Last year, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning did plenty of damage with Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas on the outside, and aging veteran Brandon Stokley in the slot.
This year, Manning gladly kicked Stokley to the curb for Tom Brady’s favorite receiver, Wes Welker.
Asked after Saturday’s preseason loss to the Seahawks to discuss the chemistry with Welker, Manning said that the key continues to be reps.
“The more repetitions that he and I can get together versus certain coverages -- he and [cornerback] Chris Harris have good battles in practice every single day,” Manning said. “It’s going to make Chris better and it’s going to make me and Wes better. I do think that we connected on a few plays this week in training camp. It was very competitive and it was good to hit him on a couple of routes today. We had a blitz read where he and I were on the same page on a communication. And then hit him on a play down in the red zone that he’s scored a lot of touchdowns on in his career. Those were all positive.”
The Broncos have two weeks and four days to continue to hone their chemistry, and then the games count. When Welker and Peyton can fully get on the same page, the chemistry could be for opposing defenses the equivalent of red phosphorus in the presence of moisture, accelerated by heat.