learned a lot from it”, Mallett said. “Brock is definitely a competitor and Peyton, I’ve seen him pick defenses apart like it’s nothing”. We know the other one is out, so we’re going to stay committed week-to-week. I do what I’m told to do and I do it to the best of my ability.