Peyton Struggles in Road opener

Heading into the 2012-13 NFL season, the biggest storyline in all of football was how future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning would do in a Denver Broncos uniform following a series of neck surgeries that kept him sidelined the entire 2011-12 season. And while his impressive regular season debut in front of the Denver faithful would have critics raving, most of which were quick to declare the old Peyton Manning had returned, his week 2 performance would tell a different story. After lighting up the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 1 for 253 yards and 2 touchdowns on 19-of-26 passing attempts in route to a 31-19 win, Peyton would get off to a rocky start the following week in his Monday Night meeting at the Georgia Dome against Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons. 

Showing a lack of arm strength early on as well as making a number of questionable passes into double coverage, the guy wearing the no. 18 jersey almost looked like an impostor of one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time as Peyton threw not one, not two, but three first quarter interceptions. Manning's early struggles marked only the second time in his 15-year career that he threw three interceptions in the opening quarter of a game, the only other occurrence came against the San Diego Chargers in 2007. After Manning's disastrous start, it seemed almost as if the guy playing QB in the second quarter was an entirely different person. Despite the 20-0 deficit his team faced, Peyton would redeem himself with a much better final three quarters as he brought his team within single-digits before eventually falling short and losing, 27-21 as the early miscues dug too big of a hole to overcome. 

An early favorite to win the AFC West and even contend for a Super Bowl according to most experts, Peyton Manning is far from his former self and is yet to prove that he can compete at the level that we've grown accustomed to seeing him play at. If I'm Broncos head coach John Fox I'm not too concerned about my quarterback as I know he still has some cobwebs to shake off and will only get better as the season progresses. But I'd still place Denver behind the Texans, Patriots and Ravens in the AFC, at least until Peyton has another full season under his belt with the Broncos and can prove that he can remain healthy. At 1-1, trailing only the 2-0 San Diego Chargers in the division, week 3 won't be a walk in the park for Peyton either as his Broncos get set to host the league's top ranked defense in the Houston Texans. 

Coincidentally, Peyton wasn't the only one in the Manning family who had a first half to forget during week 2 as his younger brother, Eli, also threw three picks on the day, all coming in the first half. But unlike Peyton who's late-game heroics fell just short, Eli was able to overcome his first half difficulties by throwing for 3 touchdowns and 510 yards in the second-best passing performance in Giants franchise history, avoiding a dreadful 0-2 start by defeating the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 41-34.


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