The moment Peyton Manning returned to the field, Denver reacted as if their favorite Star Wars character had just made his/her first appearance in The Force Awakens (trying to stay spoiler free, here); the cheers could be heard across the Rocky Mountains, a warmth enveloped our bodies, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a good deal of Broncos Country got a little misty eyed.
It wasn’t scripted, but it sure did feel like a Hollywood movie.
I don’t think any of us expected it — I sure didn’t. Even if you did believe Manning was the best option, Gary Kubiak had all but hitched his wagon to Brock Osweiler; at least, that’s what every reporter with “inside knowledge” would have led you to believe. But there he was, striding back out onto the field, like The Sheriff he’s always been.
I’m not sure it was the right move. I’m not sure Brock deserved to be pulled from the game. But I am positive that Peyton Manning deserved to be put back out onto the field.
We’ll see how it plays out, but I am happy that No. 18 we’ll get one last chance to ride off into the sunset. And with the way this season has played out, I would not be surprised if that’s exactly what happens.
Sometimes, a story is just so good it has to be true.
Let’s take a look at how the rest of the organization felt about Manning’s return:
Gary Kubiak on why he made the switch:
“Sometimes you just—the feel is that the team is looking around for that guy or that tremendous leadership type of stuff. That’s what I felt. I know Peyton—the last couple weeks have been real good weeks. I knew he was ready to go. I don’t think Brock did anything wrong. I mean, yeah, we had some turnovers, but a couple of them definitely he had nothing to do with. We could have helped him a lot. Just my gut told me to turn it over to him and let him lead the football team. Just very proud of him. He’s worked really hard to stay there for us and it couldn’t have been a bigger day to be there for us. Just a gut feeling.”
I think it’s safe to say that all those reports about Gary Kubiak and the Broncos organization riding with Osweiler for the long haul were, uh, incorrect.
Like Kubiak had always said, there was no decision; they were evaluating the quarterback position on a day-to-day, minute-to-minute basis — apparently, a feeling-to-feeling basis, too.
There was no reason to pull Osweiler from the game; at least four of the five turnovers were bad luck, and he had absolutely nothing to do with Emmanuel Sanders‘ or C.J. Anderson‘s fumbles. The decision was simply made because Kubiak felt that Manning was the man for the job, that the Broncos needed Manning.
It felt that way on Sunday, but only time will tell if Kubiak was ultimately right.
