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SAN DIEGO -- It was close, as in rough night, bad morning, caught some kind of renegade germ close. But Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning said following the team’s 22-10 victory over the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium, that he had to think long and hard about playing on Sunday.  "I had a rough night, I’m not gonna lie," Manning said. "It was not an enjoyable night. I don’t know what happened, it just kind of came out of nowhere. ... Obviously, you can play just to play, to be out there to start.
“I take a pretty honest assessment of myself, can I perform? Am I going to hurt the team? I have zero selfishness when it comes to I have to be out there. ... I was counting on [offensive coordinator Adam] Gase, [head coach John] Fox to look at me, evaluate me, kind of tell me what they thought as well." Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders said the Broncos knew it was something out of the ordinary when Manning did not attend the usual night-before-game meetings at the team’s downtown hotel. Manning said he was meeting with Gase, about 6:30 p.m. locally, when he began to feel ill and his condition worsened as the night wore on. Manning said between Saturday night and Sunday before the game he had four IVs. But Manning said he became dehydrated in the first half and attributed that to a thigh injury he suffered before halftime. The quarterback felt enough discomfort that he went to the locker room with just under two minutes remaining in the half. Brock Osweiler played the Broncos’ last four snaps of the half. Osweiler said he was told to warm up after halftime as if he would play in the second half, but Manning came jogging out of the tunnel, helmet on, and played the rest of the way. "Adam was kind of evaluating me this morning, how I looked, how I felt," Manning said. "I kind of thought I would feel better throughout the day. Then my leg injury wasn’t really part of the plan. I have to believe it was related to the symptoms last night, being dehydrated, if I had to guess." Other than the 2011 season, when he missed every game following his fourth neck surgery, Manning has never missed a start. Sunday was his 254th career regular-season start, including his 46th consecutive since signing with the Broncos in 2012. His teammates will tell you that streak looked in jeopardy before kickoff. "We knew it wasn’t just something small," Sanders said. "It wasn’t like him, how he was before the game." Manning still kept his sense of humor when asked if he believed in flu shots. "I had one this year -- Broncos supply those for no charge, I think," Manning said. "I believe in them."
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