DENVER – After a sluggish performance against the Oakland Raiders on Monday night in which he threw for a disappointing 374 yards and 3 touchdowns, Broncos QB Peyton Manning has now failed to pass for 7 touchdowns in a single game for two consecutive weeks.
“Look, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m as upset with myself as anyone,” a clearly frustrated Manning said during a somber post-game interview. “I wanted to complete seven touchdown passes last night, and obviously I fell short of that goal. All I can say is that I’ll look at the game film, and try to figure out where things went wrong.”
“It breaks my heart, because I know how hard he’s been trying,” added WR Wes Welker. “You might not know it based on his lackluster performance last night, but Peyton worked his butt off this week trying to get into what he calls, ’7 TD shape.’ It just wasn’t meant to be, unfortunately.”
“No, I haven’t lost faith in Peyton. Not yet, anyway,” said Broncos coach John Fox. “But he knows he can perform better, and that we expect a certain level of play for him that he must attain. He’ll try again this weekend against the Eagles, and I know we’re all pulling for him to get this 7 TD monkey off his back.”
Reports that the team was considering signing free agent QB Tim Tebow to possibly supplant Manning in the starting lineup could not be confirmed at press time.
