Peyton Manning Who? Defending the Gospel of John

Just a quick reminder.

Peyton Manning is the quarterback that threw all of those passes to the league leading receiving duo, Demarius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders.  Add the early season exploits of Julius Thomas who dominated touchdown receptions even afer he was out for several weeks with injury and Manning was setting a pace to annihilate the record books that he already destroyed  last season.

Another quick reminder.

During those games I boldly declared the Denver Broncos defense to be the most complete and therefore BEST defense of them all.  As it stands today, Denver's D ranks #4, but no other team with a top 5 defense has the top receiving corp as well.  With national concern raging over the spiritual transformation of the Broncos, skeptics who question this type of miraculous change quickly pursue reasonable explanations as to how sinners can become saints and how Manning has relented to the "run the ball", defensive Gospel of John.

C.J. Anderson's has evoked claims of blasphemy towards those who dare call him another Terrell Davis, but the numbers and the first defender who keeps falling on their face makes you wonder if C.J. (Christ Jesus?..) is the hope of Denver's football salvation. The Gospel of John included the potential to strike you with a timely pass in between T.D.'s exploits, but it also might have involved a quarterback sneak or two just to remind you of who was the Hall of Fame player and who was not.

In Sunday's game against the San Diego Chargers, the Broncos ran the ball all the way down field and within 2 yards of scoring a touchdown, and tried their best to let their Hall of Fame QB finish it off in the only way that he can.  It resulted in a 3 point score instead of a touchdown, but it mostly resulted in a deepening question of "what's wrong with Peyton" and what happened to the flag football team that he use to be the leader of?

Is his arm finally showing the results of age?  Is he injured in some way that the team doesn't care to reveal so they've been babying his ailments with the support of a run game? What gives?

The real question that fuels this concern is whether or not the Broncos can win it all with or without the finely tuned weapon of their lead gunslinger and will he have rusty bullets when it comes time to pull the trigger in a real gun fight?

Will Manning frown his way to a championship victory?

With all due respect to everything that he has accomplished in the league, and for my team over the past few season's, SCREW PEYTON MANNING.  He had better be glad that Father John Elway had the foresight to compile the BEST DEFENSE IN THE LEAGUE.  If  Aqib Talib is actually healthy again and can bring his field knowledge to bear in the takeaway game then we are even better than I expected when I first made the claim.  Talib's defensive player of the week selection (8 tackles and 1 interception) says he is. Had the Broncos chosen to prepare for December and January football when they were still lighting up the skies, Denver's defense would easily rank at the top of the league. The fact that they are 4th in defense and  are the most dangerous offensive team in the league is exactly what Father John envisioned.  If he had to place the championship hopes of  his team into the palms of an old quarterback, he probably would rather put a uniform on himself.

Manning's dismal results in the playoffs are worthy of consideration and alternative planning.  Some guys are simply way too wired for success to properly embrace it at significant moments.  Having the courage to fail miserably is the pinnacle of true success.  Manning simply doesn't seem comfortable enough with failure to pull the best out of himself when the risk of failure is at its zenith.  He is hardly alone in this malady since very few us are able to rise above our greatest fears without choking up a bit, but Manning is on track to be considered the most accomplished choker of all-time.

Father John could pursue the doctrine of Thomas (Julius or Demarius) and he certainly saw the value of Emmanuel (Sanders) and C.J. (don't call me Christ Jesus) Anderson, but all of these valuable pieces of the puzzle are not the focal point of the picture.  Denver's defense is where the money was spent and where the future lies.  Brandon Marshall will need to hurry back and continue to remind us that we forgot all about Danny Trevathan, the player he so capably replaced, but super safety T.J. Ward is a special player that can plug that hole a bit until Marshall returns to the line-up.  Ward is certain to repeat as a Pro Bowl selection and might need to be locked up long term similar to the way Chris Harris Jr. was locked up with a long term contract.

Every week seems to be a new question of who is best, the front 4 or the secondary.  Denver's secondary took a lead after last week, but due to the consistency up front, the debate rages on.

What is no longer worthy of debate is the Gospel of John.  This is a formula for victory and now, only backsliding will pull this team from their destiny.  Denver might have to travel through New England to win  it all, but they seem unafraid of the journey because defense and run games travel very nicely.

Thanks for everything Peyton, but the more we forget about you the better.