The formula for the Broncos is simple: Keep Peyton Manning clean, and they win Super Bowl XLVIII Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
The concept is hardly new. Every group of offensive linemen will say, if they protect their quarterback their team has a better chance to win the game.
But with Manning, the basis of that theory is heightened significantly, because he is better than every other quarterback. So, if Manning is properly protected, his teammates can be assured he’s going to take care of his business.
“I know in my heart that if we protect Peyton and keep him clean we win this game,’’ Broncos left tackle Chris Clark said Thursday. “I strongly feel that way.’’
If you ask Pariots head coach Bill Belichick the most glaring reason the his team unable to beat the Broncos in the AFC Championship, he would tell you it was the failure of his defense to lay as much as a fingernail on Manning — who looked so comfortable in the pocket it was like he was lounging on a recliner playing a video game, picking out to which receiver he wanted to throw.
Peyton’s Protectors allowed just 18 sacks this season, despite Manning dropping back to pass a league-high 659 times. The Broncos did this despite losing left tackle Ryan Clady, their best offensive lineman, to a season-ending Lisfranc foot injury in Week 2 against the Giants at MetLife.
“I feel like Chris Clark would be a starter on any other team in the NFL if he was not backing Clady up here,’’ Broncos right tackle Orlando Franklin said.
The back story of Franklin is the most compelling. The 26-year-old Franklin was arrested twice as a teenager, and the second time (for robbery and possession of a stolen vehicle) his mother, Sylvia Allen, let him sit in jail for three months before bailing him out to teach him a lesson.
“I was in a real dark place,” Franklin recalled. “Something had to change. I saw my life spiraling down.’’
And now he is here, playing in a Super Bowl.
“I try not to reflect it too much, but I do understand that at 16 years old I had no direction in my life,’’ Franklin said. “I mean, the NFL? I didn’t even know if I’d ever graduate high school, let alone think I’d ever make it to the NFL. I could not see where my future was or where I was at.”
Including playoffs, Franklin will start his 54th consecutive game for the Broncos on Sunday.
Right guard Louis Vasquez has an interesting back story as well.
“On paper, I wasn’t even supposed to make it here, just given past history of Hispanic community,’’ Vasquez said. “We’re a shorter race and we’re not supposed to make it this far in the NFL, much less reach the NFL.’’
The most serious of the group is left guard Zane Beadles, who Clark and Ramirez called “the Peyton Manning of the offensive line’’ because of his smarts.
“Zane is probably one of the smartest guys I’ve ever known,” said center Manny Ramirez, who was a teammates of Vasquez’s at Texas Tech. “It’s amazing how he sees things and how he recognizes things to make certain adjustments.”
“He’s so smart, he helps Peyton sometimes,’’ Clark said.
They all help each other, and that is why they’re here. Sixty more minutes of help from Peyton’s Protectors, and the Broncos will be Super Bowl champions for the first time in 15 years.