Colts beat Broncos 28-16; Denver looks both good and bad

Denver was surprisingly competitive in its 28-16 loss to Indianapolis on Sunday. The Colts looked like they would blow Denver out - jumping to a quick 21-0 lead by the second quarter behind a red hot Peyton Manning; but, Denver's defense stiffened and Manning looked pretty bad the rest of the game until the last Colts' possession where they scored their final touchdown. IN the meantime, Denver's defense got 3 interceptions and began to get a little bit of pressure on Manning, despite never getting a sack. The 2 linebacker/5 DB set worked pretty well for Denver and played to the strenght of our defense, clearly the secondary.

The real problem was the offense. The Broncos left a lot of points on the field. The only effective weapon was Brandon Marshall who caught an NFL record 21 passes. Unfortunately, Denver could not convert on numerous 3rd/4th and short nor could it capitalize on the great field position enjoyed after the three Manning interceptions. Kyle Orton had a back breacking interception at the Colts' 4 yard line that killed a potential scoring drive. And, Matt Prater missed a 42 yard field goal.

The takeaway from this game is that Denver had a great chance to win, and wasn't able to. The Colts are simply a much better team. This was the first time in Peyton Manning's career that he threw three interceptions and won. If Denver should face Indianapolis again in the playoffs, we can't count on another bad game from Manning.

One big question is where was Peyton Hillis? Buckhalter went down early with an ankle injury and McDaniels went almost exclusively with Knowshon Moreno the rest of the game, instead of subbing Hillis in as the second back. Hillis did get one carry, but I was disappointed that he didn't get any other opportunities. McDaniels' refusal to play Hillis is very confusing.

In the end, Denver needed a perfect game and didn't deliver.