The eyeballs of every Denver Broncos fan Saturday night will be cast toward Peyton Manning, who will play at least the first quarter and possibly into the second with the first team when the Broncos face the Seahawks on Saturday night in their preseason home opener.
For Manning and the first-team offense, this represents a better chance to get into a rhythm than their 11-play, one-series cameo at Chicago on Aug. 9. Brock Osweiler is expected to follow Manning and take his first game-time repetitions with the No. 2 offense. Osweiler, Caleb Hanie and Adam Weber have rotated second-team snaps in practice, but Hanie was the No. 2 QB at Chicago.
There are expected to be no new starters for the offense since Manuel Ramirez started at RG last week for Chris Kuper, who hadn't fully recovered from his Jan. 1 fibula and ankle injuries. Kuper will miss the next four to six weeks with a fractured forearm.
DE Jason Hunter was also ruled out this week because of a torn triceps muscle, which thrust rookie Derek Wolfe into the starting lineup. Wolfe had been a first-team DT in pass-rush packages the past two weeks but now becomes a first-team DE in the base package, handling the same inside-outside role that Robert Ayers did last year.
Safeties Quinton Carter (knee and hamstring) and Jim Leonhard (knee), DT Kevin Vickerson (concussion) and LBs Danny Trevathan (ankle) and Keith Brooking (hamstring) didn't practice Friday and will not play. CB Tracy Porter missed the entire week with an illness and isn't expected to play.
WR Tyler Grisham returned to practice this week after missing two weeks because of a knee injury; he might see action Saturday night. The same is true for rookie RB Ronnie Hillman, who returned Friday after missing the previous four days after aggravating a hamstring injury. Hillman dressed at Chicago but didn't play because of the hamstring, which has lingered for two weeks.
For up-to-the-minute Broncos updates, follow Andrew Mason on Twitter at @CBSSportsNFLDEN and @MaxBroncos.
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