Broncos Get Key Win over San Diego

The Broncos were able to hold off a San Diego comeback and get a key divisional game victory on Sunday 28-20. The Broncos now stand at 8-1, and they head into their huge AFC West game at home vs. the 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night. Denver's victory over the Chargers will be remembered for the injury that Peyton Manning sustained to his right ankle. It is the same ankle that has bothered him for quite some time. This time the injured was aggravated late in the game as the Broncos were trying to run out the clock and win the game. Outside of the injury, the Broncos played a pretty up and down game. They scored a touchdown three plays into the game, and they scored on three consecutive possessions before the half and right after the half. At 28-6, the Broncos looked like they were on cruise control, but the game swung on a strip sack of Peyton Manning in the 3rd quarter, and the Chargers were able to get back into the game. Thankfully, the Broncos were able to hold on and run out the clock late, and Denver got their eighth win of the year. Here are my thoughts and observations on this week's game...

1) San Diego's first drive was killed by a holding call on Ryan Matthews big run. Holding calls absolutely kill drives, and this was a killer for the Chargers to start the game.

2) Peyton Manning hit Julius Thomas in the flat, and Thomas goes 74 yards down the sideline for a touchdown three plays into Denver's first possession. Manning has killed teams the last two years on those passes in the flat and this one was another example of that.

3) Huge stop by Denver's defense on a 3rd and 2 on the Chargers second drive to hold them to a field goal and a 7-3 lead.

4) The Denver defense made key stops on third down throughout the entire first half.

5) Big throw by Manning to Eric Decker down the sideline for 34 yards in the second quarter. Manning followed up that throw with a perfect throw to Demaryius Thomas for a touchdown on an out route. Manning threw the ball before Thomas was even in his break, and it gave him enough time to have room to run and stretch the ball over the goaline for a 14-6 lead.

6) Here was the big sequence in the game: The Broncos get a big sack by Derek Wolfe on a 3rd down deep in Denver territory. Then, Nick Novak missed a short 37 yard field goal. Denver then comes down and gets a score. Manning hit Demaryius Thomas on a beautiful ball down the sideline, and he followed it up with a perfect pass to Thomas for a touchdown to make it 21-6 right before the half. Thomas ran a great route where he faked doing an out route and cut back inside and the ball was right on the money.

7) Right out of halftime, Denver came right back down and got another touchdown to make it 28-6. Manning hit Demaryius Thomas on one of those classic WR screens that they run every week. Thomas weaved his way 34 yards for a touchdown to give the Broncos what looked like a insurmountable lead at the time.

8) The play that turned this game around was when Manning was strip sacked and fumbled deep in Denver territory. San Diego scored on the ensuing drive and cut the lead to 28-13. I felt that Denver went into a little bit of shell on offense after that, and they got really sloppy with their execution at that point.

9) Shaun Phillips continued to play big for Denver, and he got a big sack of Rivers late in the third quarter to thwart a drive.

10) Denver's defense played well, but they gave up some horrible passes in the fourth quarter. On a 3rd and 13, they let Eddie Royal get behind them and the Chargers converted that possession into a touchdown to cut the lead to 28-20 with 10:42 to go. At this point, I became extremely nervous that Denver was going to blow this one.

11) The Broncos were able to grind out at least two first downs on the next series. Give Knowshon Moreno credit because he continues to run hard and effectively every week. It looked like Decker got held on a key third down incompletion, and Denver was forced to punt and give the ball back to SD with 4:45 to go.

12) Von Miller made the play of the game with a huge, diving sack of Phillip Rivers on a 2nd and 13. Miller played really well in the game, and he was really dominant in the run game. That sack set up a 3rd and 16, and Rahim Moore made a big-time hit to break up a pass and force a punt.

13) Give the Broncos offense credit for going for the win and being proactive to get the first down and win the game with Manning. Manning hit Demaryius Thomas for a first down pass to ice the game with 1:45 to go. On that play, Manning got hit low and re-injured his ankle. It looks like he will play this week against KC, but the ankle looks tender and it will be an issue going forward for Manning and the Broncos.

14) It was the first time all year that Denver didn't get 30 points in a game. They were held to 28, but they still were able to hold on and get a big win on the road against a division rival. Their defense made the stops that they needed to make, and this was a good win overall. Hopefully, Manning can sustain this injury and continue to play well as the Broncos march down the stretch. Next week, the Broncos host the Chiefs in the biggest game of the season in the NFL. 9-0 KC comes to Denver to take on the 8-1 Broncos in the matchup of the year.