Good morning, Bronco Country!
Any time Peyton Manning speaks, I will listen.
When it comes to quarterbacks and Denver Broncos players, the focus is a little more intense.
Earlier this week, the former Broncos quarterback received the Mizel Institute’s 2024 Enrichment Award. Manning has remained in Denver and now calls it home, which is fairly extraordinary. And the fact that Manning continues to do so much for the community speaks volumes about who he is.
It was also an opportunity to hear his thoughts on Denver’s quarterbacks, the trio of Bo Nix, Zach Wilson, and Jarrett Stidham.
Manning stated on the Broncos team website: “It sounds like they have great competition over there.” That’s always good. Makes everyone better. I believe the quarterback situation is in good shape, and Sean (Payton’s) system is very quarterback-friendly. I never participated in it, but I did watch it and know Drew Brees and Tony Romo were successful. It’s the type of system I’d like to participate in. “It is very quarterback-friendly.”
Manning also expressed his feelings about Nix:
“Look, I believe experience is still the best teacher. There are many opinions and disputes about whether to bench a rookie or play him right away. Patrick Mahomes obviously took a year off, and he has appeared in an AFC Championship game every year since. … If he had played as a rookie, I believe he would have had the same success. I participated as a rookie. This was not a fun year. It is well documented how many interceptions I threw. If any of these rookies want to beat my interception record, I’m up for it. I don’t want Bo to break it, but I’d like to remove that from my CV. You’d think they’d be able to do it after 17 games. It’s 28; it shouldn’t be that difficult. But, hey, I’m over it. Look, they’ll play the best QB.
“There’s no question; as any quarterback will tell you, you learn more on the field than you do on the sidelines. Any quarterback will tell you this. So (we’ll see) what happens with Bo and these quarterbacks — obviously, Sean will make that decision — but I believe experience is the best teacher. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
My debut year, I went 3-13 and did not play really well. We went 13-3 the following year. That would never have happened if I hadn’t played, gone through those challenges, thrown those interceptions, and realized, ‘Hey, OK, I can’t do that anymore. Hey, these people are faster. You just sort of file it away. Eli (Manning) played, I believe, six games his rookie year, and he stated that what he learned in those six games was vastly different than what he learned in the ten that he sat. We’ll see how things shake out.”
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