Slowly but surely, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is getting himself ready for the games that count.
Even though it’s still not entirely sure how he’ll look when Week One rolls around.
Playing an entire half on Saturday night in Denver against the Seahawks, Manning completed 15 of 22 passes for 177 yards. But he threw two interceptions and no touchdown passes.
Perhaps the best news is that he was knocked to the ground once, and he got right up and kept going.
Although Manning led a pair of scoring drives that covered more than 65 yards, Manning tried on one specific second-quarter series of plays to throw the ball down the field several times. First, he lofted it roughly 50 yards -- not a bomb by any means, but for a guy with supposed arm-strength issues it’s significant. Unfortunately for Manning, the ball badly sailed past the intended target. Later, Manning floated one over the receiver, and it was intercepted.
The end result for Peyton was a passer rating of 55.9. That’s more than 15 points below his career low for a full season, which also happened to be his rookie season in Indianapolis.