David Cutcliffe seems to think that the strained quad injury that hampered Peyton Manning towards the end of the 2014 season and in the playoffs won’t be a problem this year.
In an interview with the Denver Post published Sunday, the former Tennessee offensive coordinator and current Duke football head coach expressed his admiration and appreciation of Manning’s dedication to improving his fitness during the offseason.
“I thought he looked really healthy,” Cutcliffe told the Post. “We had talked about nutrition, about sleep, about recovery. He’s really so, so smart. So brilliant and so disciplined.”
Manning and Cutcliffe work together every offseason on Manning’s fitness, mentality, and game awareness, but Cutcliffe was especially surprised this spring when Manning came to him wanting to improve even more.
“I’m amazed at times. We’re [training] in an indoor facility with nobody watching and I watch his focus, his intensity, the absolute desire for every rep to be as good as it can be – that hunger is pretty amazing at this stage.”
Manning will have to use all of that intensity if he wants to lead Denver to its fifth straight AFC West title and into the playoffs. The revamped San Diego Chargers will test the Broncos mettle throughout the season and the Kansas City Chiefs are not a team to take lightly.
ESPN’s Jeff Legwold predicts the Broncos to finish the 2015 campaign with a 13-3 record and win the AFC West. For that to happen, Manning must be at his best. The offseason losses of Julius Thomas, Orlando Franklin, Nate Irving, Terrence Knighton, and Ryan Clady will have an impact on Denver, but another solid year from Manning can make that impact negligible.
With the Broncos mandatory minicamp beginning on Tuesday, Peyton is back and in better shape than ever. Under new head coach Gary Kubiak’s system and on Peyton’s back, Broncos fans have reason to believe that 2015 will be pretty amazing.
