The numbers and the standings will change, but heading into this week's games, they were lined up too perfectly to ignore.
Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (18 cheap nike jerseys) talks to players on the bench in the first half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Tom Uhlman)Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning reached the halfway point of the season with a 5-3 record and 2,404 yards passing.
Colts quarterback Andrew Luck reached the halfway point of the season with a 5-3 record and 2,404 yards passing.
Though Manning, the 15-year veteran, and Luck, the rookie out of Stanford, are hardly mirror images, their fates over the past 12 months have been as interconnected as their numbers were entering this week.
And so far, this has all the makings of a win-win situation for both teams and both quarterbacks.
Colts interim head coach and offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who also worked with Manning when he was a rookie, says Manning was great in his first year and Luck is every bit as good.
"He's light years ahead of where we thought he would be," Arians said. "There's nothing really left to put in the playbook that we haven't installed, and he's been extremely good in clutch situations."
Had the Colts chosen not to part ways with Manning - the quarterback who essentially defined the franchise for a decade and a half - they may still have picked Luck first in the draft. But chances are he'd be watching, not playing.
There's no crystal ball to tell how that would've gone. But installing Luck as the starter is working out just fine.
Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (18 cheap nike jerseys) talks to players on the bench in the first half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Tom Uhlman)Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning reached the halfway point of the season with a 5-3 record and 2,404 yards passing.
Colts quarterback Andrew Luck reached the halfway point of the season with a 5-3 record and 2,404 yards passing.
Though Manning, the 15-year veteran, and Luck, the rookie out of Stanford, are hardly mirror images, their fates over the past 12 months have been as interconnected as their numbers were entering this week.
And so far, this has all the makings of a win-win situation for both teams and both quarterbacks.
Colts interim head coach and offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who also worked with Manning when he was a rookie, says Manning was great in his first year and Luck is every bit as good.
"He's light years ahead of where we thought he would be," Arians said. "There's nothing really left to put in the playbook that we haven't installed, and he's been extremely good in clutch situations."
Had the Colts chosen not to part ways with Manning - the quarterback who essentially defined the franchise for a decade and a half - they may still have picked Luck first in the draft. But chances are he'd be watching, not playing.
There's no crystal ball to tell how that would've gone. But installing Luck as the starter is working out just fine.
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