MANNING THE HELM: Manning wasn’t himself in the first half when he was 9 of 22 for 80 yards. Denver’s top-rated defense made several more after losing its composure.
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The combination led to a perfectly miserable finish.
After taking the ball back, Denver, who was poised to march down the field and take the game over for good. Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak said, of Talib.
It was supposed to be a historic and triumphant return for Manning. Colts 7, Broncos 0. Behind early, the Broncos ran the ball just 14 times for a paltry 35 yards (2.5 average), and Indianapolis forced Manning into a pair of interceptions.
But Luck drove the Colts to the field goal, and after the interception, Indy ran out the clock.
“Obviously, our defense has done a great job all year”, Manning said. “We had a few chances, we came up short”.
The Colts humbled the Broncos.
The Colts jumped out to a 17 point lead in the first half, but then they gave it up, letting the Broncos tie the game in the third quarter. On Manning’s first drop back he threw an interception to Darius Butler. We will need a comeback here today. “Probably a little bit of soul searching, trying to figure out what we want to be. The truth of the matter is we have the pieces, which is pretty darn obvious”.
-They started fast and finished strong.
Although Peyton Manning threw for a season-high 340 passing yards in week eight, he failed to throw a passing touchdown for the first time since the Denver Broncos’ week one battle with the Baltimore Ravens.
If there’s a bright spot, it’s that Denver’s defense was able to get pressure on Andrew Luck.
That’s exactly what Indianapolis needed, and precisely what coach Chuck Pagano had spent weeks preaching. It could be the last time Manning plays in front of the Indianapolis crowd that supported him for years as a Colt, so you know he will be looking to have a memorable performance. Now we’re going to another one-game playoff … when we play again after this bye week. “The last three games they’ve played, they’ve lost by 16 points”. The Colts ended the seven-game, opening-quarter shutout when Frank Gore capped the opening drive with a 7-yard touchdown run.
While the next man up theory puts Donte Moncrief in that No. 1 WR slot, if you’ve got a weak No. 3 going this week at WR, pull him out five minutes ago and put in Colts WR, Andre Johnson.
The first ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Ahmad Bradshaw that gave Indy a 24-17 lead. Adam Vinatieri proved to be clutch, knocking in the 55-yard field goal to take a 27-24 lead.
The Broncos have punted on all of their possessions except for one on offense in the first half.
Before the game even started, chalk up another loss for the Indianapolis Colts. But they might do it as a 6-10 team that will get blown out in the wild-card round.
“Just as a team, we really needed this one”, Colts receiver Griff Whalen said.
“I don’t feel like we’re getting enough respect still”, Miller said, noting that nose tackle Sylvester Williams isn’t getting any love as a product pitchman.
If Indianapolis hadn’t been completely left for dead after Monday night’s loss in Carolina, that was a function not of people actually believing in the Colts, but of the rest of the AFC South being awful: Yes, we thought, maybe the Colts can still win their division. Owen Daniels led the receiving corps for the Broncos, accumulating 102 yards and a touchdown on six receptions, by far his best game this season.
After scoring the first 17 points of the game, then watching Denver score 17 unanswered, the Colts got back on the scoreboard.
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The defence, bolstered by the return of Jason Pierre-Paul, kept Jameis Winston and the Tampa offence out of the end zone much of the day as the Giants beat the Bucs 38-18.
