Early in Sunday’s preseason game against the 49ers, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning took a snap at the 9-yard line and saw a huge hole open up in front of him in the San Francisco defense. So Manning decided to run to the end zone.
And then that hole closed up on him, and he was tackled for a gain of one yard.
Manning acknowledged afterward that the play served as an unpleasant reminder that he’s one of the slowest players in the NFL.
“I thought I was going to score, but I got one yard,” Manning said. “Kind of humbling.”
Manning ran for a touchdown last year against the Cowboys, catching their defense completely by surprise, and he said he hopes he can still occasionally use his feet at times when the defense isn’t expecting it.
“You try to catch them off guard. It’s probably not really high on their alert game plan sheet, ‘Watch for the quarterback run,’” Manning said.
It’s also probably not really high on John Fox’s list of priorities to watch Manning get tackled on a run up the middle in a preseason game. If Manning wants to run up the middle again, he should wait until the Broncos are inside the 1-yard line.