I've never really been a Peyton Manning fan. Although I liked him better than Tom Brady.
How DO you like a guy who destroyed your team consecutive years in the playoffs (2003 and 2004)?
Plus, I always got tired of hearing about how great the Colts were and so on and so forth.
It should be noted that the Colts were a garbage-dump NFL franchise before Peyton showed up in 1998, however.
I am honestly suprised by the developments of the past two weeks. I didn't think that Peyton Manning would give the Broncos the time of day. Even after his visit, I thought it was SO CUTE that the Denver media actually thought he would pick Denver. Because there certainly seemed to be better options out there.
It wasn't until it got down to Tennessee and Denver that I thought they had an actual chance to get him. But when it came out that San Francisco had secretly worked him out a few days prior to working out for the Broncos, I thought that was the ballgame. For sure he would pick the 49ers, who came up just short of the Super Bowl last season. And when it kept dragging on day after day, I started to think he would pick Tennessee.
Am I excited? Sure, I guess so. Who wouldn't want one of the Top 10 all-time quarterbacks, who should still have at least a couple of good years left?
Plus, it meant a certain end to the banal arguments about Tim Tebow that occur on a daily basis on the Denver airwaves. Now, don't get me wrong - I became converted to Tebow during the 2010 season. He can play. I just wish we didn't have to be discussing his quarterbacking acumen every second of every dang day.
A lot of people are exultant about the acquisition, because it certainly means that Super Bowls are in the future.
I prefer a more cautious approach. Let us not forget:
1) When Joe Montana made the switch to the Chiefs late in his career, while they were much improved, he could not get them to a Super Bowl.
2) Similarly, Brett Favre came up just short of getting the Vikings to the Super Bowl after leaving the Packers.
3) All the talk is how all of Peyton's old buddies from the Colts are going to come play for the Broncos. Let's not forget how well the "Denver Patriots" worked out a couple of years ago.
4) Even when Peyton was in his prime and the Colts were firing on all cylinders, they only made it to the Super Bowl twice and only won it once. It is true that Tom Brady and the Patriots were often the roadblock during the Colts' best years, but guess what? Tom Brady is still QB of the Patriots.
5) The Broncos aren't close to being a championship-caliber team, in terms of talent. Remember that just one year ago, they were coming off a 4-12 season and picking second overall in the draft.
That's what worries me the most - Broncos management was all fired up a year ago to start rebuilding the team through the draft. What are they going to do now? Forget player development! We need to load up on veterans and make a run for the Super Bowl! We only have Peyton for a little while, so we need to win NOW!
The Broncos were probably going to draft a defensive tackle or a cornerback with their #25 pick in the upcoming draft. But with Peyton on board, will that still be the case, or will they instead look to load up on more offensive talent? I don't know.
Denver has a serious case of wanderlust when it comes to their quarterbacks.
After Elway retired, we had Bubby Brister who it seemed would be the one to lead the Broncos juggernaut to a third straight Super Bowl. Only he didn't make it to the regular season, because we had Brian Griese, who was the next Joe Montana!
Only it turned out that he wasn't, so we moved on to Jake Plummer, who was going to be awesome once he escaped Arizona! And he wasn't too bad, winning over 70% of his starts in Denver.
But that wasn't quite good enough, so we moved on to Jay Cutler, who was FINALLY the replacement we needed for John Elway! He was going to be our guy for the next 10 years. Only, then he got in a tiff with management and was shipped off.
Kyle Orton was never well-liked in Denver, but how about that Tom Brandstater, who looked really good in the preseason game against Arizona!
And then the events of last year, when fans chanted "Tebow" until John Fox gave in and let him play. So unless the Broncos make the Super Bowl really quick with Peyton at the helm, everyone will be back to talking about what QB is available in the draft.
It will be fun, though. The Broncos are switching back to orange jerseys next year, Peyton Manning will be the quarterback, they should be on Sunday or Monday night football at least five times, with a heavy dose of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms on every other broadcast.
