With Brock Osweiler arguably playing better on Sunday than Peyton Manning has played all year, Peyton continues to focus on playing again, sooner than later.
Manning is “absolutely determined” to get himself healthy, according to a source with knowledge of the situation, doing all he can to overcome a variety of injuries, including a partially torn plantar fascia and a rib injury that, while not involving any broken bones, remains very painful. Manning firmly believes he’ll play again this year.
But Manning’s goal isn’t to simply become healthy enough so that he can play. He hopes to be healthy enough that he’ll play better than he did during the Week 10 debacle against the Chiefs, a 0.0-rating outcome that featured only five completions and four interceptions.
And as Manning focuses on getting healthy on this year, he’s still not considering it his last NFL season. He currently intends, according to the source, to play in 2016 — even if he won’t be playing for the Broncos.
Of course, a lot would have to happen before Manning would be playing for someone other than the Broncos. But if Manning believes his struggles relate in any way to the offensive changes made by new coach Gary Kubiak, it’s not crazy to envision Manning going to a team that would let him run the offense the way he chooses, and to have plenty of influence over the pieces that will be put in place around him.