Luck and Colts Outshine Manning and Broncos

The Broncos undefeated season came to a crashing halt on Sunday night as the Colts dispatched them with a 39-33 victory in Indy. Peyton Manning's much anticipated return to Indy was a rough one for him. Manning was harassed for much of the game, and the offense sputtered in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Andrew Luck did outplay Manning, but only because Luck didn't turn the ball over, and Manning threw an interception on a tipped pass, and he fumbled the ball out of the endzone for a safety after a sack from Robert Mathis. The Colts took advantage of numerous Broncos mistakes and built a 33-14 lead late in the 3rd quarter. Manning and the Broncos were able to rally and make it close, but too many mistakes and penalties killed their chances at the end, and the Colts were able to hold on. Here are my thoughts and observations about the game.....

1) Nice tribute to Manning by the Colts before the game. It was a nice touch by the Colts and their fans, and it was a very cool moment to watch on TV.

2) Luck outplayed Manning, but it wasn't like Luck had the game of his life. He didn't turn the ball over, and he converted on many of the Broncos mistakes and positive field position situations.

3) The Denver defense actually played well in my opinion. Although it doesn't look like that when you give up 39 points, but for awhile there the Broncos defense did a solid job of shutting down Luck and the Colts offense. Denver's run defense completely shut down the Colts running game, and they got some big stops in the redzone early and late in the game.

4) Von Miller's return to the Broncos didn't start so well. He seemed nonexistent in the 1st quarter, but he really picked up his game in the second half. He didn't get a sack, but he really started to bring some pressure late in the game. That is certainly a good sign going forward.

5) The Broncos weakness on the offensive line was very evident in this game. The loss of Ryan Clady was definitely felt because Chris Clark got destroyed by Robert Mathis all night long. Also, the absence of Orlando Franklin was big because Denver was forced to move starting RG Louis Vasquez to RT, and they had to insert Chris Kuper into the starting RG spot. Kuper had a rough night too. Manning was pressured a lot and he got hit a lot for the second straight game.

6) This game turned on the few sequences in the 2nd quarter. Trindon Holiday fumbled a punt return deep in Denver territory with the Broncos leading 7-3. The Colts scored on the next play to take a 10-7 lead. After Manning hit Julius Thomas for a touchdown, the Broncos were up 14-10 and backed up inside their own 10. Manning got blindsided by Robert Mathis and fumbled the ball out of the endzone for a safety. At 14-12, the Colts took over the rest of the half, and two Andrew Luck TD passes made it 26-14 going into the half. That sequence there coupled with some really poor offensive drives by Denver changed the entire complexion of the game.

7) After Manning got hit by Mathis, it seemed like he wasn't the same player. Many of his passes floated and wobbled. It became a discussion on Twitter, and I thought he might have been shaken up. Manning did seem to throw the ball better in the 4th quarter, but the Mathis hit definitely had an effect on him.

8) This game was a carbon copy of the three regular season losses Denver suffered last year to Atlanta, New England, and Houston. In those three games, Denver got behind a lot of points in the second half only to see Manning and the offense make a furious comeback and fall short at the end. This game was exactly the same way. Once Denver was down 33-14 late in the 3rd quarter, they finally started to put drives together and score some points. Denver's comeback was aided by a huge fumble by Trent Richardson and Denver converted to get the game back 33-23 in the 4th quarter. Denver managed to get the game to 36-30 and they had the ball, but Manning was hit as he was throwing and the ball was intercepted deep in Denver territory. The Broncos defense held the Colts to a field goal to make it 39-30. Denver was driving deep to make it a 39-37 game late, but Ronnie Hillman fumbled again at the Indy 2 and that pretty much finished Denver off in the game.

9) Hillman and Holliday's fumbles were huge, but they weren't the only mistakes the Broncos made. Denver took way too many penalties and some of them were just dumb. Kevin Vickerson took a really bad late hit on Luck late in the 4th quarter with the score 39-30. Overall, it was a very sloppy and undisciplined performance by the Broncos.

10) The Colts did outplay the Broncos and they were the better team that night. This game proved that the Broncos had some real flaws-especially on offense. Give the Colts pass rush and secondary a lot of credit because they did a really nice job on the #1 offense in the NFL. Perhaps the Broncos will use this game as a learning tool and grow from it for the rest of the season.

11) All hope is not lost in Denver. This was their first loss of the season and they still have a 6-1 record. Put it this way: This was Denver's first regular season loss since Columbus Day weekend of 2012. They had won 17 straight regular season and had not lost a regular season game in over a year! This game does expose Denver in certain areas though. There is a good chance that these two teams could meet up once again in January in the playoffs.

12) At 6-1, Denver needs to regroup, lick their wounds, and tighten their game up with the Redskins coming to Denver this Sunday. The return of Mike Shanahan shouldn't be the only motivation for the Broncos this week. They need to put together a really good performance in all three phases, and get a solid victory heading into their bye week.