Peyton Manning picked up where he left off — looking very, very old

Peyton Manning almost literally limped down the stretch in 2014, and his statistics fell off sharply, but rather than simply being a function of his advanced age — 38 at the time — reports emerged that he had been playing with a torn quadriceps. So with an offseason to get back to full health, he looked like his old self in the Denver Broncos’ season opener, right?
Sort of. Manning looked, well, old. In this case, picking up where he left off was not a good thing at all.

On Sunday, the Broncos prevailed over the Baltimore Ravens, 19-13, but that was largely due to a stout defensive effort that included two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown, and two sacks. For his part, Manning took an unusual four sacks and threw his own pick-six.
In terms of passes completed to his own team, Manning went 24 of 40, but for just 175 yards and zero touchdowns. That continued a trend which started in Denver’s 13th game last season; from that point on (including a playoff loss to the Colts), the 14-time Pro Bowler averaged 240 passing yards per game, with four touchdown passes and six interceptions.


More concerning has been the dramatic drop-off in Manning’s yards-per-attempt average, a leading indicator of quarterback efficiency. Through 12 games last season, he was averaging 7.9 yards per attempt, a very solid figure; over the rest of the season, that number fell to 7.2.
In Sunday’s contest, that yards-per-attempt figure was an anemic 4.4, and to many observers, the future Hall of Famer has current arm-strength problem.

Peyton's arm strength there a major factor. Squirt gun.

I probably have the same amount of arm strength as Peyton Manning.

I'm never one to talk about Peyton's arm strength, but geez… From what I saw today, looked like a high schooler against NFL secondary.

In fairness, others pointed out that Manning overthrew some open receivers, which could be interpreted, if one were so inclined, as an overabundance of arm strength. But that could also be a sign of overcompensation, of an aging quarterback feeling that he had to rear back and fling a ball with all his might just to get it further downfield than his comfort level would prefer.
The issue of Manning’s arm strength was a major concern during the offseason, and reports late in training camp were increasingly pessimistic. NFL.com’s Andrew Siciliano reported that after the Broncos’ third preseason game — traditionally a dress rehearsal for the regular season — three different players expressed concern to him about Manning’s ability to drive the ball deep.

Hillman ran well. CJA looked great. Denver pass rush is legit. Worried about Peyton arm strength. Floated too many passes. No zip.

An AFC pro director told NFL Network's Albert Breer Peyton Manning's arm strength looks "significantly diminished." #NFL

Of course, we’ve only played one game so far, and Manning will have plenty of chances to prove his doubters wrong. Plus, we are talking about an athlete who was counted out by many after sitting out an entire season following multiple neck surgeries, only to join a new team and re-write the record book.
However, we are also talking about a 39-year-old who hasn’t looked really good since November. In addition, Sunday was unseasonably warm, which is how the New Orleans native likes it — if he played like that in those conditions, what can we reasonably expect from him when the weather turns cold and windy?