Peyton Manning steps it up while in the pistol for Broncos By Woody Paige Denver Post September 27, 2015 The omnipotent Orange defense and the Pistol Peyton offense coalesced to keep the wacky, weird, wild ride alive. The Broncos went all metaphysical for the third straight game while jolting the Detroit Lions on Sunday night, two dozen to one dozen. Another opposing coach shook his head in disbelief. The Broncos "made some big plays," Lions coach Jim Caldwell said, "and we didn't make enough." HUGE plays: David Bruton, Mr. Special Teams, pulled off the second interception of his seven-season career — zipping in front of Calvin Johnson and tipping the pass. Another reserve, Shaquil "Shaq Attack" Barrett, did a strip sack on Matthew Stafford, and the Broncos got the fumble. Bradley "Big Play" Roby intercepted a pass. Aqib Talib didn't have his third interception, but he blocked a critical extra-point kick. And there was Ol' No. 18. Mark Twain would say that reports of Peyton Manning's demise are greatly exaggerated. Peyton completed 31-of-42 passes for a normal 324 yards and two magnificent touchdowns — without a running game again. The Broncos' quarterback morphed into Pistol Peyton Manning. Against the Lions, Gary Kubiak stepped back from his under-center mind-set, and Manning stepped up out of his comfortable shotgun formation. It was a snap judgment. The coach-quarterback compromise was the pistol offense. Manning lined up 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage instead of his usual 7. Only once the entire evening did Manning line up under center. That was to take a knee on the final play. The change had mixed results. It didn't produce an outpouring of points, and the running game still was stifled. But, in another game as tight as those Velcro-like football gloves, Manning looked mostly effective in the pass-happy offense.

Manning, not wearing a glove, finished off the night and the Lions with a blimp (on purpose) to Emmanuel Sanders, then a true touchdown pass to Owen Daniels. Manning hit Demaryius Thomas on a 45-yarder beauty to end the first half. This was not the Broncos' offense of 2013, but it wasn't the offense of early 2015, either. When the Lions cut the lead to 14-12 in the fourth quarter, it was here-we-go-again time. There are no laughers around here, but there's no crying in Denver football. The Lions' early conversion kick was blocked. The second, a two-point run, was squashed. "Run" was a four-letter word: "joke." The Broncos outrushed the Lions — ha! — 18 yards to 12 in the first half, and it was just as ugly in the second half. The longest run of the night for the Broncos was 9 yards — by a tight end. Ronnie Hillman got a touchdown with a 1-yard burst through right tackle. Then, Joique Bell replied with a 1-yard TD in a jump over the line. Neither offensive line distinguished itself creating holes. No matter what the Broncos preach and practice, the run is extinct. Kubiak understood in the third. Live by the pass, thrive by the pass. The half was pass, pass, pass — 41 in all. Manning and Thomas connected on a the touchdown pass just five seconds before halftime. From the pistol. Pistol Pete Maravich was a prolific scorer at LSU in the 1960s, but he wasn't responsible for the pistol. Chris Ault popularized the formation, which had been floating around for years, in 2005 when he was the coach at the University of Nevada. The concept was supposed to let the quarterback read defenses and have more time to throw, but also allowed the offense to run more efficiently than in the shotgun. Kubiak used the pistol sporadically when he was coaching the Houston Texans, and ex-Broncos coordinator Adam Gase had the pistol in his offense for Manning "just to give us another look sometimes," he said last year. But the Broncos have been either/or this season — either under center or shotgun. After opening the first play Thursday night in the shotgun, Manning moved up on the next play. He stayed there. And in crunch time once more, with gusto, the Broncos' defense, and the offense were magical.

