Peyton Manning, Broncos liability? Not so fast, Denver doubters

Most notable was former Colorado State-Pueblo receiver Paul Browning, a standout member of the ThunderWolves DII National Championship squad last December.

Peyton Manning's body is breaking down, and it's his football mind that's keeping him in the NFL. It's the same number of picks he threw in all of 2013, his spectacular Super Bowl season with the Broncos when he finished with 55 touchdown passes and almost 5,500 yards in putting the ball up a whopping 659 times that year. It marked the 27th time in his career - and third time this season - that Newton has had both a passing and rushing touchdown in the same game, the second-most in NFL history (Pro Football Hall of Famer STEVE YOUNG, 31). "It's a good game to kind of see where we're at". Manning has the fourth-fastest average time before pass (2.24 seconds) in the NFL. The fact of the matter is this: Manning just isn't what he used to be. He's never ranked lower than eighth in either category since his rookie season.

Josh McCown threw an incompletion on the 2-point try, but an offside penalty gave the Browns a second chance from the 1-yard line.

Now, of course, benching him when the team is 6-0 might be a bit of a stretch but we'll have to see what happens when the also 6-0 Green Bay Packers come to town in a little under two weeks. Why the swift decline? Last week, I investigated the possible misfit between what Manning does best and what Kubiak wants out of his offense, but this goes beyond that. At 39 it seems inevitable that he hits a wall, and his neck injuries led Manning to make the curious and somewhat frightening revelation this offseason that he lost feeling in his fingertips.

Defenses forever refused to blitz Manning, knowing he would recognize any nuance and exploit it. Through six games, he sits on pace to be blitzed more often than any quarterback was last season.

Edwards, who played a season-high 50 snaps against the Denver Broncos and whose role figures to expand, is ready for more responsibility.

Forgetting the stats, though, it's the eye test that is most troubling with Manning. "There is just a whole bunch of stuff that we have on this defense". Jay Gruden, despite Cousins struggles, has remained quite adamant on him remaining the starting quarterback but it is reasonable to question when Jay Gruden will pull the plug on the Kirk Cousins experiment. The Broncos somehow stayed undefeated and improved to 6-0 by eventually beating the Browns 26-23 in overtime. I think they are close to finding that comfort level. But, when you're a legend the likes of Manning, there's always going to be positives to look at when it comes to your jersey sales. This play had no chance. But Manning has shown a few uncharacteristically shaky play.

Outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo had the ball he caught from Manning sitting on his chair in the locker room.

So what's going on with Manning? He is running a deep post route against a corner and a deep safety. Manning didn't look to his backside at all, and there was time after Kruger's stumble on the pass rush, but he made the throw he should absolutely not have made.

The interceptions he threw were just, plain bad. We can go out there and show everybody what the Broncos defense is all about. Neither quick nor fluid, he moved about the pocket as if stepping barefoot on summertime blacktop, and even at its best, his throwing motion looked overstudied, even a touch robotic. We have a bunch of hungry guys, guys who want to make plays, guys who want to get better week in and week out.

Obviously, the game plan needs to change.

Again, how is this play going to succeed? His first National Football League interception was memorable. You know what does make you less of a fan? The pistol formation the Broncos are now using offered a compromise for Kubiak, leading to the ditching of his two-back sets as the Broncos cut fullback James Casey. Unquestionably, but he's also missing wide-open receivers he didn't before.

Injuries and inconsistencies have plagued this offensive line in 2015. If the running game gets going, everything is going to open up in the passing game and life will be much easier for everyone.

But what we have at the epicenter of this dysfunctional offense is a quarterback whose season is collapsing in on him. If you were told the Broncos would start 6-0, you'd think it was due to Manning rediscovering health and peak performance, but the reality is the Broncos are winning despite him. Hillman will continue to get more carries than Anderson.