Peyton Manning dealing with multiple injuries heading into Sunday

The Denver Broncos lost the battle against the Indianapolis Colts this past weekend, but didn’t just lose the game — they came away pretty banged up. With pass rusher DeMarcus Ware already going to miss time with a back injury, Peyton Manning has now been added to the injury report this week.

Manning initially was listed with a foot injury, but has since had some pain in his rib cage.

Great.

Even if it’s nothing major, the report means that Chiefs defenders are going to be trying to further that injury, which doesn’t exactly excite me. If you’re a Brock Osweiler apologist, this injury news might get you perked up a bit.

The Broncos list Manning as ‘probable’ but there’s no telling how he might be feeling as the game progresses. We all saw at the end of last season how ineffective and even — dare I say horrible — Manning was with his quad injury. If his foot injury or rib cage injury are visibly holding him back from being effective on the field, the Broncos have some incentive to get Osweiler on the field.

Osweiler has not started a game in his four NFL seasons. He has barely received any meaningful regular season snaps. He’s also in a contract year, and his future with the Broncos is murky, if we’re being perfectly honest. There’s no guarantee he’ll be with the team after this year, and it would be a shame to have never gotten to really see what he can do.

That doesn’t seem likely for this week anyway, but it’s at least on the table. The Broncos need to be ready in case Manning is not healthy enough to play at a high level, and Osweiler needs to continue to be ready as though his number will be called at any time.