Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning loves his team and fans. However, he has a message for those fans according to the Broncos’ official website—Would you guys mind keeping it down a bit?
“When we’re on the field on offense – I love our fans’ excitement – but if we can just find that controlled noise level,” Manning told Dave Logan—a Broncos play-by-play announcer—Tuesday on AM 850 KOA. “I believe we are going to go for it on some fourth downs this year and maybe not cheering when we’re going for it on fourth down – wait and see and if we get it, cheer then. To me, it’s a hard thing. These fans have so much enthusiasm, but for a receivers' standpoint, you’d love to have that homefield advantage where you wouldn’t have to signal at home.”
So, Mr. Manning, do you have a suggestion for how the team should approach this endeavor?
“I don’t know, maybe there’s a leader in each section in the stands, we’ll take some voting polls, have a campaign,” the future Hall-of-Famer said. “But that’s what you want, a guy to say, fourth-and-1, they’re going for it – I don’t know if that’s possible, I don’t know how to get that message relayed, but any help we can get out there from Broncos fans, we’ll take.”
Now before fans get angry and ask, “Why is Manning trying to take away excitement from the fans,” maybe they should hear him out.
It seems the ideal situation for the Broncos, or any team for that matter, would be to have the crowd really loud on defense and quieter on offense. A similar practice already takes place in basketball. When the star player on a team toes the line to knock down two clutch free-throws, the crowd gets quiet to let that player concentrate. When it’s someone on the other team trying to do the same, the home crowd goes nuts to try to distract the player.
If the Broncos are actually able to pull this off, and it helps Peyton Manning get better as a quarterback, opposing defenses are going to have even more of a headache trying to stop one of the best QBs in the league.
