Photo Courtesy: Jeffery Beall
Dear Football Analysts, Gurus, Experts and Egg heads,
Thank you for writing off Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. In your articles you guys said, “Aaron Rodgers will take the Broncos to the woodshed! You also said, “Manning will pass the torch to the next big thing that is Aaron Rodgers!” Blasphemy! You can`t clearly believe that the Broncos, being under dogs, will lay down and allow the Packers to expose a good team. Wait, you guys went as far to say that the Broncos were lucky and undeserving of at least two of their victories.
But wait theres more! ESPN, CBS Sports and writers from Sports Illustrated said that the Broncos will lose this one in the first half. Now, go back to my pre game report on this one when I said, “The Broncos will be Green Bay if they follow my scheme!” Let`s break the game down by the numbers on the Broncos 29 – 10 win over Green Bay.
Offense
Peyton Manning came out passing the rock. The quick passes to DeMaryius Thomas, which kept the Packer defense unbalanced. He finished the game with 8 receptions for 168 yards. C. J. Anderson showed up and ran the ball like an All-Pro and the tight ends had a ball in the middle of the field (which is always wide open) because the Packers play sideline defense.Manning and the offense compiled 500 total yards to Green Bays 140.The Sheriff finished with 340 yards passing on 21-29 attempts . The O-line didn`t allow a sack or any pressure on him. “I`ve been determined to get comfortable in this offense,” Manning said. “I knew it was not going to be an easy transition. I can`t say a lot of whats happened has been a surprise to me. It was kind of what I expected, there were going to be some rough times, rough patches and rough part of the transition.” The running game was intact with the backs racking up 3 TDs Ronnie Hillman ran for 2 and C. J. Anderson added a 28 yard tough run which made the score 24-10.
Defense
Stopping Rodgers was the key to this win. Aaron Rodgers was 14 of 22 for 77 yards, the lowest total of his career in a game where he wasn’t injured or knocked out the game. Rodgers was sacked three times and knocked around like a rookie in a preseason game. “We had our goals and hit all our goals tonight”, said Von Miller. The defensive secondary covered the Packers wideouts like cheap suits all night long. “It`s a good defense “, Rodgers said, “A really good defense. They have a good pass rush and covers well.” And hit hard! “Compliment Denver. That`s a humbling loss,” Packers Coach Mike McCarthy added that he didn’t have his butt kicked like that in a long time.”
Whos Next?
The Colts are next! Peyton should take this one as a revenge game. Andrew Luck was the choosen child and Peyton was on the outside looking in. Now, its time for Manning to stick it to the organization that let him go.
