Peyton Manning may not be the best quarterback of all time, and the Denver Broncos may not be the best team of all time, but one thing is certain. Both are extremely talented, and Manning is on a mad tear through the NFL.
Usually, stats can be spun one way or another. Not so with Manning’s 2013 campaign to this point. Denver’s start quarterback and future Hall of Famer is averaging 4 touchdown passes per game, 381 yards passing per game, and oh by the way, he hasn’t thrown an interception yet.
The result is easy to predict. The Broncos are tied with the Chiefs at 3-0 atop the AFC West, and frankly, there doesn’t appear to be anyone in the AFC even remotely close to the Broncos.
The NFC has teams that should be able to challenge the Broncos, should they make it to the Super Bowl. The Seahawks have the ability to score on both offense and defense, and the Saints are firing on all cylinders now that Sean Payton is back.
Even with stellar competition, the Broncos are currently in a class of their own. Peyton Manning may be playing better now than he’s ever played, and the team around him is almost certainly the most complete and talented group he’s ever worked with.
Even with such a dominant early season run, the Broncos have a long way to go before we’re ready to hand them a Lombardi Trophy. For one, they absolutely must avoid the injury bug. And as for number two, well, they really just need to keep doing what they’re doing.
The NFL season is a war of attrition. Yes, I know, it’s one of the great football clichés, but it also happens to be completely true. Too many teams have burned brightly for a few games only to fall back to mediocrity to convince me otherwise. Still, the Broncos don’t exactly come across as an NFL comet – here one minute and gone the next.
It’s hard to tell just how much longer Peyton Manning will play, but this season represents his best opportunity for another Super Bowl. The Broncos’ front office has done a great job giving him the tools necessary to make a deep playoff run, and now it seems only a matter of time before the Broncos make a trip to the Super Bowl for the first time since the end of the John Elway era, although one could make the argument that this is also the John Elway era Part II.
Peyton Manning’s numbers will probably fall back into the atmosphere at some point, but until then, the Broncos will be nearly impossible to beat. In the NFL, there are few truths, but at this moment, there’s one truth that not even the most cynical observer could deny. The Broncos are the team to beat in the NFL.
