FOXBORO -- Bill Belichick continues to compare the Denver Broncos current offense to the Indianapolis Colts former offense. The biggest similarities lie in Peyton Manning's veteran presence under center.
On Wednesday, Manning said it wouldn't be in his best interest -- strategy-wise -- to either agree or disagree with that notion.
"I can't really say that, one way or the other," said Manning in a conference call. "Obviously, I can't force someone else's opinion. I think for me to respond to that would be too informative, I guess. If that's coach Belichick's evaluation, that's his.
"But, there's new players that I'm playing with. There's new coaches. There's new things for me, so, everybody can form their own opinion."
Broncos coach John Fox has his own opinion, and while he never came right out and said that Denver's current offensive style compared to Manning's old Colts' style, he did hint towards that being the case.
"At the end of the day, part of being a coach is to put players in the best positions to have success," said Fox. "I don't care if you're talking offense, defense, kicking game. So, it would probably be close to moronic for us not to inject some of the things that he had 14 years of great play with, in our offense. That's all part of coaching."
What makes the transition easier is that Manning came to Denver and was reunited with wide receiver Brandon Stokley and tight end Jacob Tamme -- both former teammates of Manning in Indianapolis.
"I think anytime you go through a change, any familiarity certainly helps in the transition," said Manning. "Brandon Stokley is one of my favorite teammates of all time. He's just a guy that loves football, grew up around football, with his dad being a coach. The four years that he and I played together were a lot of fun. So to be reunited with him has been special.
"And then Jacob kind of played in the shadows of Dallas Clark in Indianapolis, and had the chance to kind of establish himself on his own. And he's a really good teammate and hard worker as well. So ya, it certainly helps to have a couple guys that you played with before."