Peyton Manning has taken his first snaps as the Denver Broncos’ quarterback, and his arm looks fine.
Manning didn’t throw any deep passes in his first drive of the preseason Thursday night at Soldier Field in Chicago, but he threw well enough to drive the Broncos down the field before the drive ended when a pass over the middle was deflected and intercepted.
Manning’s first pass was a short one to tight end Jacob Tamme, his old Colts teammate, and it was a good pass right on the money -- but Bears linebacker Lance Briggs did a great job in coverage of sticking his hand in and knocking the ball away. Manning’s second pass was a bad one that should have been intercepted -- it bounced off the hands of Bears defensive end Geno Hayes -- but on the deflection it went into the hands of Tamme for a first down.
After that, Manning threw some solid passes to Eric Decker. One came after the Broncos’ line gave Manning plenty of time to go through his progressions, eventually allowing him to find Decker along the sideline for a first down. Another went over the middle to Decker for 19 yards on third-and-17.
The drive-ending interception was a little behind the intended receiver, Brandon Stokley, although Stokley did get a hand on it before it was tipped into the air by Chicago’s D.J. Moore and picked off by Major Wright.
Manning’s one and only drive of the night doesn’t tell us a whole lot -- he never really aired it out on a deep ball, and he didn’t take any hard hits -- but the Broncos have to be satisfied with the way his arm looks.