ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - The cornerback who delivered Peyton Manning his greatest blow now enjoys picking the brain of the maestro quarterback.
As Tracy Porter reported for his first training camp with the Denver Broncos, the free-agent pickup from New Orleans talked about the knowledge he gained from working across from Manning during the offseason -- adding that he looks forward to more once training camp starts Thursday.
Porter said it is his job to ask Manning about certain things he sees -- to help his own game.
“If he’s in practice every day, picking the defense apart, you’ll be less of a professional if you don’t go to him and ask him, ‘What are you seeing?’ What’s he reading defense-wise that gives him those holes in the defense to make those passes?” Porter said. “If he makes a play, or if he sees something that we’re out of position in on defense, we have to be professionals and go to him and ask him, what did he see on this? What was he thinking on this? So we’ll know what opposing quarterbacks are thinking. Vice versa, if we’re making a play on the ball, he’s going to ask us the same thing. That’s how we all get better.”
There was a time when Manning and Porter were not on the same page. Porter famously intercepted a Manning pass and brought it back for a touchdown to help seal the Saints’ Super Bowl victory over the Indianapolis Colts in 2010.
While Manning and Porter are communicating well, the Super Bowl topic has yet to be broached.
“No, honestly it hasn’t,” said Porter when asked if he and Manning have discussed his pick. “I just want to maybe wait for the perfect time to slide that in.”