Manning: 'Nothing Quite Like Playoff Football'

The Broncos have amped up the intensity as they prepare for the playoffs.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Broncos’ hard-earned regular season success has quickly become a thing of the past.
With the postseason set to begin Saturday, current records will go out the window for each of the 12 teams that are still alive in the NFL’s win-or-go-home playoffs. Every play will take on greater importance, which means that each step in the preparation process takes on added meaning.
“You hear that it’s faster, you hear that it’s more intense,” safety David Bruton said. “But actually playing and everything, how intense it can get in the meetings, you realize just how much it means.”
A year ago, the Broncos experienced both the highs and lows of playing in games with such high stakes. The team won an overtime thriller against Pittsburgh on an unforgettable overtime touchdown catch by wide receiver Demaryius Thomas. The following week, the script was flipped in a tough loss to the New England Patriots.
“(We) didn’t play anywhere up to par last year when we went to New England,” Bruton said. “This year will definitely be different. We’ll come out there and perform. We realize that there’s a lot at stake. We can’t be No. 1 and go out so early. We want to be No. 1 throughout the whole thing and finish No. 1. The whole thing is to finish. Being No. 1 in the playoffs is nowhere near enough, and everybody realizes that.”
The memory of those experiences has the Broncos well aware of what is on the line, especially considering how many players around the league will be sitting at home wishing they were a part of the action.
“It’s really special,” tight end Jacob Tamme said. “It’s a special opportunity to play football in the NFL and a doubly special opportunity to get to play playoff football because not everybody gets to. There’s a lot of really good players in the NFL that haven’t even gotten the chance to make it to a championship game or play in the playoffs at all so this is a special opportunity and we’ve got some more work ahead of us.”
Though the team won’t begin its playoff run until Saturday, Jan. 12, it has already begun preparing for whichever team it draws. In addition to picking up familiarity with the Ravens, Colts and Bengals, the three potential opponents in the Divisional Round, the Broncos are focusing on their own play as they prepare for their biggest game of the season. And they’re doing so as if their playoff lives depend on it.
“It goes up even more,” defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson said of the intensity. “Attention to detail, attention to everything, playbook, opponents, everything goes up. Only 12 teams playing right now, we’re one of them.”
One Broncos player with a great deal of postseason experience is quarterback Peyton Manning, who played in at least one playoff game in 11 of his 14 seasons in the league. The 15^th-year signal caller fully understands how much changes from the regular season to the postseason.
“I talk about the different seasons, there’s kind of offseason, preseason, regular season and the postseason,” Manning said. “There’s nothing quite like playoff football in my opinion.”

Manning Earns Player of the Month Honor

Quarterback Peyton Manning earned his sixth career AFC Offensive Player of the Month Award.

 

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – For the second time in three months, and just one day after earning the conference’s player of the week award, quarterback Peyton Manning has been named the AFC’s Offensive Player of the Month. Manning completed 123-of-174 passes for an NFL-best 70.7 completion percentage during the month of December. That completion rate was seven percent higher than the next closest passer.

PLAYERS WITH SIX CONF. PLAYER OF THE MONTH AWARDS
Player	Type	Conference
Peyton Manning	Offensive	AFC
Barry Sanders	Offensive	NFC
Bruce Smith	Defensive	AFC
Tom Brady	Offensive	AFC
Brett Favre	Offensive	NFC
Aaron Rodgers	Offensive	NFC
Steve Young	Offensive	NFC

He also paced the AFC in yards per attempt (8.0), touchdowns (11), first-down percentage (42 percent) and a passer rating of 108.4 that was 18.1 points higher than the next closest player.
The 15th-year signal caller became just the third quarterback in NFL history (Kurt Warner, 2001/Drew Brees, 2011) to lead his team to a perfect record in the final month of the season while passing for at least 1,300 yards, throwing for at least 10 touchdowns and completing 70 percent of his passes.
The Broncos’ 5-0 record in December helped the club secure the AFC’s top playoff seed.
The monthly award is the sixth of his career, tying him for the most career monthly accolades since the award began in 1986. Manning had never won two in the same season prior to this year.
Manning previously earned the award this season for the month of October, in which he passed for 951 yards with nine touchdowns and one interception for a passer rating of 126.7.

PEYTON MANNING'S DECEMBER GAME LOGS
Opp.	W/L	Att.	Cmp.	Pct.	Yds.	TD	Int.	Rtg.
vs. T.B. (12/2)	W	38	27	71.1	242	3	1	103.2
at Oak. (12/6)	W	36	26	72.2	310	1	1	95.8
at Bal. (12/16)	W	28	17	60.7	204	1	0	94.9
vs. Cle. (12/23)	W	43	30	69.8	339	3	1	106.6
vs. K.C. (12/30)	W	29	23	79.3	304	3	0	144.8
TOTAL	5-0	174	123	70.7	1,399	11	3	108.4

Peyton Poseee 2

Peyton Poseee :)

Peyton Stretching! ;*

Peyton With The Hand Off :-D

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