DENVER — The stakes high, the energy even higher, the Colts, the Broncos and their young quarterbacks readied to face off under a bright sun — and under the watchful eye of the last man to deliver each of these clubs their greatest triumphs, Peyton Manning.
Broncos rookie Bo Nix and the Colts’ still raw second-year signal-caller Anthony Richardson are both currently trying to travel the same road to icon that Manning did. They’ve overcome the early stumbles, they are already the faces of their franchise, but all the rest, it still lays ahead.
And so, of course, Manning had thoughts. On Nix and Richardson’s development. On their most stirring traits. On the challenge of the rollercoaster they’re riding — that Peyton himself was once on — and on what he hopes for both of them.
“I’m certainly pulling for both of them,” Manning said via phone Saturday. “They’re doing exciting things.”
Nix and Richardson both attended the Manning Passing Academy, the annual four-day summer clinic, as high schoolers and then as counselors while in college. Manning has seen both up close since they’ve been in the league, too, albeit more of Nix since Manning lives in Denver and doesn’t miss home games.
“Bo is in a great situation,” Manning said, citing Broncos head coach Sean Payton’s experience and creativity as a play-caller. “Sean’s system has answers, and that’s what you want as a quarterback. Bo had all the experience in college; it’s impossible to have more experience. And he’s gotten chemistry with his wide receivers. He’s gotten better every week.”
Manning feels just as strongly about Shane Steichen’s guidance of Richardson. He stays connected to the Colts’ third-year coach, visiting with him in Indianapolis and turning down Steichen’s request to talk to the Colts Saturday only because he was hosting his wife’s birthday party.
Steichen is an accomplished, instinctive and aggressive play-caller too, but Manning said it was Steichen’s decision to sit Richardson earlier this year, when the coach wanted his 22-year old franchise quarterback to show a greater commitment to all the extra work necessary of an elite NFL quarterback — from the film room to the weight room — that so impressively pushed the exact right button.
Compared to Nix’s 61 starts as a college quarterback, Richardson had only 13. He then lost most of last year’s rookie season to an AC joint sprain and shoulder surgery, and then another two games this season to an oblique injury. After tapping out for a play in Week 8, he was benched the following two weeks, and has responded with a focus and approach Steichen and GM Chris Ballard had hoped for.
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint. The goal is for Anthony to be the quarterback for a long time,” Manning said. “Let’s look back at that and say, ‘Look how far we’ve come.'”
As well as the move seems to have worked (Richardson has played markedly better since returning to his starting spot), Steichen candidly admitted sitting Richardson was “one of the hardest decisions I’ve made as a head coach.” In no small part because he, just like Manning, believes the best way to get better is by playing.
“Game reps are still your best teacher,” said Manning, who played every single snap as a rookie, going a painful 3-13 and throwing an agonizing 28 interceptions. (Which still, incidentally, grate at him. “With 17 games, you think someone would break that,” he sighed.)
“How do you argue with Patrick Mahomes sitting behind Alex Smith for a year? Or Aaron Rodgers, or Jordan Love or even Eli [Manning] for those nine games,” Manning said, listing quarterbacks, including his brother, who didn’t start immediately. “But for me, it was beneficial to be in there right away.”
“I learned something in those fourth quarters. Sometimes it was learning how not to throw a fourth interception,” Manning said, ruefully. But then, more seriously, he added, “We were 3-13 my rookie year and then 13-3 the next year. No way that happens if I don’t play all 16 games.”
Richardson, already short on games, was sat for those two, but from Manning’s vantage point, “he learned from it,” he said. “You can’t ever take being the starting quarterback for granted.”
As they continue to stack reps as their team’s starters, Nix and Richardson are both visibly showing more confidence. And the trust of their play-calling head coaches. And Manning thinks those relationships portend the greatest boon for his two aspiring successors. The most overlooked facet of quarterback development, Manning said, is play-calling stability.
