NFL:  QB PEYTON MANNING & THE DENVER BRONCOS

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“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

NFL:   IN all sports, a gap between expectations and reality can be huge, an invitation to hopelessness.

However, when expectations and reality intersect and hold, well, that’s where we embrace success and pride.

It’s a no-brainer: the smarter team athletes and true fans prefer and go for expectations that can find fulfillment, which requires that our hopes start out real, not ballooned into that which cannot ever be and will disappoint, which is why careful analysis of pre-season/exhibition NFL games can help to keep our thoughts from getting stuck in fantasy land.

So, from the pre-season games played thus far by the Denver Broncos, we can argue safely that QB Peyton Manning will be a strong asset for the Denver Broncos throughout the 2012 NFL season.

Yet any thoughts that Manning will achieve “savior status” as easily as a God might is a faulty expectation, for he’ll be working as hard as any NFL QB who hopes to lead a winning offense. As implied by the Broncos exhibition games to date, Manning will surely experience some setbacks, he won’t be having many football equivalents of the baseball pitcher’s no-hit finish---oh, those two interceptions of his throws during last week’s vs. Seahawks game!

Will Manning prove to be a better quarterback for the Broncos than several of recent years, including now with the Chicago Bears, Jay Cutler, and last year’s N.Y. Jets acquisition from Denver, Tim Tebow? Fact: stat for stat, past and present, Manning already is the better QB. And, as regards the future, Manning’s savvy and execution shown in this year’s Denver practice sessions and in pre-season games point to likelihood of his performing better than the former Denver QB’s.

As to a rational expectation, then, there’s no mistaking that with Manning at the helm the Broncos offense could help the Denver team finish the NFL year with as many as a dozen wins, but there’s no 12-person jury with pure evidence backing this up.

Okay, Manning’s presence allows for the possibility of a great season finish, a goal that did not exist as a rational expectation last season or during several seasons before that, a definite upgrade for the team. Using expectation vs. reality logic, we can even argue that the Manning-led Broncos could have a shot at the Super Bowl, without our seeming as though we’ve inhaled an illegal substance, providing, of course, that the Broncos defense can equal the improved Broncos offense (plausibility exists here, too---mid-scale, no guarantee).

A faulty expectation is the notion of Manning being the sole reason for an effective Broncos offense. When judging Manning’s leadership, his speed and throwing skills, we could make the mistake of seeing him as a spectacular one-man show, as the scene-stealing hero of the American football drama, everyone else on the field, and even Broncos head coach, John Fox, as supporting characters meant to exist in Manning’s shadow---but with regard to tactical execution of playbook maneuvers, Manning’s throws will continue to demand the effective wide receiver, canny tight end and fast back capable of taking that accurate bullet from him; and, for making those throws, Manning will be depending on speedy pass protection.

Fortunately for Manning, he has a lot going for him in Denver receivers Eric Decker, Brandon Stokley, DeMaryius Thomas, Lance Ball, and backs Willis McGahee and Lance Ball.  .  .  and, there’s kicker, Matt Prater, for “the essential three.”

So, realistically, Manning isn’t going to be Denver’s only Sunday hero---(forgive the cliché:) “it takes a team.”

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