“I think that sometimes when you get to the point where he is in his career, you try to make a lot of things happen and you don’t do things the way you used to do them”. I know that it’s something that we have to do better. The Browns are coming off a 33-30 win at Baltimore last week to snap a two-game losing streak. “As a defense and as a team, we have to play chess, too”.
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Peyton Manning is still Peyton Manning, and despite his ongoing struggles for the current season, the Broncos are going live and die with their prized quarterback. Kubiak quickly dismissed the idea.
“I don’t think that last game was our idea of going and throwing 50 times, however many times we threw it”, Duke Johnson said on Thursday, “but we got down early and that’s what we needed to do”. We did beat him in New York in a playoff game, which was significant, but he’s right up there. Ward improved every year in Cleveland and earned a Pro Bowl berth in 2013 with 123 tackles, 1.5 sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble, and ten defended passes. The Broncos are 5-0, but a favorable schedule had them playing the Ravens, Chiefs and Lions the first three weeks of the season. While the defensive line has not been over-bearing, they hold their ground much better than last year’s unit. “It is for a good reason”. The last Browns win? They have not only one of the youngest pass rushers in Khalil Mack (24), but he is also one of the fiercest men on defense and hopefully will land on everybody’s list of “top rushers” by the end of the season. A couple of McCown’s touchdown passes have come outside the red zone, but when Cleveland gets into that territory and the field shrinks, he’s taken a few sacks on third down and hasn’t been able to make use of his smaller targets as effectively. “They didn’t score a touchdown”.
“We kind of have Plan A and Plan B going as a coaching staff”, defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil said.
The Oakland Raiders next game comes against another divisional rival in the San Diego Chargers (2-3) when the Raiders visit Qualcomm stadium in San Diego in a matchup between second place teams in the AFC West. The game is at 1:05pm on Sunday, October 25.
“I got benched”, he said, cracking a smile. “I never wanted to leave”.
The two warriors have met numerous times over the years but it was this game that reminded Manning and the rest of the league why his Raider teammates have given him the nickname “first ballot”, as in Woodson will get into the NFL Hall of Fame on the first ballot…no doubt about it, says, well…everybody. They have also accounted for 834 yards receiving, also tops for any offensive tandem. QB Peyton Manning in outdoor games against good defenses usually leads to a bad time for Manning’s respective team.
STILL THE MANNING: Browns linebacker Paul Kruger isn’t buying the talk that Manning is washed up.
“We’re going to go out and play them”.
“He was fine [in practice this week]”, Pettine said.
“He was quick to remind me he was 12 for 12 and 4 for 4 over 50 yards”, Pettine said.
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Except the Browns are showing signs of a Lazarus-like awakening from the deep-dirt nap. A backup quarterback behind John Elway, he was the holder on Rich Karlis’ winning field goal in overtime of the 1986 AFC championship, a game forever marked by “The Drive” that Elway led Denver on to tie the game in the final moments.
