Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is working his way back from a thigh injury suffered apparently against the San Diego Chargers, but it’s been rumored that Manning has been ailing for quite awhile now. Needing some extra treatment, Manning left practice early on Thursday and has been getting some additional treatment likely all week in preparation for another physical battle on Monday Night against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Broncos will need Manning as they attempt to win their last two games and overtake the New England Patriots for the number one seed in the AFC, hoping Bill Belichick and Tom Brady slip up in one of the last two weeks. Not only the Broncos this week, but fantasy football owners — like myself — all over the world who need Manning to come through for their Fantasy Super Bowl this week.
Back to the real football though, Manning has been apparently making marked improvements this week in his attempt to get back and get to 100 percent for the Bengals game. Per a report from Andrew Mason at DenverBroncos.com, his top receivers haven’t seen any reason to fret at this point.
“Well, I haven’t seen any cause for concern,” said wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders after Friday’s practice. “Obviously he had a really good day at practice today.”
“He looked fine to me. He’ll be good by game time. A couple more days, he gets treatment, whatever he (has) got going on, he’ll deal with that. I think by game time, he’ll be ready to go,” Demaryius Thomas said.
There has been some speculation and suggestion this week from some media outlets this week that Manning should sit against the Bengals, but that would be a strange decision by the Broncos who still have quite a bit to lose. Benching Manning doesn’t ensure a loss for the team with the fourth ranked offense and defense in the league, but it changes the game entirely for the offense and forces the game into Brock Osweiler’s hands, which is something the Broncos can’t really afford at this juncture trying to fend off the Colts and surpass the Patriots.
I feel like Manning will easily be ready to go for Monday Night, mainly because he is the type of guy that is going to need a near life or death situation to not play. We saw him come out this past week against San Diego with flu-like symptoms, needing four IVs at halftime just to get himself back onto the field. He also played through the thigh injury he’s receiving extra treatment for this week.
Phil Simms was finally right about something — he said during the Broncos’ game that Manning’s thigh would hurt a lot more this week than it did during the game, and that’s apparently the case. Manning’s ability to play through injury is something he’s become famous for in the league, among a laundry list of other things. We saw Manning play through sickness on Sunday last weekend, this week we’ll probably see Iron Manning playing through a thigh injury.
Do you think it’s smart for Manning to play through the injury, or is it really not a concern at this point? Sound off in the comments!