Broncos Trump Bills 24-17 in Bizzaro Game

What a weird game. It was like the Broncos slept through the final quarter of a 24-17 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Mile High. It was like they built a 24-3, and they just wanted to go home and get out of there, but there was one problem: The game wasn’t over yet. They let a late Bills touchdown give Buffalo hope and an onside kick. Naturally, Denver recovered to secure the win in what was definitely a strange, weird game. Peyton Manning only threw 20 passes on a day that featured 60 degree weather. The Broncos only ran 49 plays. It was such a weird game, that I thought I was sleeping and was dreaming about this game. Anyway, the Broncos won and improved to 10-3, and now have a chance to clinch the AFC West on Sunday with a win at San Diego. Here are my thoughts and observations about the bizzaro win from Sunday…

1)    Although Denver didn’t have the ball a lot and ran the ball consistently again, I don’t think Peyton Manning was very sharp at all. He finished the game with high school numbers (14-20 for 173 yards) and had no touchdown passes for the first time in 51 games. He also threw two awful interceptions. The first one on a deep post to Emmanuel Sanders was a duck and badly underthrown and the second one had no chance because Demaryius Thomas was not even open on the fade down the sideline. Maybe the running game takes Manning out of his rhyhmn, but it wasn’t the best day for #18.

2)    It was nice to see Wes Welker have a pretty good impact in the passing game. He finished with 6 catches for 82 yards, and he made a sweet catch on a seam to set up the Broncos first score. Also, the made a really nice catch down the sideline to set up the Broncos second score. Good to see Welker get involved more.

3)    All you need to know about how weird this game was is the fact that Demaryius Thomas was held to 2 catches for 11 yards and Sanders had 4 for 56. It was like the Broncos were moving the ball, but never really had the ball. Just a strange game.

4)    All week I liked the matchup with the Broncos defense against Kyle Orton and they did their job. They forced a fumble on Sammy Watkins on the first series of the game. They stopped the Bills on a key 4^th and 6 later in the first quarter. They harassed Orton all day, forced him to dump it off, and basically shut down the running game. Brandon Marshall had a nice interception in the third quarter, and Chris Harris made a brilliant pick of Orton with the Bills driving late in the third quarter with the Broncos up 21-3. I thought Denver did a brilliant job of completely smothering the Bills screen game time after time.

5)    Juwan Thompson came off the bench and did a really nice job to go along with C.J. Anderson. Thompson finished with 4 carries for 63 yards and showed some burst at times. Anderson finished with 21 carries for 58 bruising yards. The yards were hard to come by against the Bills but the Broncos stayed with the run game throughout.

6)    All three touchdowns were the same basic play. Spread out the defense inside the five and let Anderson slip through the middle for a touchdown. All three were executed well.

7)    The fumble by Jacob Tamme really bothered me right before the half. Denver was up 14-3 and driving deep in Buffalo territory, and Tamme caught a pass for a first down over the middle, cradled the ball because he knew he was going to take a shot, and still fumbled it. The three Broncos turnovers were about as bad as it gets. Sloppy play by their offense at home which is a surprise.

8)    I still don’t understand why the Broncos can’t close out these games. They always let teams get back into the game and score in the garbage time to make the game closer. They had the Bills backed up inside their own 10 on a 4^th and 16 late in the game, and Orton was able to convert it and keep the drive alive. He scored later in the drive, and the Broncos were forced to recover the onside kick to preserve the win. They do this all the time under Jack Del Rio. Why can’t they ever just shut the door when they have a big lead? It doesn’t make sense. That won’t work against someone like Andrew Luck in the playoffs.

9)    Want more stats about how this was a weird game? Kyle Orton passed for 355 yards as opposed to Manning who passed for 173. The Bills were 9-16 on third down conversions. The Bills ran 77 total plays to Denver’s 49. Like I said earlier, it was just a really strange game from start to finish. And I don’t want to hear that the Broncos really struggled and this game was close etc.. This game was 24-3 in the 4^th quarter. Denver fumbled inside the Bills 10 before the half up 14-3. Peyton Manning threw two awful interceptions. Somehow Orton completed a 4^th and 16 pass from his own endzone with just over 3 minutes to go in the game. If the Broncos stop the Bills there, then they either bang in another touchdown to make it 31-10 or a field goal to make it 27-10. The bottom line is the Broncos didn’t play their best game, it was a weird game, and they were cruising by 21 in the 4^th quarter looking to get the hell out of there with the win.

10) With a Chargers loss to the Pats and a KC loss to Arizona, Denver can now clinch the AFC West title with a win over the Chargers in San Diego next Sunday. At 10-3, the Broncos still have a lot of work to do. The Chargers will be a challenge next week, and the Bengals on Monday night will be a huge game for seeding and playoff positioning. Right now, the Broncos have to focus on taking down the Chargers on Sunday and winning their fourth consecutive AFC West title.