Bryce Young, the No. overall 1 pick in the 2023 draft, is on his third play-caller in less than two seasons. Caleb Williams, this past draft’s No. 1 pick, had one play-caller fired midseason, is now playing under an interim head coach and a second play-caller, and will likely have his third coordinator come next season. That, Manning said, “bothers me.”
Manning was under the tutelage of the same offensive coordinator, Tom Moore, for his entire playing tenure in Indianapolis. Even as the head coach changed from Jim Mora to Tony Dungy to Jim Caldwell, Moore stayed, and that, Manning says, was a lot of cumulative reps — from practices to games — with one voice. He brings up Tom Brady and says even though Brady had three in New England, head coach Bill Belichick “made sure the system was the same. The language was the same.”
“If you take that quarterback No. 1 overall, what’s your five-year plan?” Manning asked. If the play-caller is a coordinator, who could then be plucked for a head job, who is the understudy slated to slide in for him? Manning said he would make that next-in-line shadow the coordinator, from eating breakfast with him to even occasionally riding to work with him, all to keep consistency for a young quarterback.
It’s why, when asked about a fair time frame to truly assess quarterbacks, these two in this game or any others, he says, “It’s so hard to have a universal answer. What system did they come from? What system are they playing in? What is the situation around them?”
Today’s NFL has several examples of players shucked aside, or labeled busts, who finally found the right fit, from Baker Mayfield to Sam Darnold. Darnold said earlier this year that he wasn’t even properly taught how to fully read coverages in detail until he was in San Francisco, stop No. 3 after ostensibly flaming out with the Jets and Panthers.
Neither Richardson nor Nix looks susceptible to falling into the hole of bad coaching or organizational instability. Payton and Steichen both enjoy enormous top-down support. Both are among the league’s elite play-callers and show no indication of abdicating those duties, and both, most importantly, love their quarterbacks. It is obvious and clear in everything they say publicly, and in quieter production meetings too. Payton’s eyes light up when he talks about Nix, and Friday, he frankly said, “I love coaching him.” Sitting at the Colts’ hotel Saturday afternoon, Steichen recalled being told that choosing a quarterback is “basically going into a marriage.” Fortuitously for him, he said, “I really like Anthony.”
“You want your head coach and play-caller all in on your quarterback. Both these guys have it,” Manning said.
Without hesitation, Manning still remembers when the proverbial light bulb turned on for him. It was Week 7 of his rookie year. The Colts went to San Francisco and yes, lost, but they lost just 34-31, Manning threw for three touchdowns and he said Steve Young pulled him aside afterward and said, “The game is eventually going to slow down for you.”
“It was the first time I sort of knew what it can look like and I thought, ‘I can do this,'” Manning said.
Nix had a very similar interaction earlier this season. The Broncos went to Kansas City in Week 10, and lost 16-14 after a last-minute blocked field goal. But afterward, Mahomes, the otherworldly Chiefs quarterback, went up to Nix and, according to Payton said, “You and I are going to have a lot of great games together.”
Steichen couldn’t pick one light-bulb moment for Richardson, but the two-touchdown, fourth-quarter comeback against the Jets in his first game back post-benching, and the 19-play, game-winning drive against the Patriots in the Colts’ last outing, could both qualify.
Either way, Manning said he sees both Nix and Richardson doing more, galvanizing their teammates and turning corners.
He was jokingly asked how he picks which quarterback — and team — to root for in this matchup, where the winner has a much clearer shot at the playoffs, and Manning gamely groaned. Of his two teams playing each other, he said, “It’s tough.”
To illustrate how his allegiance to both teams still runs so deep, Manning brought up “locker room dues,” essentially tips collected by players for the equipment and video and training staffs. A full nine years after his retirement, Manning continues to send in his “dues” to both locker rooms, FedExing the Colts and dropping off the Broncos’ dues just this week.
“I still have great relationships with both teams,” Manning said. “I’m just going to wear something neutral and pull up for a good game.”
With two good, and promising, heir apparent quarterbacks.
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