Peyton Manning has officially taken his starting job back.
Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak informed his players on Thursday that Manning will be the team’s starting quarterback for the playoffs.
While the decision to bench Brock Osweiler in favor of Manning last weekend was somewhat of a surprise, this decision is not.
Manning clearly provided the Broncos with a spark when he was inserted into the lineup against the Chargers. Denver scored a touchdown on his first drive, and it looked like running backs C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman were running with more purpose and the offensive line was blocking better. Even if it was mostly mental, the team was clearly in a better spot.
The only potential downside for the Broncos could be if Manning is peppered with questions about the performance-enhancing drug allegations that have been made against him. Though, there has been surprisingly little chatter about that from the media to this point. There are plenty of questions that need to be answered (especially about where Manning’s wife fits into the HGH mess), but we fully expect Manning to table any of that talk until after the postseason.
