Peyton Manning tossed three touchdown passes and Bradley Roby scored off a late fumble as the Denver Broncos completed a stunning comeback with a 31-24 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday. “That won us the game”. Granted, the defensive penalties of DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller didn’t help the cause.
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Following Aqib Talib’s second interception in as many games, Manning capped a 15-yard drive with a 1-yard play-action pass to Virgil Green to tie the game.
Deshaun Watson threw two touchdown passes, Wayne Gallman ran for 139 yards and No. 11 Clemson held off Louisville 20-17 to improve to 3-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both schools.
Yet for Peyton Manning, the Chiefs have rarely tested the future hall of fame.
The rookie’s second-career interception, and first returned for a touchdown, put Kansas City ahead 14-0. Manning was sacked three times on the night and had an interception returned for a touchdown that gave Kansas City a 14-0 lead. He makes such a positive impact on the team that it’s easy to look away from his fumbles… except when it comes with less than a minute left in their own territory with the game on the line.
In the first week of the 2015 National Football League regular season the Denver Broncos struggled to log a win at home against the Baltimore Ravens. “And reaching Thursday night’s milestone was another reminder that he is one of the game’s true legends”, Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner sports section commented Thursday.
“I’m not quite sure I’d ever been in one quite like that”, Manning said.
Why would Reid suddenly lose confidence in Charles to gain the last lonely yard left to paydirt?
Fans say they still think the Chiefs have a chance at making it to the playoffs this year. On the first play he connected with Emmanuel Sanders on a 22-yard pass, the team’s longest offensive play of the season. Knile Davis would score from eight yards out late in the fourth quarter, giving the Chiefs the lead.
Still, conventional wisdom with less than a minute to play may have pointed to the Chiefs sitting on the ball and take it to overtime. However, the Broncos were not able to capitalize in large part due to the Chiefs defense. They elected to go with the presumably safe play of running the ball to veteran back Jamaal Charles.
“I was just trying to make a play and wasn’t careful with the ball”, said Charles. He’s done. His arm isn’t what it once was etc, etc etc. Well, his arm might not be what it once was, but I wasn’t buying into the hype over the Chiefs and the impending demise of Manning. “Peyton is one of those guys, he’s being critiqued and criticized all the time”.
With an uplifting road victory over what appears to be a very good Kansas City team, Denver earned the extra rest they’ll get after playing two games in five days.
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For the second straight week, the man who will retire as the career leader in more than a dozen passing categories looked mostly ordinary, like an average quarterback who, now that he’s in his 40th year, has seen injury and Father Time finally catch up.
