|
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- At 39 years old, in his 18th NFL training camp, the thought of Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning throwing on the move might not be something many folks have considered. But in the Broncos' new offense under head coach Gary Kubiak, Manning will throw on the run more this season than he might have in any of his previous 17 seasons -- and he said Friday that suits him just fine. "I feel that I throw pretty well on the run, to tell you the truth," Manning said following the Broncos' opening training camp practice Friday. "I never had as many designed rollouts or scrambles, but I've sprinted out through the years. I do that in the red zone a lot -- throwing on the run and sprinting out. I actually think I throw pretty well on the run for a guy that doesn't really run well. I actually throw well on the run, maybe even better than some guys that actually run well."  It has been part of the offseason narrative -- how Manning, almost exclusively a stand-tall pocket passer, would fit into Kubiak's version of the West Coast offense, which has featured a steady diet of quarterbacks rolling out and tossing the ball on the run. Manning said he has always practiced throwing on the run, even still using tips his father, Archie Manning, gave him over the years. Archie Manning was an accomplished scrambler in his career, often forced to throw on the run behind offensive lines that struggled to protect him. "I will say, my dad did throw real well on the run and could run well at the same time," Peyton Manning said. "He did at a young age kind of teach me about throwing on the run. There is a couple of little things that he taught me that I still carry through. I've always felt I've been a pretty accurate thrower on the run. A lot of times you see quarterbacks sprinting out, you see a guy wide open, you see the pass is inaccurate, goes into their feet or over their head because the quarterback is not as accurate throwing on the run ... so I feel like I can get out there when a guy's open, I can be able to get him.'' Asked how he coaches the technique at the annual Manning Passing Academy, Manning smiled and said, "You've got to maybe sign up for the camp, I don't want to give away all the secrets, then nobody would come back next year." Even with some late-season struggles to close out 2014, Manning's 4,727 passing yards were fourth in the league, and his 39 touchdowns were second. Manning has said he believes he can fit any offense Kubiak wants to run.
|
