Thanks to Peyton Manning, Broncos Country is riled up right now. Just the sound of his name ignites turbulent debate, and from what we can tell, it’s not going to end well.
Like James Merilatt wrote earlier this week, the Manning discussion is like debating politics or religion; don’t start unless you want to walk a way with a few less friends.
Well, apparently, we detonated an atom bomb yesterday when we pointed out that Manning was mysteriously missing from the Broncos’ rookie dinner photo. And thanks to our dedicated and loyal readers, it is now abundantly clear that there was no mischief to be seen; Manning wasn’t blackballed by his teammates nor giving the proverbial middle finger to his offensive line for the 12 sacks they’ve allowed this season.
No, in actuality and as commenters so clearly pointed out, Manning must have been at home with his family eating a tasty Papa John’s pizza and a chicken parm, while studying up on some Packers film before heading outside to work on his timing with his trusty dog, Donald.
Of course he doesn’t have time to hang out with the rest of the team. I mean, who does these days, right?
After realizing the immense leadership Manning showed by staying home and prepping for the Green Bay Packers on the first night of the bye week (unlike those knuckleheads out at the rookie dinner), we wanted to be sure to to determine and honor every other player who forewent the frivolous fun for the good of the team.
Thanks to our crack team of investigators, here is the full list of the other Denver Broncos who were absent from the photo and presumably at home prepping for the Packers:
C.J. Anderson
Ronnie Hillman
Juwan Thompson
Demaryius Thomas
Emmanuel Sanders
Cody Latimer
Andre Caldwell
Jordan Norwood
Bennie Fowler
James Casey
Owen Daniels
Virgil Green
Mitchell Henry
Louis Vasquez
Shelley Smith
Sylvester Williams
Darius Kilgo
Malik Jackson
Derek Wolfe
Vance Walker
Antonio Smith
Kenny Anunike
Brandon Marshall
Danny Trevathan
Todd Davis
Corey Nelson
DeMarcus Ware
Von Miller
Shane Ray
Shaquil Barrett
Lerentee McCray
Chris Harris
Aqib Talib
Bradley Roby
Kayvon Webster
Lorenzo Doss
T.J. Ward
Darian Stewart
David Bruton
Omar Bolden
Josh Bush
Britton Colquitt
Brandon McManus
Aaron Brewer
Zaire Anderson
Kapri Bibbs
Chuka Ndulue
Arthur Lynch
Danny Mason
Taurean Nixon
Jordan Taylor
George Uk
Marvin Austin
Jeff Heuerman
Kyle Williams
(And a friendly reminder to all Broncos fans: You’re 6-0; try not to take everything so seriously!)
