Willis McGahee on Playing with Peyton Manning: “He’s one of those quarterbacks that you don’t want to disappoint. He challenges us.”

It already seems evident that the Denver Broncos are giddy about Peyton Manning. Just take a listen to Willis McGahee in the following interview talk about the advantages that No.18 brings to the table. The Broncos starting running back is already being taken to school about his new role on the offense.

McGahee knows there is a lot of work ahead of him to get up to speed, but the veteran, physical back is ready for the challenge.

Willis McGahee joined 102.3 ESPN in Denver with CJ & Kreckman to discuss the new collective bargaining agreement helping NFL players recover faster in training camp, not missing the chance to hit early on in training camp, getting enough touches to learn the Broncos new run offense, Peyton Manning’s ability to read defenses in the pre-snap, and Peyton Manning making players around him better.

Has the new collective bargaining agreement made things easier for you guys?
“Well yeah it’s a big difference for when I first came into the league. Back then we were at two-a-days. When they said two-a-days it was two-a-days. You are going to hit in the morning and hit in the afternoon. You know but now they are taking care of us and giving our bodies a chance to rest and it has you last longer in the NFL.”

Do you miss getting the chance to hit early on or are you happy with the new collective bargaining agreement rules?
“No comment. [Laughs]”

Do you feel like you are going to get enough touches to learn this new offense and focus on the run?
“I mean that is an up-and-down question because it depends on who we are playing? If the run game is not working I am pretty sure we are going to do more passing than running. If the passing game is not working we are going to force the run in, so it depends on who we are playing and how they are adjusting to our run game.”

Talk about playing with Peyton Manning and the advantages he brings by being able to read the defense in the pre-snap?
“Well the biggest advantage is that we have Peyton Manning and he’s a very, very smart quarterback. He knows what is going on inside and out. He can dissect right then and then. He can tell you…well put you in the right position to let you know if we are going to run right here or pass and everybody…we trust his judgement and not doubt him or anything. It’s just the fact that we need to do our job. I don’t care who we play he can’t win by himself. It’s going to be a team effort starting from the o-line to the running backs to the receivers to the tight ends. Our job is to get up to speed with him. He’s one of those quarterbacks that you don’t want to disappoint. Not only that you don’t want disappoint him. You don’t want to disappoint the Broncos organization. So as a man we all have to take our game to another level each day because he challenges us.”

What have you learned about Peyton Manning that you didn’t know before?
“He’s a guru. We knew he was very smart and intelligent, but he’s a guy you can sit back and be like god d***! Is he really doing this? Like I said just like your first day of geometry class and you’d be like alright, alright I gotta start over and learn this. Really back then you just learn your position, but now with him it changes certain things. You have to know what this guy is supposed to do and the roles switch and things like that.”


(sportsradiointerviews.com)