Even if they may not understand or even follow football, it seems to be on everyone’s lips, minds and Twitter accounts.
I was holding my 1-year-old daughter recently in my living room. My dad had come over, and we were wrapping up conversation as he was ready to leave. He had a couple phrases of affection for my kid, hoping to elicit a verbal response.
Instead, the kiddo pointed to the front door and babbled something indiscriminate. I asked her to explain herself. “What’s out there?” I asked her. “Tell Grandpa B what’s out there.”
“Peyton,” my dad answered for her.
He was right. Everything outside my front door is Peytonland now.
I wasn’t going to write about Peyton Manning coming to Denver to play for the Denver Broncos for a crazy large sum of money for years I’m not convinced he has in him, but whatever. I didn’t want to feel left out since every sports writer in Colorado is writing about the acquisition and the subsequent loss of Boy Wonder, Tim Tebow.
What could I possibly say about swapping out Tebow for Manning that hasn’t already been said by every sports media and local news media outlets? Not much.
I agree its a good move, and I’m excited to see what the Broncos can really do with the highly coachable talent Manning brings to the table, not the uncoachable “natural” talent Tebow takes with him.
Coach John Fox can now run the system he wants to run with Manning as quarterback, not the system he’s had to run to accommodate Tebow’s shortfalls — unable to throw short passes, can’t read defenses, etc.
I’m not the first to say any of that, but what I’ve enjoyed the most about this change of Broncos leadership on the field is the numerous posts and threads popping up in my Facebook feed.
One is a photo shared a few times over of Tim Tebow doing is infamous “Tebowing” pose — actually he’s praying and popular culture slapped a name on it, and a bubble caption above, speaking something to the effect of, “Dear, Jesus. When I asked you to help the Broncos win a Super Bowl, sending them Peyton Manning wasn’t what I had in mind.”
The only thing I posted on the subject was, “My fear is Peyton Manning will become the Allen Iverson of the NFL...super expensive and always out with an injury.”
That started a thread of comments from my friends especially between a longtime friend Brian and a former thespian friend Jerry. Now that everyone is talking Super Bowl possibilities for the Broncos with Manning, Jerry pointed out a bit of NFL trivia I didn’t know.
He mentioned Earl Morrall. Morrall got to the Super Bowl subbing for an injured Johnny Unitas in 1969 with the then-Baltimore Colts only to lose. In 1972, Morrall took over for Bob Griese in Miami to lead the Dolphins to their undefeated season and was replaced in the Super Bowl by Griese for the end of the perfect season. But Morrall didn't win the first time he went, so no quarterback has ever won a Super Bowl with two different teams.
Manning could be the first. On that alone, I’m glad he decided to come to Denver. It’ll be exciting to see the system they run this fall. But as my friend Brian said, it’ll be interesting to see how Broncos fans respond if the team has an 0-2 start, shaking off the cobwebs. The call to bring back Tebow will fill the air over Denver if that happens.
Welcome to the discussion.
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