Peyton Manning Back Under Center for Denver in the Playoffs

Peyton Manning will start at quarterback for the Broncos in the AFC Divisional Playoffs, the team announced on its website Thursday.

The Broncos have to wait until Saturday to find out who they will be playing in the playoffs. Osweiler was yanked after the Broncos committed their fifth turnover to fall in jeopardy of suffering a loss that would have cost Denver the AFC West title and the conference’s No. 1 playoff seed. Manning, who missed a good portion of the second half of the season with a foot injury, has recovered and has been deemed healthy enough to play.

The Broncos went 7-2 with Manning as their starter and 5-2 under Osweiler, including Sunday’s win over the Chargers. Osweiler initially took advantage with a gritty win in his first National Football League start at Chicago. Peyton Manning has developed quite the playoff resume over the course of his storied career, while Brock Osweiler has none.

Manning, 39, is chasing an elusive second Super Bowl ring to set alongside his victory with the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI. “I stand behind this team”, Osweiler said. “But I am excited to be thinking about who are we going to play next weekend and to have the opportunity to help”. Although it ended up being a long road for Manning, he was still able to make substantial progress. Talib said the Broncos are “maybe the closest team I’ve been a part of”.

Emmanuel Sanders said, “Me and DT told him (Peyton Manning) today that we hadn’t seen that kind of smile on him in five or six weeks”.

Osweiler struggled in the season finale against the San Diego Chargers, however, after throwing two interceptions and fumbling. Osweiler had a quick hook by design, and Manning runs a different incarnation of Kubiak’s offense. “He is a great motivator and is extremely respected by the players he has coached”. “I think everybody saw a glimpse of what could be the vision we all had and where this team could go”.

“Peyton’s our quarterback”, Kubiak said on the day Manning hobbled to the sideline and gave way to his longtime understudy following his fourth interception against Kansas City on November.

If the opponents defense are going to penetrate the offensive line, Osweiler will keep the play alive and Manning will go down easily.

The Peyton Manning era in Denver may very well come to an end after this season, and if they don’t win the Super Bowl they’ll fall short of their biggest goal; the one they created when he originally committed to the Broncos back in March 2012.