Peyton Manning looks just fine as Denver Broncos camp opens

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Peyton Manning dropped back, the pass rush got in his face in a hurry, but he still got the ball out.

Without any time or space to set up, he still got enough on the pass to get it to receiver Cody Latimer right after Latimer turned on his out route. There wasn't a ton of velocity on it, but Manning knew exactly where and when to go with the ball. It wasn't a play made based on physical ability, but smarts and anticipation. Just another completion.

In other words, Manning looked exactly like he has since he got to Denver. He was sharp the whole practice.

"He looked great to me," Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas said.

Broncos camp opened on Friday with a light practice, and everything revolves around Manning. And, more specifically and humorously enough, all the talk about Manning is about how much less we might see of him with the Broncos this season.

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You can't go far in Denver without hearing that Manning will throw less and hand off more after he faded late last season, and how Manning might fit in coach Gary Kubiak's offense that generally employs a lot of outside zone running and quarterbcks moving off it.

"I feel that I throw pretty well on the run, to tell you the truth," Manning said. "I actually think I throw pretty well on the run for a guy that doesn't really run well. I actually throw well on the run, maybe even better than some guys that actually run well."

Perhaps, but it's a shift. Not that it matters what a team works on during its first training camp practice, especially when the team is not even in pads yet, but it was easy to notice the Broncos ran a lot of stretch run plays. Like, a ton of them.

"More work. A lot more work. A lot more reps," running back C.J. Anderson said.

Maybe Manning throws well on the move, but he looks a little awkward moving at age 39. The 40-yard dash has never been his game. On one handoff attempt he tripped coming out from under center, did a faceplant and slapped his hands in frustration ("I still got the handoff," he added later). It's going to take a while to get used to being under center again. Andrew Mason of DenverBroncos.com said the Broncos ran 71.7 percent of their plays the last two seasons from the shotgun or pistol. When Kubiak was the Baltimore Ravens' offensive coordinator last year, Mason wrote that nearly 78 percent of the Ravens' plays were from under center.

Manning spent nearly the entire first practice on Friday under center. There are many more differences this season in Denver than just if the quarterback is in shotgun or under center — this offense is a seismic shift from the previous way.

"It's night and day, totally different," Thomas said. "We'll go two tights most of the time. We went three, four wide most of the time [before]. This is what we have to deal with, and make it work. We won't be looking to throw the ball every play. There's nothing wrong with that. They say teams with a run game win Super Bowls, and that's what we're trying to do."

It's hard to believe Manning won't have some fingerprints on the offense too, considering he's probably the best quarterback in the NFL at adjusting at the line of scrimmage. Kubiak said Manning will have plenty of ability to audible at the line, because that's a strength he has. But this will all be within the framework of a much different system.

The differences could give new life to Manning's career, though he didn't really open up about that much after practice. He didn't seem to thing the new offense was all that big of a deal.

"Coach Kubiak said it last night: It's football," Manning said. "There are not that many new plays out there. However you call them or whatever that is, it's not that big of a deal. It's about executing them."

He also didn't make a big deal about another big topic of conversation around Denver, of how Kubiak will ease off Manning in practice a bit to keep him fresh.

"He’s doing that with a number of players. I’m fine with that," is all Manning said about the issue.

In some ways it might have been easier for general manager John Elway to just stick with the status quo, to hire a new coach who had a philosophy that mirrored what Manning has done so well the last three years. But Elway wanted Kubiak, his old teammate and later in Elway's career, his offensive coordinator. You don't base a coaching decision on what suits a 39-year-old quarterback who may be entering his final season. It could be a brilliant idea or one that makes Manning look really out of place in the last year or two of a great career.

Maybe, if it all goes perfectly, Manning is just as good late in the season as he looks at the end of July. He did have a 112 rating through the first half of last season. He should still have something left. It's Kubiak's job to get the most out of him.

"(Kubiak) wants the team playing fast, playing physical and competing all the way. If you're not competing, you're probably not going to be around," Manning said. "We want to get off to a good start but we want to be able to certainly finish and be playing as well late in the season."

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab