Peyton Manning: Bold Predictions for Denver Broncos QB in Season Opener

Peyton Manning will be making his first regular season appearance as the quarterback of the Denver Broncos on Sunday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

There are a ton of expectations on the 36-year-old shoulders, as there should be when a team doles out a $96 million deal for a franchise QB.

Will Manning live up to the lofty bar that has been set, or will he disappoint in his first outing with his new franchise?

Let’s take a look.

Statistical Output

While the legendary signal-caller had a solid outing against the San Francisco 49ers' first-team defense in the preseason—going 10-12 for 122 yards and two touchdowns in one quarter—he’s going to have his struggles against a veteran Steelers team playing their hearts out to win the game.

Remember, this is a Pittsburgh team that was defeated in the postseason by the Broncos last year and it will not matter that it was Tim Tebow, not Manning, under center.

The Steelers have a lot of crafty, experienced players on the defensive end and a coach who isn’t afraid to call complex plays and bring different packages that can confuse even a seasoned veteran like Peyton.

With that in mind, we’ll predict that the future Hall-of-Famer will complete 25 of his 35 pass attempts for 242 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Game Outcome

If Manning is able to put up those stats against the Steelers defense, the game is winnable.

However, it’s all going to depend on how Willis McGahee and Denver’s running back stable perform, as well as how the defense looks against Ben Roethlisberger and the solid Pittsburgh passing attack.

If the game is close in the fourth quarter, my money is on one of the all-time greats to lead his team to a victory on primetime television.

Let’s call this one Broncos 21–Steelers 18.

Week 2

Manning should improve greatly upon his performance and benefit from the extra day of rest the Broncos will be getting, as their second game is against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football.

Before he was injured, it was insane to bet against Manning during any primetime game, and that corollary will remain true in 2012.

Expect Peyton to steadily improve over the course of the season, and it’s likely he’ll eventually get back to MVP form before the year is over.