Should Denver Broncos Be Worried About Peyton Manning's Preseason Struggles?

Peyton Manning’s preseason is over, and the results were not as positive as some had hoped. In nine preseason drives over two games (Houston Texans, San Francisco 49ers), Manning and the first-team offense generated only two field goals.

Compare that to the other preseasons that Manning has been in Denver. In 2012, his debut with the Broncos, Manning led the team on three touchdown drives. In 2013, the record-setting season, the first-team offense had two touchdown drives in the preseason. Last year, Manning and company got the ball into the end zone four times during the exhibition season.

After Saturday night’s game against the 49ers, head coach Gary Kubiak had concerns about the offense.

“There are a lot of things that concern you on a regular basis. The biggest thing offensively is we don't have a lot to show for some of the good things that are going on.”

Kubiak explained, “You hold the ball for 20 minutes in the first half, you're over 50 percent on third downs, you think you'd be scoring some points. That's the thing that's discouraging.”

The coach did express confidence that things could be improved, “They're things that we can fix. Now there needs to be a sense of urgency. We've got a couple weeks yet to get some things cleaned up. We'll get there. We'll just keep working. I've got confidence in the people doing it and the guys coaching it and we'll get there.”

Should the Broncos be worried about Manning’s preseason struggles? Let’s take a look.

Problems Under Center

Joe Mahoney/Associated Press

Watching Manning operate the offense from under center still looks a bit odd. At 39 years old, Manning is not the most fleet-footed, and his dropbacks aren’t as quick as other quarterbacks out there.

He was sacked three times against the 49ers, and all of them happened when he was under center.

“Under center, two of the sacks, actually, all three of them, happened with him coming out under center. I feel pretty confident from a coaching standpoint we can go fix those things.” Kubiak said after the game.

Manning expressed zero concern about working from under center.

“I’m pretty comfortable doing that. I’ve been doing that for a long time. I’ve been in the shotgun a little bit more as of late, but I’ve definitely played under center for a lot of my career, so I feel pretty good doing that.”

Even though both Kubiak and Manning sound confident about the offense running from under center, what we’ve seen in the preseason hasn’t been productive. Mike Klis, from 9 News in Denver, believes the Broncos need to use the pistol formation in order to get better play from Manning and the offense.

During training camp, we rarely saw the pistol used by this offense. Instead, the team spent a majority of the time working Manning from under center. Perhaps some sort of compromise could work.

Pass-Protection Concerns

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The Broncos offensive line has been a work in progress all offseason. There have been so many incarnations of the starting five, it will make your head spin. The Broncos have looked to trades, the draft and free agency to construct the best offensive line possible.

The latest addition to that starting unit is left guard Evan Mathis. Released by the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this year, Mathis wanted to play for a contender, so he signed with the Broncos last week. He didn’t play in the team’s third preseason game, but Mathis seems to be on the fast track to learning this offense.

Kubiak is keeping a close eye on Mathis as he gets used to his new surroundings.

“He's out there. I'm looking at him right now. He's doing fine. His conditioning is really good. We'll work him really hard this week and get his pads on him at some point this week, start to do that.”

Kubiak concluded, “My expectations are that he's ready to go in two weeks. We'll just see if that is 100 percent or is that 50 plays. I don't know, but he's going to get there, and he looks like he's in great shape.”

Mathis insists that he’ll be ready to go when the season starts.

“I'll definitely be ready Week 1. I've got all these guys out here who have done a great job of coaching me up, making the calls and the O-line's all about communication, anyway.”

The Broncos have talent up front on the offensive line—and they have a whole lot of inexperience at center (Matt Paradis) and left tackle (Ty Sambrailo). Having Mathis split those two young players should help greatly.

As we saw on Saturday night against the 49ers, the Broncos were allowing middle pressure to get to Manning. Sure, he gets rid of the ball quickly, but middle pressure makes any quarterback look mortal. Having Mathis inside to call out stunts and delayed blitzes will greatly help the pass-protection this line is able to provide for Manning.

Missing Target

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

For this entire preseason, the Broncos have been without star receiver Emmanuel Sanders. He injured his hamstring in early August, and Sanders hasn’t been practicing with the team since August 8th. The team tried to work him out before the first preseason game against Seattle, but Sanders felt a bit of soreness and has been shut down ever since.

However, Sanders should be ready for the start of the regular season. In fact, Sanders was able to practice with the team on Monday.

Kubiak updated Sanders’ condition after practice.

“He's fine. He was good. I told you guys last week I think he could have practiced last week. He's been running for a couple days. He did practice today. He took all the scout team reps, basically, so that's a move in the right direction.” Kubiak emphasized, “He's trending the right way. He's doing fine.”

Sanders sounds like he’s ready to go after waiting so long to get back on the practice field.

“I actually feel really good. I'm optimistic. Today was the first time that I ran in two-and-a-half weeks, [the] first time I practiced, and it feels good. There's really no pain at all and I'm just happy to be back.” Sanders exclaimed, “Honestly, I feel like my life is coming back together.”

Part of the problem with the first-team offense has been drops by receivers, fullbacks and tight ends. Getting Sanders back gives the Broncos another stellar weapon in the passing game. He rarely lets passes hit the ground, and Sanders is one of the most dangerous receivers after the catch.

Missing Sanders has certainly had an impact on this offense.

Summary

Broncos fans have a right to be concerned about the first-team offense. Any glance at social networking sites will show you their frustration in 140 characters or less. Callers into sports talk radio in Denver also express their concern—sometimes in less-than-flattering ways.

Kubiak shows no concern about Manning’s fit in the new offense.

“I think he's fine. We went back to some no-huddle stuff. Obviously, those are things that he's extremely comfortable with. We're going to continue to do a lot of things offensively, and we just have to do some of them a lot better than we did tonight.”

Changing to a new offense was going to take time. It would be nice to see touchdowns abound when Manning and the first-team offense are on the field, but this learning curve just seems natural.

In other words, Broncos fans need to take a deep breath and just have confidence that things will work out. Kubiak and Manning are two of the best professionals in the game today, and they’ll get this offense on the right path.

All quotes and injury/practice observations obtained firsthand. Record/statistical information provided via the Broncos' media department unless otherwise noted. Advanced stats via ESPN's employees-only database.

Contract and salary-cap information provided by Spotrac. Transaction history provided by Pro Sports Transactions.