Peyton Manning stays in the moment, won't discuss future

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Peyton Manning didn't want to talk about his future.

"We're on to Carolina," he said, eliciting laughter from the media at his press conference on the day the Broncos began on-field preparation for the Panthers.

But NFL Films' cameras did catch him telling Patriots coach Bill Belichick, "This might be my last rodeo," in the moments following the Broncos' 20-18 AFC Championship win to send them to their eighth Super Bowl and second since Manning joined the team in 2012.

There seems little question that this will be Manning's final game with the Broncos. Although Manning and general manager John Elway have said they will revisit the matter after the season ends, the signs are in place.

The Broncos can easily gain cap space by moving on -- and they will need all of it to keep the team together, and to re-sign Brock Osweiler, who showed enough promise in seven starts to establish himself as a viable starter in the future. Osweiler will probably merit an eight-figure average annual salary, and went 5-2 as the starter, although one of the wins came when Manning relieved him in the regular-season finale.

Those matters will keep Elway busy in February, with just 16 days separating the Super Bowl from the National Scouting Combine. But for now, the Broncos are squarely in the moment, understanding that with Manning's status and a host of pending free agents, this team, as currently constructed, is in now-or-never mode.

"I think this team has, we've talked about it the past few weeks, has focused on the staying in the moment, staying in the now, one week at a time," Manning said. "There are lots of different cliche's that you could throw out there, but that's been great for this team and that's certainly a great approach these next couple of weeks."

No one has been more in tune with this mindset than Manning himself, who chafed while missing six games because of a torn plantar fascia. Eventually, he recovered enough to be effective, and avoid the spate of interceptions that dogged him before he was pulled because of injury in Week 10 against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Manning has confronted his career mortality, and now sits one game away from what could be the storybook ending no quarterback since Elway has experienced.

"It's certainly helped me this year as well on focusing on this week and not assuming this is going to happen or that's going to happen," Manning said. "Let's focus on this week and the current circumstances and let's just stay there.

"I think injuries ... sometimes they have to occur in order to kind of reinforce that kind of philosophy and type of thinking."

And that has infused Manning's leadership with a sentiment to cherish the moment. This is Manning's fourth Super Bowl. But for some young Broncos, this is their first -- and there's no guarantee they will ever get back.

He said he went up to rookies Shane Ray and Taurean Nixon and conveyed his wisdom.

"I try to remind them that's not the norm, and don't take it for granted because when you've been on a 3-13 team to start your career, you definitely appreciate these opportunities. It's special.

"And to be playing in Super Bowl 50, I cannot tell you how unique of an opportunity that is for both teams to be playing in, especially (given) how I feel."

SERIES HISTORY: 5th meeting. Broncos lead series, 3-1. The most historic meeting between these two teams was on Nov. 9, 1997, when Darrien Gordon's two touchdowns on punt returns led the Broncos to a 34-0 thrashing en route to their first world championship.

GAME PLAN

--With the league's leading defense in yardage per carry allowed, the Broncos have succeeded in making teams one-dimensional and forcing the game firmly into the hands of their quarterback. That strategy will come fraught with risk against Cam Newton, because his dual-threat nature makes him a multi-dimensional offensive attack unto himself. But if the Broncos' cornerbacks can contain Carolina's receivers on the back end, they can consume themselves with making sure that Newton's designed runs to the outside don't become big gains.

Denver's offense will try to sustain the relatively mistake-free football it has played since Peyton Manning's return; the Broncos have just one giveaway since Manning stepped back under center in Week 17, and that came on a lateral that Ronnie Hillman failed to follow and corral, leading to a Patriots recovery. The Panthers' penchant for quick starts has been fueled by opponents' mistakes; if the Broncos can continue playing clean football, they can prevent the Panthers from getting off to the kind of quick start that buried the Seahawks and Cardinals.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH

--Broncos OLBs DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller vs. Carolina Ts Michael Oher and Mike Remmers.

Oher and Remmers have delivered solid play for the Panthers after being discarded by multiple teams -- including the Broncos, who waived him at the end of the 2012 preseason. But they haven't faced a challenge quite like the one from Ware and Miller, who combined for three sacks and 11 hits of Tom Brady. Miller and Ware will have to be more disciplined in their rushes against Cam Newton, but their discipline on the edge has helped them succeed at containing mobile quarterbacks the last two years.

--Broncos WRs Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders vs. Panthers CBs Josh Norman and Robert McClain.

Norman is arguably the league's best lockdown cornerback this year, but McClain has been targeted frequently in the last two weeks and allowed a touchdown in each of the Panthers' playoff wins. Seattle and Arizona combined to throw at McClain 27 times in the postseason -- 18 more than they threw at Norman -- and Peyton Manning will likely look to throw at McClain and Cortland Finnegan, who has also struggled.