Chargers win comes second to Peyton's ankle

Manning in the air is far better than Manning on the ground hurt.

The Denver Broncos win without John Fox on the sidelines over a much improved San Diego Chargers team yesterday was a critical milestone. It completes a season sweep and buries the Chargers at the bottom of the AFC West standings with the Raiders. YES! It gives Jack Del Rio his first win as interim Head Coach, an 8-1 record and sets up a very important Sunday night match-up against the undefeated division rival Kansas City Chiefs in Denver.

This is all welcome news to Broncos Fans but why I’m I feeling apprehensive and nervous this morning? You’d think it’d be a time of excitement, exhilaration and much anticipation. It’s simple, am I the only one who could care less about what happened in the game yesterday or about the pending one this week and actually more concerned with Peyton Manning’s future health long term?

The hit Manning took yesterday with less than 2 minutes to go in the game to the back of his legs that aggravated a previous injury to his right ankle immediately deflated my enjoyment of the win. The pass Manning completed on that play give the Broncos another 1st down and helped them to run out the clock for the victory but with Manning lying on the ground in obvious pain my heart stopped.

Manning is a tough guy and he did get up and finish the game with a noticeable limp. Just because Manning is a great player and is 38 years old doesn’t make him any less immune to risk of an injury. Football is a very violent game dominated by much younger men that take no prisoners and should make no apology for hitting anyone in the mouth, even if he’s Peyton Manning. I know some will say the hit Manning took was a cheap shot but it’s a reach, it was a bang, bang play with the Chargers D desperately attempting to stop the Broncos to get the ball back. Unfortunately for Manning the blow came below the knees like some do but that’s football. Had the shoe been on the other foot and this was Rivers that went down instead would it have been a cheap shot then?

What I immediately was asking after the hit was why Manning throwing the ball in that situation to begin with? The better strategy right then would have been to hand the ball off to Knowshon Moreno even if he couldn’t run for the 1st down. Time was on the Broncos friend and the Chargers enemy and even had the Broncos had to punt the ball back to them, they probably would have had bad field position with less than a minute to go with no timeouts remaining to score 8 points. From an odds standpoint even then the Broncos had the upper hand and had been getting to Rivers with the pass rush. It was unlikely the Chargers could have tied the game.

I know Manning is a competitor and he really believed the only way the Broncos were going to win was if the ball was in his hands. In the heat of the moment you can’t blame or fault him for it but I believe Manning can still be a winner and survive to fight another day if he slows the game down just a bit and let’s some of his teammates do the heavy lifting.

Manning is only going to be a QB for the Broncos for a finite period of time and maybe that’s why he’s sometimes impatient and desperate I get that but he’s not immortal and he can’t do it all alone. From here forward let’s hope he thinks a little more of self preservation because there are still 7 games to go. The Chiefs game will be no gimme'.

The Chiefs O may be winning ugly but they’re an efficient unit with of Jamaal Charles as their stud. Their aggressive D is the real deal and they’ll be going after Manning early and often. Let’s pray that the Offensive Line can handle the onslaught and that Manning’s quick release can protect his tender ankle. I hope that Manning ego let's him hand the ball off to Moreno and Montee Ball often to slow the game down and kill the clock.

It was reported this morning that the MRI came back negative and Manning will start against the Chiefs Sunday. You know he'll be sore and have to wonder how mobile he'll be. The Broncos have won 8 out of the 9 battles so far but they haven’t won the war and without Manning out there as the Commanding General the war would be lost. So please Peyton, protect yourself.