Kickin' it with Kiz: C.J. Anderson alone on anti-fantasy island By Mark Kiszla Denver Post September 27, 2015 Living the dream. Broncos running back C.J. Anderson needs to shut his mouth about fantasy football and play. Pretty soon, Ronnie Hillman is going to steal his job in fantasy and real life. Jason, loves orange and blue Kiz: After taking grief for his poor early-season statistics, Anderson told me fans should spend more time enjoying NFL games on television rather than obsessing on their cellphones about fantasy points. I love C.J.'s old-school attitude. But ... although Anderson is only 24 years old, I'm afraid the game has already passed him by in terms of how 21st-century consumers have turned traditional spectator sports into hyperactive multitasking. Teams collide. I had my fantasy league quarterback (Cam Newton) going against my favorite NFL team (Houston) last weekend. It was a conflicted day. Rooted for my fantasy team more than I thought I would. Dargan, got 2 TDs from Cam Kiz: At some point, does the NFL have to start worrying that the fantasy is better than its reality? If fan allegiance is greater for a fantasy team than the hometown team, why buy tickets to the stadium? Up to bat. If Walt Weiss has to plead his case to keep his job as manager of the Rockies, he might want to use crayons. The management and ownership of this franchise know less about baseball than my 8-year-old son, who also has more control and a better change-up than Kyle Kendrick. Shawn, Parker Kiz: I can barely boil water for tea, let alone read the leaves. But my guess is Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich will be very tempted to fire Weiss. And if firing Weiss is half as good as Bridich's awful decision to sign Kendrick, then heaven only knows what knucklehead will be the next Colorado manager. Assuming the Rockies will be a joke again in 2016, I'd give the job to Jason Giambi, just for the zany fun of it. Old kicks, new licks. And today's parting shot blames Kickin' It Headquarters, where Peyton Manning's over-the-hill tendencies were first diagnosed nearly nine months ago, for the current rush by national media members to pile on our creaky, old quarterback. "Have you played professional football, Kiz? Have you been at the game as long as Manning? You might consider Peyton has more class in his fingernails than you do in your entire body! It's normal for a kindergartner to have a temper tantrum, but you need to grow up! Manning is dealing with a new coach and a new system. Give him a break. Could you do any better?"

Peyton Manning, Broncos beat Lions, improve to 3-0 By Troy Renck Denver Post September 27, 2015 The calendar insists the Broncos won on a 70-degree, air-conditioned fall Sunday evening. Nonsense. Their 24-12 victory took shape on the practice field in early August. Remember when the rowdy crowds sat on the inclined berm at Dove Valley, disappointed with their bad timing as veterans received a reprieve? Coach Gary Kubiak insisted on a three days on, one day off from practice for several experienced players, among them Peyton Manning, DeMarcus Ware and T.J. Ward. The rest raised eyebrows but proved eye-opening in a game more suited for Kronk Gym than Ford Field. The penalty-littered, bare-knuckle brawl required help from all comers and all corners. The Broncos failed to answer questions about their offense in general and their running game in particular. They continued to play their best when it mattered most — the Broncos secured the victory with Manning's 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Owen Daniels — and show how much depth matters. With the outcome teetering in the balance, the Broncos received big plays from reserves: safety David Bruton, outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett and receiver Bennie Fowler. Bruton's play provided an indelible image for a 3-0 team built on a gnarly defense. The Lions trailed 17-12 and were driving late in the fourth quarter after a long completion to tight end Eric Ebron. The defense, as it has done all season, saw an opportunity, not pressure. Quarterback Matthew Stafford peeked for Calvin Johnson and Bruton recognized the play, dropped in coverage, tipped the ball and made a one-handed interception. The Broncos responded with their final scoring drive, featuring a 34-yard diving grab by Emmanuel Sanders, to send 62,920 fans moaning to the exits. As for Barrett and Fowler, practice squads are an odd residence. On the team, but not on the team. They are not eligible to play, which leaves many former college stars' ambition stretching only as far as their next paycheck. Barrett and Fowler took a different approach, using the offseason to change their status. Both made the club with spectacular camps. Barrett, who led the Broncos in preseason sacks, delivered with a strip sack in the fourth quarter. He has provided important rest for DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller, leaving them fresh deep into the game. Fowler caught two passes in the Broncos' first-half scoring drive and appeared again in the fourth, finishing with four receptions for 50 yards. He's a Detroit kid, making his squelching of Lions even more meaningful. The Lions entered with motivation not to win but to save their season. Since 1990, three teams have reached the playoffs after starting the season 0-3. The Buffalo Bills were the last of the 124 candidates to pull if off in 1998. Detroit's desperation remained palpable but not terribly productive. No daily fantasy league promo code was needed to know that the Broncos would adjust the offense in Detroit. The ambition to use Manning under center had stretched to where elasticity no longer existed. Aside from goal-line plays, the Broncos relied exclusively on pistol and shotgun formations. Success was moderate, though unbalanced. Of the Broncos' first 60 plays, only 18 were rushes. Manning finished with strong numbers, completing 31-of-42 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns, including a 45-yard strike to Demaryius Thomas.

