Beating yourself is no recipe for dethroning the defending Super Bowl champs and that is what happened to the Colts on Sunday afternoon.
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Denver Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller celebrates after a win over the Indianapolis Colts in an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, in Denver.
Behind another spectacular performance by linebacker Von Miller and a defense that scored twice, the Broncos fended off a late push by the Colts for a 34-20 victory Sunday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. “We didn’t shut down Andrew Luck at this time previous year”.
They started off hot with a quick drive down to Colts 36-yard line. “We’re coming all night and trying to get us the ‘W”‘. Hilton, who has always been a nemesis of the Broncos, was held to four catches for 41 yards on 11 targets. Their first drive stalled on third down when Trevor Siemian tucked it under and didn’t see Demaryius Thomas waving his hand uncovered 10 yards down field. But once again, the offense had an underwhelming drive and was forced to punt. On a drive highlighted by a laser throw to Jordan Taylor, C.J.
Gore’s touchdown trimmed the deficit to 23-20 with a little more than four minutes remaining.
Denver threatened to score once more after Virgil Green got involved and DT grabbed 17 more yards, but Siemian telegraphed a screen to Sanders and Darius Butler picked it off. Butler had all green ahead of him, but he pulled up lame and the Broncos caught a massive break.
Jared Crick (93) of the Denver Broncos pressures Andrew Luck (12) of the Indianapolis Colts during the first quarter.
Miller uses film to study opponents’ tendencies and has developed a variety of pass-rushing moves that he relies upon in crucial situations. Oakland allowed Atlanta and Matt Ryan to pile up almost 400 passing yards and at 35 points, losing 35-28 at home, a week after giving up big numbers to Drew Brees and the Saints in a win.
The defense did the rest.
On the other side of the ball, the Broncos dominated in every aspect of the game.
In the first half, the defense was their usual stout self. With a passer rating of 64.3, this easily became one of Luck’s worst career games. Just to ice the game, he added another sack with time winding down for three total, on top of seven tackles and a pass deflection.
Miller burst past right tackle Joe Reitz and swiped the ball from Luck’s grasp.
The drive ended with a Robert Turbin touchdown from five yards out.
“I know Andrew would love to have it back, ” Colts coach Chuck Pagano said of the pick-6 that gave Denver a 23-13 lead.
The fourth quarter was barely underway when Luck threw his first interception of the season. 46 yards later, it’s Talib’s fifth return touchdown since joining the Broncos.
Luck shouldered plenty of the blame for those mistakes, but also gave credit to one of the best defenses in the NFL.
Though the Colts allowed 34 points in the contest, they actually only allowed one offensive touchdown.
Von Miller had other ideas. However, 22 yards came on a third down rush from Luck, so the Colts running backs did not accomplish much. It came loose and Shane Ray was Johnny on the spot, taking it back to the end zone.
One week after his gutsy two-point conversion lifted the Raiders in New Orleans, Del Rio’s questionable fourth-quarter decision to go on fourh-and-2 at midfield, trailing by a touchdown, helped bury Oakland.
Ultimately, Miller was able to pick up the slack and did his best work after DeMarcus Ware left the game with an arm injury.
While linebacker Von Miller continues to terrorize opposing quarterbacks and power the Broncos’ versatile pass rush – Miller has nine sacks in his last four games, playoffs included, to go with three forced fumbles and an interception – the Broncos’ ability to match up in coverage is key in making them a hard riddle to solve.
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General manager Ryan Grigson and head coach were saved from the gallows by a forgiving owner who believed they could find common ground and merge divergent philosophies to find a way to build a champion.
