The Broncos lost their first game of the season in Indianapolis on Sunday 27-24. It was easily the most sloppy, disjointed, and frustrating game of the season for Denver. They fell behind early 17-0, but they rallied to tie it twice in second half. Once at 17-17 and then the second time at 24-24 in the fourth quarter. The comebacks came up short as the Colts won the game on the heels of an Adam Vinatieri 55 yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter and a Darius Butler pick of a Peyton Manning pass on the next series helped the Cotls put the game away. A slew of ugly plays and bonehead penalties from the Broncos defense helped the Colts run out the clock. Give the Broncos credit for fighting back from a 17 point deficit, but their overall play on offense and defense was not up to standards and cost them the game. Here are my thoughts and observations on the game....
1) The Broncos defense played its worst game of the year-especially early. Chris Harris wanted to cover T.Y. Hilton and he got beat by Hilton consistently. Frank Gore found some running room early as the Colts controlled the tempo of the game. It wasn't the type of game that we were expecting from the Denver defense. After four drives in the first half, the Broncos were down 17-0. The Colts kept them off balance throughout the half.
2) The Broncos offense started off very slow, and it was aided by drops from Owen Daniels, Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders. Throw in a bad pick by Manning on the third series, and the Broncos offense played a F game in the first half. The running game was a complete non-factor once again, and the Broncos pretty much abandoned it from the very first series of the game.
3) How many times this year is Sanders going to drop a deep ball from Manning? It happens like 2-3 times a game.
4) Give Andrew Luck credit because he took a beating and he was game enough to hang in there and make the key throws he needed. He killed Denver on third down and sometimes those third downs were a result of him scrambling. He ended up getting hurt on a big hit in this game and it will put him out for a few weeks, but he was sensational in this game-especially with a lot of defenders in his face.
5) Why the hell would Chuck Pagano punt the ball to Omar Bolden with 15 seconds left in the half? Why not kick it out of bounds? Denver was dead in the water at that point. Bolden returns the punt-untouched by the way- 83 yards with no time left in the half and it cuts the Colts lead to 17-7. You have to wonder if Pagano is the right guy to be the head coach of this team. Remember the fake punt debacle against the Patriots a few weeks ago? This was as bad of a decision as you can make as a head coach. It turned the game around.
6) Peyton Manning made a great play by stepping up in the pocket and hitting a sweet deep post to Sanders for a 64 yard touchdown on a 3rd and 14 on the Broncos opening drive of the second half. It cut the lead to 17-14, and really gave Denver momentum. Why can't we see more of that this year from Manning and this offense?
7) After Denver forced a fourth straight punt by the Colts, the Broncos offense put together a really solid drive. It was highlighted by a great play-action, bootleg from Manning. Peyton faked the handoff and booted to his left, completely fooled the defense, and then he threw back across his body to Owen Daniels who was running a deep post across the field. Daniels caught it and was pushed out at the Indy 18. Great play call by Kubiak and great execution by Manning. We need more of that with this offense!
8) After the drive stalled, the Broncos settled for a field goal and a tie at 17. The defense needed to come up with a stop and they couldn't get off the field on third down. Luck hit Hilton and Coby Fleener for big pickups, and even Griff "Freaking" Whalen had a big 3rd and 7 catch and run to the Broncos 10 to set up a Luck to Ahmad Bradshaw touchdown hookup to make it 24-17 Colts.. The Broncos defense has been great this year, but if you want to be compared to the '85 Bears or the 2000 Ravens, then you have to get a stop after your offense ties the game up at 17. You can't let the Colts go right back down the field and score a touchdown.
9) Give Manning credit for making some really sweet throws on the ensuing drive. One to Daniels and another to Virgil Green. A key screen to Demariyius Thomas on a 3rd and 14 set up a 1 yard touchdown pass from Manning to Daniels to tie it up at 24 with 8:54 left in the game. It was easily Daniels best game as a Bronco. Great response by the Broncos offense.
10) The Broncos defense again didn't shut the door completely, but it did enough to make Adam Vinatieri hit a 55 yard field goal to take the lead for the Colts at 27-24 with just over 6 minutes to go in the game.
11) Manning got picked off on the next play for the Broncos with 5:57 left in the game. He got hit as he threw, Darius Butler beat DT to the spot, and there was some question if Thomas got hit early before the ball arrived, but in any event Butler's pick of Manning essentially iced the game. The stuff that happened after this play was the just the most frustrating and inexcusable part of the entire season so far.
12) The Colts converted a 3rd and 1, a holding call in the secondary gave the Colts another first down, a 3rd and 10 to a wide open Whalen again, and then a ridiculous penalty on Aqib Talib to give the Colts another first down. With the Colts facing a third down play at the 2 minute warning, Talib was jawing back and forth with Indy TE Dwayne Allen and then he proceeded to poke Allen in the eye. That is correct: Aqib Talib pulled a Rowdy Roddy Piper and poked Allen in the eye and it gave the Colts an automatic first down. Instead of making the Colts run a third down play with 2 minutes left, the Colts got a first down, and Talib gets the award for the worst play of the year so far. What a disgraceful job by Talib.
13) To make matters worse, the Colts settled for a field goal with 28 seconds left and Vinatieri made it, but Danny Trevathan was called for defensive holding on the play and it gave the Colts a chance to simply take a knee and run out the clock.
14) It was not a good day for both sides of the ball but the Broncos defense had their worst performance of the season. Too many missed assignments, wide open receivers, lack of pressure, penalties and just bone-headed mistakes took this Broncos defense down a notch. Let's just hope that this game was an aberration and hopefully they will make up for it next week against the Chiefs.
15) The offense started off too slow to start the game. They punted on all of their first half possessions. I thought Manning played well, and outside of the two interceptions he made some really great throws. He was victimized by drops once again, and those drops are really becoming an issue for this team. Manning finished just three yards shy of Brett Favre's all-time record, and he can break that record next week at home as well.
16) You knew Denver wasn't going to go 16-0, but this loss bothers me because I really don't think the Colts are remotely better than Denver. It just seemed like the Broncos were off a bit, and it cost them the game. At 7-1, their season certainly is not over, but you would like to seem them put in a very solid performance at home this Sunday against the 3-5 Chiefs. Hopefully, they will get back on track and put this ugly loss to Indy behind them.
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