The Big Picture

I started to watch this game again late last night in the midst of Twitter feeds and emails and Facebook dealings… and to be perfectly honest it wasn’t hitting me any differently than the first time through, watching live from the comforts of bed with a gullet full of coffee and a head full of expectations.

If you read my attempt to share those expectations yesterday morning you may have suffered through the same agonies. You may or may not have shared my hopes and dreams for the Broncos yesterday (though, if you are reading this, chance are you were, at the very least, hoping for the same outcome), but I am betting that the pains of watching that game were just as real as those I felt in watching the same.

We knew Peyton Manning was the irresistible force and we could only hope the Denver Broncos would be the immovable object. We suggested the Colts would struggle to run, that Manning would be tested but would (more or less) prevail, and that the Broncos could influence opportunity and only success in seizing them would put them within earshot of a win.

Turn to the numbers and you would think we might have pulled off that miracle.

- By game’s end, Kyle Orton – completing 29-of-41 pass attempts for 277 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception – possessed a 30-point advantage over Peyton Manning – completing 20-of-42 for 220 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions.

- The Broncos surrendered just one turnover (that Orton interception) while the Colts committed three (all on Manning).

- The Colts managed just 92 total rushing yards on the day.

- Kyle Orton was hit just three times on the day.

Review and absorb those facts my friends… we put that very list forth before the game and suggested such events would lend to Denver Broncos victory.

Unfortunately, we must also offer these.

- The Broncos failed to register a single sack on the day and hit Peyton Manning just three times. Meanwhile, those three sacks on Orton? All three were sacks.

- While Brandon Marshall broke an NFL record with 21 total receptions on the day for an astounding 200 yards of offense with two touchdowns, the rest of the team failed to match his effort, posting a combined 172 yards of offense without a single touchdown on the day.

- Coming fresh off a game in which rushing served as the catalyst for domination and facing one of the more questionable rushing defenses in the NFL, Correll Buckhalter found just four carries for 19 yards before falling to injury while Knowshon Moreno managed just 63 yards on 23 carries (2.7 per). It was a concerted effort to run the football and it helped the Broncos win the time of possession we have coveted for so long… and the Broncos still lost.

- And the reason they lost? By the end of the first quarter the Colts had enjoyed two drives – one of 80 yards and another of 56 yards – on their first two possessions both ending in passing touchdowns and both suggesting the Broncos would be totally in capable of halting Peyton Manning, and the Colts wasted less then two minutes into the 2nd quarter to add a third.

 To be honest there was one component I failed to mention, and I must admit that, with hindsight being so clear, I wonder if it wasn’t a hope that we wouldn’t discuss that led me to overlook him prior to the game. After all, he made sure we took notice during.

If we have weaned one undeniable fact about the Denver Broncos’ new Mike Nolan-certified offense, it is that the opposing tight end is a player to fear. A certified talent at that position can expose mistakes and mismatches within the Denver linebacking corps and can turn targets down field into yards after the catch… and as we feared in the game preview, Manning identified that button before he hit the stage and he sucked it dry.

Dallas Clark ended with a modest five catches for 43 yards (just 8.6 yards per) but the three touchdown receptions put Indy so far in front the Broncos simply couldn’t recover. And much of his work on the day served as means for slow death for the Denver Broncos.

On the Colts’ second possession of the game Manning put the bulk of the work on Joseph Addai but, on 3rd and 9 at Denver’s 10-yard line, he put Clark over the middle, the coverage was late to adjust to his presence, and Manning zipped it through after stepping away from the pressure. Textbook.

The second touchdown was the exception, a simple one-yard timing pattern to the right coming off the fake as Clark slanted toward the corner after getting lost in traffic. The defender made a bad choice in letting Clark go by… however, it was Clark’s 22-yard diving reception – on 4th and 4, covered by none other than Brian Dawkins – that served as the straw that broke the Broncos’ back on that drive. In fact, it may be safe to suggest that was the straw that broke the game.

The third touchdown came on the end around by Manning, another timing pattern that can’t really be defended any better than it was except to get a hand between the receiver and the football (which requires a minor miracle).

In the end, the Broncos did just about everything we asked them to do. They held Manning to limited production (especially in the second half) while Orton enjoyed an enviable performance. They all but stopped the run. They forced turnovers. They stayed committed to running the football. They utilized Brandon Marshall for all he was worth and more. They held the game close and surged to compete late in the game.

It certainly seems fair to say they simply couldn’t stop Peyton Manning.

Consider that he has won each and every game this season, that only one of his last seven has come by a double-digit point margin, that the Denver defense held him to his lowest single-game yardage total on the season with three interceptions to boot…

… and that he can be so damn funny… considering he is able to find the win through all of that and more, we’ll find a way to live with this loss and will sit in awe of the man that rules the league at this moment.

(After all, it was less painful to watch than the losses to Washington and San Diego).

Thanks for stopping in.

Tags: Denver Broncos, Game Review, Indianapolis Colts, Week 14