Peyton Manning's college coach and longtime training partner declared the Denver Broncos quarterback fit to start 2015.
What David Cutcliffe didn't address was whether Manning would be fit at the end of 2015 or into 2016 for the postseason.
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The Denver Post reported that Cutcliffe, now head coach at Duke who was Manning's offensive coordinator at Tennessee, sees a focused and healthy Manning getting ready for his 18th season in the NFL.
"I'm amazed at times," Cutcliffe told the Post. "We're doing this in an indoor facility with nobody watching and I watch his focus, his intensity, the absolute desire for every rep to be as good as it can be - that hunger is pretty amazing at this stage. But that's what successful people do."
Manning's former mentor said the 24-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs has played a big role in Manning's motivation at age 39 to get back to the Super Bowl - where he has a 1-2 career record.
"He believes in it, and we certainly do, that in life as well as football, nothing stays the same - whether it's a relationship or anything else. You're either getting better or you're getting worse," Cutcliffe said.
"I thought he looked really healthy. We had talked about nutrition, about sleep, about recovery. He's really so, so smart. So brilliant and so disciplined. But there's another level, always. I thought he looked really fit. I thought his core was great. I watched him train inside, and he looks good and he's strong where he needs to be strong, and he didn't show anything at all from the quad. And we talked a lot about flexibility."
Then again, Manning's resolve never has been in question entering a season. The mystery of Manning is his ability to stay healthy through the course of the season. He play the last portion of the 2014 season with a strained quadriceps muscle that affected his deep passing game, which contributed to the team's early dismissal from the playoffs.
While Cutcliffe didn't address Manning's plan to make it through 2015, the Post's Les Shapiro already has said that coach John Fox should consider pulling Manning from games that the Broncos have in hand but should not sit him for any game early in the season.
"Sorry. That's moronic," Shapiro argues. "This is NOT baseball. There are not 162 games. This ain't hockey or basketball either, where sitting a guy for one or two of 82 games, in all probability, won't make a difference in the standings. This is the NFL. They play only 16 games. So, ONE game is really, really important.
Many, many times teams miss out on the playoffs by one game. So, you're willing to take that chance, sitting Peyton for a game or even TWO, if he's healthy? Moronic."
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