Manning pays back the Ravens with 7 TD's

Revenge was sweet for Manning in season opener.

The Broncos Fans waited 33 minutes for the game to start due to some severe weather. Then they waited another 30 minutes for Manning and company to get into a groove in the 1^st half.

But come the 3^rd Quarter Manning finally unloaded a spectacular barrage of payback on the Ravens scoring 3 TD’s. 7 TD’s total (Tied an NFL Record) against the Super Bowl Champs is no small accomplishment. No, the Ravens are not the same team defensively they were a year ago still… Offensively the Ravens have Ray Rice, Torrey Smith, Dallas Clark and the $120 million dollar QB Joe Flacco as weapons.

The first 3 Broncos offensive series of the game produced nothing and if not for that slow start in the first half Manning could have thrown 10 TD’s. In the second half he was like Darth Vader ripping and shredding the Ravens secondary apart like a man possessed wanting some payback for last year's playoff loss.

His accuracy, his arm strength, his perfect timing, his spot on throws and his wizard like mastery of the hurry up offense was an absolute marvel to behold. It was one of those backside spankings that went well beyond a run of the mill rout. He completely embarrassed them. It was the kind of game that Manning surely said to himself afterwards, “How can I possibly play any better than I did today?” 

Broncos Fans expect great players like Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker to be on the receiving end of Manning TD’s (2 each) but it’s doubtful they could have imagined the explosive debut of TE Julius Thomas. He caught 2 as well and helped keep the Broncos close in the first half. After watching him in the preseason he impressed me more than any player and if he can clear himself of the legal trouble he’s in and mentally mature he has the potential to be as great a young TE playing for any team in the NFL.

The Broncos running game never really got on track but it didn’t matter because what they lacked in running prowess they made up for in an unstoppable aerial shootout that Manning made look like child’s play. 65 yards rushing isn’t going to be good enough on any other Sunday however and obviously must improve.

The Broncos D shut down Ray Rice and forced Flacco to throw. Most of the time the Broncos went with 4 man lines to pass rush.  They blitzed more in the second half and pressured Flacco. Shaun Phillips had 2 ½ sacks and new Safety Duke Ihenacho led the team with 11 tackles. That’s never a good stat. If your Safety is leading the team in tackles it’s generally because the front 7 were letting running and passing plays break through the first level. Granted some of Ihenacho’s tackles come up at the line of scrimmage but that won’t do against better offensive teams. Ihenacho was all over the field and when he hit someone he’d bring the wood with him.

It was good to see Chris Harris (He had 1 INT) fill in nicely for the injured Champ Bailey. Even better still the Broncos winning a game without the services of Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil is a real confidence builder. The Broncos secondary still needs improvement and is still a big question mark because they played in a rout but in game 1 they did a serviceable job.

The Broncos didn’t play a perfect game. The Welker drop that was clearly a fumble wasn’t called and the Danny Trevathan fumble at the goal line in any other game might of made a big difference but not in this one.  

Manning was not going to be stopped in this game. The mistakes didn’t matter because I’m convinced it was just one of those days where he was in control of the game and would have run up more scores to cover them.

I give Manning all the credit he deserves for having such a great start. I just hope that he can produce games like this in the playoffs and in a Super Bowl for the Broncos because his record isn’t as good in those games. Manning the regular season QB and Manning the playoff QB are 2 different guys.

The running game and the Broncos D must keep improving week to week because they’ll need them come playoff time and I don’t see them going far if they depend on a passing game offense only to win. Great win Manning, no one will deny that your game is there, it’s all there you were incredible.