The Broncos finished off their 2013 season in style with an easy, blowout victory over the Raiders 34-14 to secure a 13-3 season and securing the #1 seed in the AFC for the second year in a row. Peyton Manning broke the NFL record for yards passing in a season and also added four touchdown passes to give him a ridiculous 55 for the season. The Broncos cruised to a 31-0 lead on the heels of Manning's four TD passes, and he even sat the entire second half of the game. Denver's defense was able to completely shut down an ineffective Terrelle Pryor, and really this game was over from the first drive. It actually worked out well because the Broncos were so far ahead that they were allowed to rest Manning for the second half and get some other important players out of the game without exposing them to any type of injury. For the Broncos, the regular season is now complete and the Broncos find themselves in the same exact spot they were in last year: 13-3 record, #1 seed in the AFC, homefield advantage throughout the playoffs, and a bye into the Divisional round. What happens next remains to be seen, and as we saw last year anything can happen once the NFL playoffs get going. I'll have a complete recap of the historic Broncos season and their chances going forward in the playoffs later on in the week. I'll take a look back at this week's game with my thoughts and observations first....
1) Hats off to Peyton Manning. He finished his amazing 2013 season with a performance like this in only one half of work: 25-28 for 266 yards and 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. He started with a short 3 yard touchdown pass to Eric Decker for a 7-0 lead. He got his second on the next series with a nice dumpoff to Knowshon Moreno for a 7 yard touchdown to make it 14-0. The beauty of the day was his next one which was a 63 yard bomb to Demaryius Thomas which he caught in stride to make it 24-0. He finished his day with a sweet 5 yard bullet to Thomas to make it 31-0 right before the half. It was about as good as you get for a performance for one half.
2) Decker and Thomas are quite a duo at the receiver position. Thomas caught 6 catches for 113 yards and 2 touchdowns. Decker added only 4 receptions for 27 yards and one touchdown. I think the Denver brass needs to lock up Decker after this year and Thomas after next season and keep this tandem together in Denver for a long time.
3) Knowshon Moreno concluded one of the most under the radar seasons for a running back in recent memory. He added a touchdown reception to go with 5 catches and 41 yards. He finished with 11 touches for 64 total yards. Amazing job by Moreno all year long.
4) Nice job by the Broncos defense this week, but let's be real for a moment: That was not a NFL offense that the Broncos played against this week. The Raiders were basically running a high school spread offense with Pryor, and the Broncos were prepared for everything. They harassed Pryor all day, and he was awful even when he had time. You really can't tell how this group will respond without Von Miller in the playoffs, but at least Champ Bailey got some meaningful snaps again, and if he is in the lineup it will certainly help them out in the postseason.
5) The Broncos needed to take control of this game early and not let the Raiders hang around. They were able to do that from the start. They scored on all five of their first half possessions with four touchdowns and one field goal. Their defense got an early turnover and it was over by the half. It was just a complete domination by the Broncos, and it was exactly what they needed. They took care of business and they were able to rest some starters in the second half while they locked up the AFC's top seed.
6) I will spend time later in the week on the significance of this Broncos season but just chew on some of these stats:
-606 points scored (NFL record)
-Average PPG: 37.8
-13 games with at least 30 points scored
-6 games with at least 40 points scored
-3 games with at least 50 points scored
-Peyton Manning: 5,477 yards passing (NFL record)
-Manning: 55 touchdown passes
-Knowshon Moreno: 1,038 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns rushing and 60 receptions for 548 yards and 3 touchdowns.
-Demaryius Thomas: 92 receptions for 1,430 yards and 14 touchdowns
-Eric Decker: 87 receptions for 1,288 yards and 11 touchdowns
-Wes Welker: 73 receptions for 778 yards and 10 touchdowns
-Julius Thomas: 65 receptions for 788 yards and 12 touchdowns
Just an incredible season offensively for the Broncos and their record setting offensive unit. If the Broncos win the Super Bowl this year, then I think this Broncos offense is going to have to average about 34 points a game and Manning is going to have to put his team on his back and ride them to the promised land.
7) I talk about this more later in the week, but it is very hard to go 13-3 in back-to-back seasons and they are the #1 seed once again for the second consecutive year. It is hard to make it to the playoffs back-to-back seasons in the NFL, let alone back-to-back #1 seeds. The Broncos faced a lot of adversity on and off the field this year, so to end up in the same exact spot one year after that awful defeat to the Ravens in the playoffs last year is pretty amazing. It was never really about the regular season for these Broncos, and we'll see what happens in the playoffs, but it was so much fun to watch Manning and this team week after week. It was like watching an artist complete his greatest piece of work every single week. I just hope the fun continues for three more games.
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