A SEASON TO REMEMBER
The Denver Broncos’ 2013 Record-Breaking Season | Presented by The Denver Post
Copyright Š 2014 by The Denver Post All Rights Reserved • ISBN: 978-1-59725-493-9 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner or the publisher. Published by Pediment Publishing, a division of The Pediment Group, Inc. www.pediment.com Printed in Canada 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS Baltimore Ravens...................................................................................................................... 6 New York Giants.......................................................................................................................14 Oakland Raiders....................................................................................................................... 20 Philadelphia Eagles................................................................................................................ 26 Dallas Cowboys.........................................................................................................................32 Jacksonville Jaguars............................................................................................................... 38 Indianapolis Colts...................................................................................................................44 Washington Redskins............................................................................................................52 San Diego Chargers............................................................................................................... 60 Kansas City Chiefs..................................................................................................................66 New England Patriots............................................................................................................72 Kansas City Chiefs.................................................................................................................. 78 Tennessee Titans..................................................................................................................... 84 San Diego Chargers............................................................................................................... 90 Houston Texans.......................................................................................................................96 Oakland Raiders.....................................................................................................................106 AFC Divisional: San Diego Chargers.............................................................................. 114 AFC Championship: New England Patriots.............................................................. 126 Super Bowl XLVIII: Seattle Seahawks.......................................................................... 142 Acknowledgments...............................................................................................................160 3
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BRONCOS 49, RAVENS 27
RAVENOUS Manning fuels season-opening blowout with seven TD passes; Broncos finish with 510 yards, 462 in the air from Manning By Mike Klis The Denver Post Peyton Manning beat Joe Flacco in the Great Poster War. Put a seven touchdown ribbon around Manning’s banner. The Flacco Fling in January might forever live in Broncos infamy, but his poster hung in effigy this week outside Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Before Demaryius Thomas took off with Manning’s seventh touchdown pass that sealed the Broncos’ 49-27, season-opening victory Thursday night and cleansed so much anxiety from their orange-clad faithful, stadium workers were taking down the Flacco posters. Imagine the civil unrest his likeness would
OPPOSITE: The
have incited as the sellout crowd exited the premises. In Manning’s first regular season game since he turned 37 years old, he threw not one, not two or three or four touchdown passes. Manning threw seven touchdown passes. He also passed for 462 yards with no interceptions. May his poster decorate kid bedrooms near and far. Pistol Peyton. SuperManning. “Got to give him credit,’’ Elvis Dumervil, the
Ravens and former Broncos pass rusher, said as he exited the field. “I mean, whoa, that’s tough to beat.’’ “I mean, that’s what he does,’’ Brandon Stokley, the Ravens and former Broncos’ pass receiver, said as he left the field. “He put on a great performance.’’ Manning was the sixth NFL quarterback to throw seven touchdown passes in a game, the first since Joe Kapp in a 1969 game against the
Denver Broncos host the Baltimore
Ravens in the first game of the 2013 season at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver on Sept. 5, 2013. A Aron Ontiveroz RIGHT: Denver
Broncos quarterback Peyton
Manning waits to take the field before kickoff. John Leyba 7
Baltimore Colts. So who in the past 44 years hasn’t passed for seven touchdowns against Baltimore? “Yeah, Joe Kapp, right?’’ Manning said. “The great Canadian quarterback out of Cal. “I don’t know. You never know what’s going
ABOVE: Denver
Broncos tight end Julius Thomas
gets tackled by Baltimore Ravens strong safety James Ihedigbo in the first quarter. T im Rasmussen RIGHT: Defensive
coach Jack Del Rio celebrates
Denver Broncos cornerback Chris Harris’ interception in the second quarter. Tim Rasmussen 8
to happen in a game. I felt like we had to keep scoring. Baltimore is an explosive offense.’’ Manning was indiscriminate in choosing his targets. The Broncos are expected to have one of the NFL’s best receiving trios in Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker and Wes Welker. But Manning threw his first two touchdown passes to tight end Julius Thomas, who entered the game with one career catch in two NFL seasons. The third scoring pass went to No. 4 receiver Andre Caldwell, who had only one catch last season. Once he had the Ravens’ defense loosened up, Manning went to his more expected targets of Welker for two short scoring tosses. His sixth and seventh scoring passes went to Demaryius Thomas. “It’s fun to play quarterback when you have a lot of guys working hard and making a lot of plays for you,’’ Manning said. Did Manning exact revenge against the Ravens
