The evolution of Peyton Manning: Good enough to keep the Broncos winning

DETROIT – No one knows how long he'll last, how much more football Peyton Manning can get out of the neck that's been surgically repaired, or the fingers he no longer has feeling in or the arm that's often cited as some form of noodle (generally, it's described as "wet").

The NFL is never kind, but 39 years old can be particularly cruel. Maybe this is it, one last push for the playoffs, for a second Super Bowl title. Maybe it just collapses as the season's wear and tear arrives. There's so much defensive talent surrounding him in Denver, anything seems possible – even as New England looks as menacing as ever.

The playoffs are a long way off, so everyone watches to see if it's over for Manning and then marvels when a guy with 70,000-plus career-passing yards can hit a down-and-out.

"Defensively, we are making a hell of a lot of plays," John Elway, the Broncos current general manager and former all-time quarterbacking legend said Sunday, leaning up against a wall in the Denver locker room after a 24-12 victory. "Offensively, we are starting to make more plays."

This isn't about whether Peyton Manning is as good as he once was because clearly he isn't. The Broncos' season will hinge on whether he's good enough to win games, or will still be in January, when it counts.

So far, he has been. Denver is 3-0. Manning threw for 324 yards and a couple touchdowns Sunday in his strongest performance of the season. He went 31 for 42. He was the best quarterback on the field. Of course, the Lions' Matthew Stafford had to face the Broncos' defense, which forced three turnovers – two acrobatic interceptions and a strip fumble.

"He does what he usually does," said Lions coach Jim Caldwell, who coached Peyton back in his Indianapolis prime. "He's one of those guys."

Which is why it's unfair to call Manning a game manager or something like that – harkening back to Baltimore or Tampa, some Super Bowl champion with a superb defense but a limited QB.

"It's part of being a team, right?" Manning said of his defense.

He is not just some game manager. Manning can still throw it better than most in the NFL. Top five? No. Top 15? Yeah, probably. Have you seen the quarterbacking in this league?

Besides, he's way too smart and experienced to become just some keep-it-simple cog in the machine.

Maybe it was the 10 days between games, or maybe it's that the Lions aren't very good, or maybe it was a move out of the pistol offense, but Manning was about to control the game without the benefit of a rushing attack – just 41 yards, despite a switch to the pistol.

"We can win these games," Elway said. "But for us to go as far as we want, we need to work on that running game and get that going. For us to go as deep as we want in the playoffs, we need to run the ball."

"[We need to know] we can't be in shotgun and throw the ball 60 times a game," Elway said. "That isn't the plan and that won't get us where we want to go."

Except, because there is no run game, Peyton is forced to throw. He's averaging 42.3 attempts a game thus far this season. Two years ago, when he tossed for 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns, he averaged 41.2 attempts a game.

All of this is part of why this feels, at times, like a high-wire act. There is a Hall of Fame quarterback who the franchise is all in with, yet no one knows how long he can make it.

He's prone to late-season fades now. He's learning a new offense. The team is unbeaten, but all anyone talks about is making progress and trying to find its way and getting the QB comfortable with coach Gary Kubiak.

It's all too fragile for anyone to speak definitively about January, the way the Patriots can, even though Tom Brady is, himself, 38. Most of the postgame talk was about getting Manning "comfortable" in the offense, especially with various gameplan wrinkles.

"I think he played exceptional," Kubiak said. "We just need to keep battling, keep protecting him and he'll make his plays."

All Elway knows is that Manning has been forced to change from where he was just two seasons ago, when he led the Broncos past New England and into the Super Bowl (albeit to a blowout loss to Seattle). In Denver this is about winning it all, now, because there isn't any other point or anymore time for anything else.

Some would say it's already too late, that Denver can't wring one more great season out of Peyton Manning, that injury or weakness will derail the entire thing.

"Over time it's how you adapt, the more you can adapt and understand where you are," Elway said. "The older you get you have to adapt. It's always hard to adapt, but I think Peyton is getting more used to it every week.

"Having been through it when I was 38, I know it can be done," Elway continued. "He's getting better and more comfortable with what we're doing each week."

Thus far, the developmental plan of an evolving quarterback/offensive system has produced three victories. It may not be the best Peyton Manning back there in the Broncos' backfield, but it's still Peyton Manning.