Gary Kubiak Speaks on Possibility of Benching Peyton Manning for Brock Osweiler

The Denver Broncos are off to a 5-0 start this NFL season, but their offense has sputtered under the guidance of legendary quarterback Peyton Manning.

Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak brushed off the possibility of replacing Manning with his presumptive successor, Brock Osweiler, on Monday, stating, "No. Peyton is doing just fine," per USA Today's Lindsay Jones.

Manning hasn't thrown a touchdown pass in three of his past six regular-season starts and failed to do so in Week 5's 16-10 victory over the Raiders at Oakland on Sunday. A defensive touchdown on Chris Harris Jr.'s pick-six helped the Broncos escape with a win in the AFC West.

Entering Week 5, Football Outsiders ranked Denver 29th in the league in run blocking, which hasn't done Manning any favors as he tries to outwit opposing defenses despite his declining arm strength. The Broncos had a meager 43 yards rushing on 18 carries against the Raiders.   

The numbers for Manning at the moment aren't pretty—he's thrown six touchdowns to seven interceptions and sports a 77.3 passer rating, which would be his worst since his rookie season. Speaking of first-year players, CBSSports.com's Joel Corry provided context for Manning's woes in that vein:

Kubiak is wise to not disrupt Manning's tenure under center. The 39-year-old is the ultimate field general and can often check Denver into the proper play, something Osweiler hasn't had the chance to prove capable of doing.

In the midst of a race for one of the AFC's top two playoff seeds and a potential first-round bye, experience is invaluable. Manning has a lot of that on his side, whereas Osweiler has thrown only 30 passes in the regular season since Denver drafted him in the second round of the 2012 draft.

Osweiler has the definitive edge in terms of arm talent. If he could stretch the field better than Manning with weapons like Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, perhaps the running game would open up and make the Broncos a more complete team.

Because of Osweiler's small sample size and the way Denver's defense is playing now, though, Manning will keep his job until losses start piling up. The Broncos are second in scoring defense and allow the fewest total yards per contest in the NFL.

Also worth bearing in mind is the history at stake and the act Osweiler has to follow when he enters the lineup for good.

Denver general manager John Elway was a quarterbacking legend for the Broncos franchise. The last man to succeed Manning was Andrew Luck with the Colts in Indianapolis, and he's done quite well for himself. Osweiler has huge shoes to fill whenever he does step in. That has to factor into Kubiak's decision to stick with Manning right now as well.