It's too early to say whether Peyton Manning can take a hit during live NFL action. It's too early to see if he's going to be the Peyton Manning of old when the Denver Broncos' season starts.
With that said, can we ease up on the concerns this early in camp that he's not throwing it deep down field? An example from Monday:
I've watched two Broncos practices, and Iâm still waiting to see Peyton Manning attempt a pass longer than 20 yards.
â Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) July 30, 2012
Just a few minutes later, this tweet followed:
As if on cue, Manning just completed a pretty, 30-yard post route to Eric Decker. I didn't realize Peyton followed me.
â Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) July 30, 2012
Manning clearly isn't all the way back, but he has thrown it deep at times in camp. He completed a beautiful deep post on Friday. It appears the Broncos are just being careful early in camp, but all of the worrying about the focus on short passing seems to be a bit much.
"Where I'll be, percentage-wise, I don't know," Manning told Peter King of SI.com. "I don't know if I'll feel the way I've always felt again. Everybody wonders, 'Can he get back to where he was?' That bar was set pretty high. Now, my goal is to feel as good as I possibly can -- right now."
King says Manning is not "ripping" his throws like he used to. Manning is still trying to build up the strength around his shoulders.
This was always going to be a process, and it would be a bigger surprise if Manning was "ripping" it so early in camp. Manning can be effective even without a huge arm. Let's give the guy a month (or two) before assuming he's Chad Pennington 2.0.










