Page 18 - Flathead Beacon // 12.25.13

18 | BEACON SPECIAL FEATURE

dously from my irst day in Denver.”

He’s developed considerably, yet
hasn’t had many chances to prove
it. After 13 weeks, Osweiler had ap-
peared in two games and attempted
three passes (he completed two for
10 yards). His only other appearance
was standing in the end zone trying in
vain to block a New England Patriots’

game-winning ield goal.
Through two seasons, he is 4-for-
7 for 22 yards during the regular sea-
son.
That’s due to the man ahead of
him.
The 6-foot-7, 240-pounder is not

used to standing in anyone’s shadow,
but that’s where Osweiler has found
himself the last 24 months. And what
a shadow it is.
Peyton Manning. Whenever
there’s a debate over the greatest
quarterbacks of all-time, Manning’s
name is mentioned early and often.

He’s a Super Bowl champion, a guar-
anteed irst-ballot Hall of Famer and
this year, as he aims to retake multiple
single-season passing records, he’s an
odds-on favorite to win a record ifth
MVP award.
Osweiler was 7 years old when the

Indianapolis Colts drafted Manning
with the No. 1 overall pick. As fate
would have it, the kid who grew up in
Northwest Montana standing in the
snow throwing passes at a target is
now shadowing a sports icon. It’s be-
come Osweiler’s most recognizable FOLLOWING FAMOUS FOOTSTEPS
ritual in Denver. Wherever Manning Brock Osweiler (17) follows Peyton
Manning (18) onto the ield for
goes, Osweiler goes, in practice or pregame warmups.
during warm-ups. Their lockers sit di-
rectly next to each other; Osweiler’s is
the only one connected to Manning’s,
which is tucked in the far corner of the tion is a rare and intense line of work.
team room.
There are 84 active NFL quarterbacks
In pregame warm-ups, the pair today, not including the eight who are
takes practice snaps right next to on injured reserve for the season.

each other, swapping sides after each In terms of long careers, not many
throw. During the game, whenever Montanans have succeeded at the
there’s a timeout or in between drives, position. Ryan Leaf famously didn’t.
Osweiler is glued to Manning’s side, Dave Dickinson played a couple years
towering over the shoulder of his el- as a backup before inding his niche in
der colleague. Even on national tele- Canada. Other than that you would
vision, whenever the cameras turn have to go all the way back to the

to Manning on the sidelines, there’s 1920s and Wild Bill Kelly, who quar-
Brock framed in the background.
terbacked at the University of Mon-
“There’s no better blueprint, if you tana and then played professionally in
will, to examine, to watch, to learn New York from 1927-1930.
from if you’re playing the quarterback game. Because of that my game has There is, however, one famous
position,” Osweiler says of Manning.
grown tremendously, just by viewing quarterback whose connection to
“I’ve been very fortunate to be those things and adding those things
Montana is signiicant yet obscure. PREGAME PREP
Osweiler arrives early on gameday to
able to watch him on a daily basis, Jack Elway was a journeyman foot- o my game.”
t
undergo rigorous passing drills.

what he does in meetings, what he ball coach who moved his young fam- I
does in practice, what he does in the
ily around the West pursuing jobs. In T’S ALL BEEN A BIG TRANSITION FOR THE
1967, he landed in Missoula after be- kid whose hometown contains
for completions (326), pass attempts
ing hired as an assistant at the Uni- barely enough residents to ill a (516) and completion percentage (63.2
FLATHEADBEACON.COM
versity of Montana. While living in quarter of Denver’s stadium. A lot has percent).
western Montana, Jack enrolled his changed in ive years. Since graduat- After returning from winter
10-year-old son in the Little Grizzlies ing early from Flathead in the win- break, he chose his next path. He

Check out more material from the youth program. As legend goes, Jack ter of 2008, he has moved to Tempe, abruptly announced he was leaving
showed up late to his son’s irst foot- Ariz., where in three seasons at Ari- school early and declared himself eli-
Beacon’s trip to Denver online, ball game. When he arrived, every- zona State University he matured into gible for the 2012 NFL draft.
one was raving about a fourth grader one of the nation’s best college quar- The state of Montana has pro-
including video footage of an in- named John Elway who scored four terbacks. By the end of his junior year, duced many great athletes, but the list
terview with Brock Osweiler and a touchdowns in the irst half. From he had become the irst quarterback in shrinks when it comes to profession-
there young Elway developed a pas- school history to throw for more than als. It gets even shorter when it comes
slideshow from the Broncos’ game sion for sports and became a skilled 4,000 yards, with 4,036 and 26 touch- to NFL quarterbacks.

against Tennessee on Dec. 8.
multi-sport athlete rising up through downs, the fourth most in school his- One of the more preeminent roles
the Missoula ranks and attracting an
tory. He also set single-season records
in sports, the NFL quarterback posi-