It’s not every year that a quarterback in the NFL leads his team to the playoffs with his abilities, and is then traded away in the offseason. This is what the Denver Broncos did after the 2011 season, and who could blame them?  Tim Tebow is an amazing talent and leader on the field, but when the Denver Broncos were given a chance to get Peyton Manning, Tebow became an afterthought.
It was a gamble on a guy who hadn’t thrown a pass in over a year coming off of neck surgery, but it was a gamble the Broncos were willing to take, and it worked.

Although the Broncos went just as far in the playoffs as they did with Tebow at the helm, the offense changed drastically.  In 2011 they ended the season 23rd in total offense with 316.6 yards per game.  The following year, with Manning at the helm, the offense raised that number to 397.9 yards per game and fourth in the NFL in that category.  80-plus yards per game is a jump you’d expect when you add an all-world quarterback like Manning.  That number could have been even higher if Manning had more experienced receivers, or if Pro Bowl running back Willis McGhee hadn’t gone down with an injury after 10 games.

It is crazy to think that a quarterback who just recovered from neck surgery, started out slowly, and then lost his best option at running back just over half way through the season still helped increase the offensive output by 80+ yards a game.  Throw in the fact that Manning and the Broncos only averaged 285 passing yards per game and it is an even more unbelievable jump that this offense made.  Although the Broncos were bounced out in the first round of the playoffs, it is scary to believe what this team can do on offense with a healthy backfield and a key new addition.

Wes Welker, the Broncos’ newly acquired wide receiver, has spent the last six seasons with one of the top quarterbacks in the league on a team that made the playoffs five out of the six seasons he was there (the one time they missed the playoffs Tom Brady missed the season with a knee injury).  Now, Welker joins a different top quarterback in Denver, which could be just what this Broncos team needs to help fans forget that they were one-and-done in the playoffs last season.  Last season, the top two wide receivers were a pair of third year players.  Eric Decker had only caught 50 passes and Demaryius Thomas had only caught 53 passes at the NFL level, but under Manning they combined for 179 catches last season.  With some pressure taken off of them by Welker, who has caught 100-plus passes in five of his last six seasons, Decker and Thomas will have even more room to grow.

So just how good can this team be on offense?  With a healthy running game and the addition of Welker, the Broncos could be the scariest offense in the league in the 2013 season.  With another year to mature and a second offseason with a leader like Manning, both Decker and Thomas could drastically improve.  On top of that, Manning now has a full season under his belt after his neck surgery.  Don’t be surprised if Manning passes over 300 yards a game next season and the offense leads the league, or at least ranks in the top two, with 420-plus yards per game.  If this turns out to be true, no team in the NFL will want to face this offense.