Buoyed by the cries of panicked fantasy football owners, Denver's passing game came under the spotlight this week and head coach John Fox had to answer for the quarterback with 36 passing touchdowns. That is tied for the most in the NFL.
"Our passing game is fine, you never know we might put our foot on the gas and throw it 50 times," Fox said, via ESPN.com. "I can't really predict what's going to happen because a lot of it is based on what an opponent does. ...There is nothing wrong with our passing game, we've just run it a little bit more the past few weeks. Just like there was nothing wrong with our run game ... when people were blowing fuses on that."
Over the last four weeks, Peyton Manning's numbers have been slightly grounded while the Broncos answered previous critics and developed their running game into playoff form. Last week against a very good Buffalo Bills front, Denver got strong performance from both C.J. Anderson and Juwan Thompson, which resulted in three rushing touchdowns. Manning's streak of 51 straight games with a passing touchdown came to an end and he had two picks.
But thinking anything is wrong with the Broncos is wasted energy. Consider the fact that defenses are simply daring Manning and the Broncos to run the football, and have eliminated many of their extra pass rushers to increase the number of defenders they can place in coverage. Everyone knows what Manning is capable of, which is why developing a ground game is paramount.
In the meantime, Ryan Fitzpatrick should be available in most leagues.
"Let me just say, I can't think of another quarterback I'd rather have than Peyton Manning," Fox said. "I would remind everybody whether it's two weeks, three weeks, at the end of the day we're not done with our body of work yet. We're just trying to win games. We've been blessed to win three in a row. We're going to lean on whatever we have to lean on and be efficient at both. Unless something else is created you're either running it or you're throwing it."
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