for the city of Denver? Not completely. There was no tomorrow when the Ravens rallied to beat the Broncos, 38-35 in double overtime during a frigid January playoff game in Denver. There are 15 more tomorrows in this 16-game NFL season. But the Broncos are 1-0 and have won 12 regular-season games in a row. “Last year was last year,’’ Manning said. “It’s a good start to a new season for us.’’ Still, the rout helps the city of Denver leave eight long months of disappointment behind. It’s on to a promising new season. “I think it added motivation,’’ said Broncos coach John Fox. “I mean we’ve had to talk about that game forever. I think we were just looking forward to playing again. Unfortunately it wasn’t the next week of last year. We had to wait eight months. A fire in your belly. A pain, a scar. I don’t know. But it is a motivator.’’ Lightning delayed the NFL’s Kickoff opener by 33 minutes. It took the Broncos a little longer to kick in. They trailed 7-0 in the first quarter and 14-7 in the second before Manning and his offense found their rhythm. “I do think the lightning delay did slow us down,’’ Manning said. “You come out of the team prayer and put your hands in and everyone says, “Broncos’ on three, then you go out onto the field. We did it three times tonight.’’ The Ravens started the day giving coach John Harbaugh a contract extension. He is now 0-1 with seven touchdown passes allowed since getting his new deal thanks to the guy in the poster wearing the orange uniform. “You get ahead throwing that many touchdowns,’’ Flacco said in admiration. “I mean, shoot, he’s almost halfway to 20, already.’’ ■
ABOVE: Denver
Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning drops back to pass in the first quarter. T im Rasmussen
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ABOVE: Denver
Broncos quarterback Peyton
Manning is wrapped up by Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs in the third quarter. John Leyba TOP: Denver
Broncos wide receiver Andre Caldwell
leaps into the crowd after a touchdown in the third quarter. AAron Ontiveroz LEFT: Denver
Broncos free safety Rahim Moore puts
a hard hit on Baltimore Ravens tight end Dallas Clark. A Aron Ontiveroz OPPOSITE: Denver
Broncos wide receiver Andre
Caldwell makes a catch for a touchdown to open the third quarter. J ohn Leyba
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SEVENTH HEAVEN FOR MANNING By Mark Kiszla Denver Post columnist Peyton Manning posterized the Baltimore Ravens. In. Your. Face. How do 49 points taste? Like crow? Where’s your Ray Lewis now, Baltimore? “We felt like we had to keep scoring,” Manning said Thursday, after Denver’s 49-27 victory. The NFL record of 50 touchdown passes in a season, set in 2007 by New England quarterback Tom Brady? That’s toast. Doomed to become a footnote. So long as Manning’s 37-year-old body stays in one piece, he’s going to make the NFL record book his own private Wikipedia page. Updated 24/7. Manning recorded five touchdown passes against the Ravens ... before the third quarter was history. He finished with seven, the most touchdown passes thrown in an NFL game since 1969. “It’s a huge achievement. But he was so nonchalant about doing seven touchdown passes that you didn’t even really notice it,” Broncos receiver Wes Welker said. The Broncos had no Champ Bailey, who wisely did not play to give his nagging foot injury more time to heal. The Broncos had no running game. It’s, ahem, a work in progress. By taking a knee to kill the final seven seconds of the second quarter, Manning was Denver’s third-leading rusher in the opening half. 12
The Broncos had no Von Miller, serving out a six-game suspension. Or, as Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe asked me in the hours before the NFL season-opener: Is Miller more interested in playing football or partying? But the Broncos had Manning on their side. And Manning alone is usually worth at least 10 victories in an NFL season. Pro offenses are moving fast, faster, fastest. Here’s a newsflash for you: The read-option is not what’s really happening now in the NFL. The real hot trend is pushing the tempo to a speed that breaks the metronome. “We’re going to push the tempo as much as we can handle,” said Broncos tight end Julius Thomas, who caught five passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns. Remember when 300 yards was the mark of a big passing day? Well, sit back and enjoy the show. You ain’t seen nothing yet: 400 is going to be the new 300. Manning threw for 462 yards against Baltimore. And count on this: In more than one game this season, the stat sheet will show the biggest discrepancy between passing and rushing yards in more than five decades of Broncos football. Rather than a desperate sign of a team playing from behind, it will be an indication of how far Denver is willing to push the envelope of offensive innovation. New Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase is the most innovative man in his job since Mike Shanahan was a young coach at Dove Valley. Gase not only believes in stomping the pedal to the metal, but also seems to favor a foot to the
neck of an opponent gasping for air. “He was very aggressive,” Manning said. No joke. With the Broncos ahead by 18 points early in the fourth quarter, there was no milking the clock. There was Manning stretching the defense with throws down the field. Forget the whiff in prevent defense by safety
Rahim Moore during Denver’s painful playoff loss to the Ravens. Maybe the sight that’s harder to shake was Manning taking a knee after the score had been tied late in the fourth quarter. There will be no more taking a knee, unless it is time for the victory formation. Who’s afraid now of that big, bad banner of Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco that adorned Sports Authority Field at Mile High? Just wondering: Do you think Elvis Dumervil wishes he had stayed with the Broncos? No need to answer right away, Doom. Send us a fax when you get a chance. ■
LEFT: Denver
Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning
greets wide receiver Demaryius Thomas after Thomas caught a touchdown pass during the fourth quarter. J oe Amon OPPOSITE: Denver
Broncos wide receiver Demaryius
Thomas catches a touchdown pass in the third quarter. J ohn Leyba
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BRONCOS 41, GIANTS 23
EYES ON PRIZE Peyton Manning, Broncos blow out N.Y. Giants as Denver QB stellar again By Mike Klis The Denver Post Eli Manning has come along nicely. No one can deny he has been clutch a couple of times. But nobody seriously believes he’s a better quarterback than his brother Peyton Manning, right? “I’d take Peyton over anybody, not just Eli. That’s any quarterback ever,” said Broncos defensive tackle Terrance Knighton. For the third time in three games against each other, big brother Peyton showed little brother Eli how quarterback is played. Peyton Manning threw for two touchdowns and was again exquisite in the second half while leading the Broncos to a decisive, 41-23 victory Sunday against Eli’s New York Giants before 81,285 at MetLife Stadium.
