If you felt the air get sucked out of the city of Denver a few times last Sunday night it’s because Denver Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak rolled out Peyton Manning on the naked bootleg on more than one occasion against the Green Bay Packers. Thankfully for Broncos fans, Manning remained untouched on the plays and connected with receivers downfield.
It made for some seriously nervous moments for Broncos fans who had already seen Manning intercepted 10 times and sacked 12 times through seven games. The thought of Clay Matthews flying at Manning unobstructed is reasonable cause for concern.
But the Broncos running game finally started to show its full potential and the play that has been deemed so dangerous for a guy with bad knees and worse 40-yard-dash times worked like a charm.
Former Broncos head coach Dan Reeves joined Gil Whiteley on Mile High Sports AM 1340 on Thursday and said he’d have no concerns at this point with Manning’s naked bootleg.
“If you get the running game going early, [the defense] has to be aggressive against that. That frees up the quarterback to make that play,” he told Whiteley.
The running game did indeed get going early against the Packers, a trend Kubiak hopes will continue now that C.J. Anderson is healthy and Ronnie Hillman has some confidence.
Manning is also one of the best in the league at getting rid of the ball in tight spots. “When you get outside the pocket you can throw the ball away,” Reeves reminded Whiteley.
Still, Broncos fans will likely continue to gasp when Manning rolls out unprotected with nothing but grass between him and a potentially devastating hit from an angry pass rusher.
Listen to the full interview with Coach Reeves, including his take on the Denver defense, in the podcast below…
Listen to Gil Whiteley every weekday from 11a-1p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of what’s new and what’s next in Colorado sports.
