Former Denver Broncos Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning is the biggest celebrity in the state of Colorado and he’s spotted everywhere.
During Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat, Manning was spotted front row to the left of one of the baskets. After halftime, Manning joined ESPN’s “NBA in Stephen A’s World” and gave his thoughts on how he thinks the Broncos will do this season.
“Just saw Russell Wilson down there, Sean Payton is sitting next to me. Sean has brought some new juice here. He’s going to get the best out of Russell. Russell feels rejuvenated as well.”
Smith continued to ask Manning if he thought Payton was a good coach.
“For sure, 100 percent and he’s going to bring that championship mentality back to the Broncos, just like the Nuggets have right now.”
Peyton Manning Wants the Chiefs to Leave the AFC West
Manning was the last Broncos quarterback to beat the Kansas City Chiefs dating back to Week 2 of the 2015 season. During that season, Alex Smith was still throwing touchdowns for head coach Andy Reid.
Denver has lost 15 straight games to the Chiefs and Manning wants something to change.
“I like my Broncos, I wish the Chiefs would get out of the division.”
Patrick Mahomes has never lost to the Broncos. In fact, Denver had a chance to end the streak against Kansas City in 2019 when Mahomes suffered a knee injury on a Thursday night game in Denver.
Matt Moore would replace Mahomes midway through the second quarter as the Chiefs routed Denver 30-6 in one of the most embarrassing games in Broncos history.
While Manning was breaking records for the Broncos, he went 7-1 against the Chiefs with his only loss coming after he was pulled midway through the game for a bad performance. Manning also was playing through plantar fasciitis that he suffered the previous week against the Indianapolis Colts.
Denver lost that game 29-13.
Peyton Manning Knows How Tough the AFC Will Be
After 17 playing seasons, Manning dominated the AFC along with his rival Tom Brady. From the 2004 Super Bowl through the 2019 Super Bowl, Manning and Brady were joined by Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco as the only four quarterbacks to represent the AFC in a Super Bowl.
Since then, only Mahomes and Burrow have represented the AFC in Super Bowls, but another Super Bowl winning quarterback joined the conference as well in the offseason, Aaron Rodgers.
“I like Aaron Rodgers to the Jets. He’s excited, I like the fact that he knows the system. Hackett’s the coordinator, Aaron’s going to be able to speak the language; he’s going to be able to know the system better than anyone in the huddle.” Manning continued, “I like the Jets this year.”
When asked who he likes coming out of the AFC this season not named the Chiefs, Manning mentioned the top dogs.
“I like the usual suspects, I like Cincinnati, I like Buffalo.”
Manning also gave his expectations for Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
“Look the expectations for Josh Allen are fair, I lived that for a long time. Hey you’re having these great regular seasons, you get into the playoffs, it’s not going well. Look it comes with the territory, Josh knows that. I mean nobody wants to bring a championship more to Buffalo than Josh Allen and I think he will.”
The two-time Super Bowl champion also explained that you must beat the best if you want to be the best.
“(Joe) Burrow and Mahomes are going to be here for a while, they’re not going anywhere, so if you’re going to beat ’em, somebody’s got to take it from them.
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Peyton Manning Sends Message on Broncos’ Sean Payton & Russell Wilson