Broncos Lose Ugly in Atlanta

The NFL is a very humbling league. As a fan, you can feel great after a victory, and then you get knocked back down to Earth the next week. Any Broncos fan experienced that range of emotions this past week. After knocking off the Steelers 31-19 in Week 1, the Broncos committed four turnovers in the first quarter at Atlanta and lost the game 27-21. Three of those turnovers were Peyton Manning interceptions. In fact, Manning was picked off the first three drives of the game. Although the start was terrible, Denver managed to get the game within a score at 27-21 with over three minutes to go in the game. Atlanta was able to get a key first down on a 3rd and 6, and run out the clock to preserve the win.

Here are my thoughts on the game....
1) When was the last time a defense completely fooled Peyton Manning? The Falcons disguised their coverages all night long and forced three key interceptions to start the game. I'l l have more on those Manning interceptions later in the column, but it was very strange to see Manning struggle that much early in a contest. Defensive Coordinator Mike Nolan did a great job all night long with his gameplan against Manning.

2) Matt Ryan outplayed Manning all night long. I was wrong about the Falcons in my preseason analysis. They look really good, and Ryan was the better QB Monday night. The captialized on all three Manning interceptions and built a solid 20-0 lead in the second quarter. Also, they were able to get a key third quarter score to make it 27-7, and Matt Ryan hit Julio Jones for a first down late in the game to secure the win. The Falcons are legit.

3) Knowshon Moreno's fumble was a killer too. After the three picks, the Broncos were only down 13-0, and they finally started to put a drive together. Moreno's fumble killed that drive and any momentum that they had going. It might be hard for Moreno to get back on the field after that play.

4) This game was just ugly all around. The referees were clueless all night. None of their calls were consistent, they misplaced the ball a few times, they couldn't figure things out procedurally, and they lost control of the game at one point. It was a disgrace, and the fact that it was on national television was a black eye for the NFL. The game took forever. The first half lasted for two hours. John Fox was losing his mind over some of the calls. It really hurt the product on TV, and the game wasn't presented very well at all. Just a bad night for everyone involved.

5) Give the Broncos credit for getting back into this game. Down 20-0, they were able to get a score right before the half when Demaryius Thomas made a beautiful catch from Peyton Manning in the end zone to make it 20-7. Also, down 27-7, the Broncos defense stopped Atlanta twice to give the offense a chance in the fourth quarter, and both times Willis McGahee responded with two short touchdown runs to cut the game to 27-21.

6) Tracy Porter almost picked off a pass deep in Atlanta territory that would have made the score 20-14 in the third quarter. That was a moment that wasn't talked about a lot, but it was a key play.

7) Now, onto the Manning situation. I'm not sure that he just made poor decisions on his first three interceptions. I think it is more than that. I noticed in the first half that is arm looked really weak. His passes very floating and some were taking a long time to get to the receiver. Something just seemed off. I was surprised that no one was talking about it during the game. No one was even talking about it immediately after the game. It wasn't until late Tuesday when I started seeing some analysts talking/writing about it. I noticed right off the bat. I will say that his throws seemed to improve as the game went on, and by the second half he was really throwing the ball with more zip--like he did in the Steeler game.  Here is my theory: I think the interceptions were a result of his arm strength not being anywhere close to normalcy. He still has a long way to go on certain throws, and I think Manning thought he might be able to make those long throws down the seam, but in reality he can't at this point and he was intercepted. He was able to adjust and throw patterns that he can make right now, but it obviously limited plays they wanted to run. Peyton is not Peyton yet. He still has a ways to go with his arm strength, but he can still be effective. He can use his football IQ to help move the team, and he can still make some throws, but he isn't back 100% yet. It was painfully obvious on MNF. Hopefully, every week he will continue to get stronger, but until then we are not sure what to expect from him. The Broncos have a really tough test this week as Houston comes to town, and Manning will face another strong defensive unit. We'll see how he fares this week, but I am really interested in seeing how that arm looks another week into the season.