With 2:05 left in Sunday’s divisional playoff game, CBS’s Jim Nantz began the speculation.
Will Peyton Manning return next year?
Nantz clearly believes he might not.
“We may be looking back on one of the greatest players in football history,” he said. Nantz said the Broncos’ quarterback told him he was going to “wait and see” what he would do and wasn’t sure if he was coming back.
WATCH:
Neither Nantz nor analyst partner Phil Simms directly commented on Manning’s subpar performance, backing away from severe criticism in almost reverential style while regularly heaping deserved praise on the play of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck. But the astute camera work of the CBS production crew showed viewers how Manning’s poor performance, coupled with the Colts’ stout defensive work, short-circuited any chance the Broncos had to win.
The CBS cameras also kept tabs on Manning on the sideline as his disappointment and frustration grew.
Simms, no favorite of Broncos fans, correctly noted the Broncos’ defensive woes both in pass rushing and backfield coverage of the Colts’ receivers.
Nantz regularly chimed in, saying that while some of Manning’s passes were either under thrown or over thrown, the Colts secondary was well-prepared to thwart Denver’s offensive attack.
