Manning on the crowd’s response:
“I don’t know. I mean it seems like that’s how it always works. I mean these fans were great. They were cheering loud, but I’m pretty sure everybody was in their same seats when they were booing my butt off against Kansas City back about six weeks ago. I understand how this works. Yeah, the defense was playing well and we had some bad breaks and were kind of letting them hang around a little bit. That was the biggest difference is just we held onto the ball better, eliminated the penalties and mistakes and that allowed us to get some points.”
They’re also the same fans that were booing the No. 1 seed in the AFC as they were winning in the first half.
I’m sure Peyton Manning and the Broncos appreciate their fans as much as anybody, but Manning clearly isn’t forgetting how he got booed by the home crowed just a couple months ago; not many Hall of Fame quarterbacks can say that.
And sure, fans can boo when, how and as often as they want; that’s what you get when you pay hundreds of dollars just to get into Sports Authority Field. Still, the fans have been especially quick to boo this season, despite the fact that the Broncos have been one of the league’s best teams all season; 8-0, division champs and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs is a pretty solid resume.
As the Broncos have proven all season, just because it isn’t pretty doesn’t mean it’s not successful.