OPPOSITE: Quarterback
“It’s a strange feeling,” Peyton Manning said. “It’s not like beating another team. It’s not quite as enjoyable as it would be beating somebody else.” This game was dubbed Manning Bowl III, and the results have been Peyton, Peyton, Peyton. Eli was swept in the three-game series. Stamp that 0-3 with four interceptions. “I think both of us are glad that it’s over with,” Peyton said. “I don’t think I’ll make it to the next
regular-season one.” Say it ain’t so, Peyton. The next time the Broncos and Giants would meet in the regular season would be 2017. Peyton Manning’s contract with the Broncos expires after the 2016 season. As he plays here today in 2013, Manning at 37 is better than Eli at 32. “Eli is a great football player. He’s done very well in this league. He’s got two Super Bowls,” said Broncos tight end Julius Thomas. “But we
Peyton Manning looks to
throw downfield against the New York Giants, Sept. 15, 2013, at MetLife Stadium. J ohn Leyba RIGHT: Running
back Montee Ball of the Denver
Broncos picks up a big gain after catching a pass and gets tripped up by outside linebacker Jacquian Williams of the New York Giants during the first quarter. John Leyba 15
are very excited about the Manning we have.” Peyton and the Broncos might play here again in the final game of the NFL season. But just as Peyton watched Eli play in the Super Bowl two
ABOVE: Denver
Broncos strong safety Duke
Ihenacho puts a big hit on New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs to jar the ball loose for an incomplete pass during the first quarter. J ohn Leyba RIGHT: Running
back Knowshon Moreno of the
Denver Broncos bullies his way into the end zone to make the score 6-3 in the second quarter. Joe Amon 16
years ago in Indianapolis, Eli might need a ticket to watch this year’s Super Bowl in his home stadium. Eli Manning was decent at times Sunday. But he also threw some costly interceptions. One erased three points the Giants should have had late in the first half. Another set up a short TD drive for big brother. His third and fourth turnovers were befuddling chucks into the end zone.
“Eli was good, too,” said Broncos cornerback Chris Harris. Peyton Manning was considered one of the all-time greats even before his remarkable comeback season with the Broncos last year. Early in his romp against the Giants, Peyton Manning joined Brett Favre and Dan Marino in the 60,000-yard passing club. Not including his rookie-year mulligan, Peyton has averaged a 12-4 record in his past 13 playing
ABOVE: Denver
Broncos linebacker Danny Trevathan grabs ahold of New York Giants tight end Brandon Myers by the jersey to slow him down after a short gain during
the second quarter. John Leyba 17
seasons. And he threw seven touchdowns in a game just last week for the Broncos. He has been great. He’s still great. “Peyton, I think, has in a way set the bar for quarterbacks over the years,” Eli said in a conference call with Denver reporters this week. “If you say I’m better or say I’m worse, I’m not going to be upset either way or claim one over the other.” The chutzpah of this Eli! Would he have left the discussion open for debate five, six years ago, before he won two Super Bowls? “Jim Plunkett won two Super Bowls,” said CBS analyst Shannon Sharpe. “If you’re an elite quarterback, you can’t be missing the playoffs.” Eli’s Giants have missed the playoffs three of the past four years. And they’re 0-2 to start this season. Peyton Manning has brought his team to the playoffs 10 straight years, 12 of the past 13. And his Broncos are 2-0 this year, winner of 13 consecutive regular-season games dating back to last season, seven in a row on the road. In Manning Bowls I and II, Peyton decisively outplayed his brother while leading his Colts to victory. In Manning Bowl III, Peyton threw for 307 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions for a 107.9 passer rating. Eli Manning threw for 362 yards but his four picks left him with a 53.3 rating. Was his losing performance more disappointing with big brother on the other side? “I don’t think so,” Eli said. “This is something that we’re both passionate about. What we’re doing is our job. It’s my concern to this team and getting to winning right now.” Two games into the season, and already
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Peyton Manning has nine touchdown passes and no interceptions. “I have a lot of respect for Eli, I know how hard he works,” said Eric Decker, who bounced back from a two-drop opener to have a teambest nine catches for 97 yards against the Giants. “But I’m not going to complain about playing with Peyton.” ■
ABOVE: Denver
Broncos quarterback Peyton
Manning throws a pass against the New York Giants during the second quarter. J ohn Leyba OPPOSITE: Tight
end Julius Thomas of the Denver
Broncos dives into the end zone to make the score 30-16 in the fourth quarter. J oe Amon
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