The offense awakened, if not from a coma, a summer slumber in the second quarter. It required unlikely contributors. In a scoreless game, the Broncos began a march by throwing to Fowler, a local star from Detroit Country Day High School, which also produced Chris Webber and University of Colorado quarterback Charles Johnson. Fowler caught two passes for 26 yards before leaving the chunk play to tight end Virgil Green. He turned a short sideline route into a 26-yard gain, breaking a tackle before barreling to the 2-yard line. It set up the Broncos' first rushing touchdown of the season, by Ronnie Hillman. He represented the only healthy running back at that juncture with Juwan Thompson out with a neck injury ( he did not return) and Anderson in the concussion protocol (he did return). The Broncos managed just 41 yards rushing on 19 carries. The Lions, sputtering because of the Broncos' relentless pressure and use of Ward as a linebacker on running plays, provided their raucous crowd a reason to scream. Calvin Johnson, a walking mismatch, performed a magic track with sleight of hand, defining the drive with his athleticism. Aqib Talib appeared to have his third interception in three weeks when Johnson pulled the football out of his hands for a 25-yard gain. Talib talked respectfully of the challenge of facing Johnson all week. It proved difficult. Officials flagged Talib for interference in the end zone, trying to slow Johnson, clearing the aisle for Joique Bell's 1-yard touchdown. Talib saved face and a point with a diving block of former Bronco Matt Prater's extra point, preserving Denver's 7-6 cushion. If nothing else, the Broncos have shown a propensity for producing their best with alarms blaring. Denver closed out the first half with an autobahn drive, conjured images of their old offense. Thomas finished the seven-play, 80-yard excursion with a 45-yard touchdown. As at Kansas City, this represented Thomas "at recess," as Manning said. His backpedal into the end zone drew a flag — the Broncos remained heavily penalized — and the taunting could result in a league fine this week. It is a price worth paying for a team defining itself by its depth and toughness.

Demaryius Thomas, Von Miller likely next in line for fines from NFL By Troy Renck and Nicki Jhabvala Denver Post September 28, 2015 A week after DeMarcus Ware and Malik Jackson were docked, Von Miller and Demaryius Thomas face potential fines. The league is cracking down with strict enforcement on specific penalties, meaning Miller could be fined $17,363 for a late hit on quarterback Matthew Stafford. Thomas received a taunting penalty for back-pedaling into the end zone on his second-quarter touchdown. It is an infraction with a potential $8,681 fine. TALIB'S BLOCK PARTY Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib missed a shot at his third interception when Detroit's Calvin Johnson stole a pass from him in the second quarter. But Talib provided an unlikely contribution after the Lions' scoring drive, blocking Matt Prater's extra point. Chris Harris nearly returned it for two points before tight end Eric Ebron forced him out of bounds. THOMPSON INJURES NECK Broncos coach Gary Kubiak continues to stress the importance of establishing a physical identity and mindset. He used bigger back Juwan Thompson for the first time in the first half. Thompson exited after injuring his neck on a running play at the goal line and was ruled out for the game. He left as C.J. Anderson returned to the game after clearing the concussion protocol. WARD A FORCE T.J. Ward made up for lost time. The Broncos safety who was suspended for the opener against Baltimore recorded a tackle for a loss on the first play Sunday, his 16th tackle for a loss since 2013, his first Pro Bowl season, the most in the NFL by a defensive back in that span. He closed out the first half with a team-high five tackles (three solo). NO FULLBACK More shotgun for Peyton Manning. The Broncos' quarterback worked out of the shotgun and pistol for the entire first quarter and much of the second. FOOTNOTES To cap his pregame warmup, Manning spent about 10 minutes at midfield talking to his former offensive coordinator in Indianapolis, Jim Caldwell, who is now the Lions' head coach. ... Any mystery over how the coaches viewed the Broncos' previous game vanishes with the next week's captains. They are rewarded. Sunday, Todd Davis (special teams), Thomas (offense) and Miller (defense). ... The Lions paid homage to local music stars. They featured Eminem in heavy rotation during pregame, and Kid Rock's "Bawitdaba" blared at ear-drum bleeding decibels during the opening kickoff.

Bennie Fowler rockets way to Denver Broncos roster spot By Nicki Jhabvala Denver Post September 27, 2015 Bennie Fowler wasn't supposed to be here. He wasn't supposed to be playing on a 53-man roster, and he wasn't supposed to be one of Peyton Manning's targets. When the Broncos' training camp opened, Fowler was just another receiver on the team's long list of candidates. The second-year player, who signed with Denver as a college free agent in 2014, was still a longshot to make the final roster. But when Emmanuel Sanders was sidelined with a hamstring injury in training camp, Fowler took advantage of the extra reps. Often, Fowler would stay afterward to learn some of Sanders' tricks. Then, over-the-shoulder grabs in the far corner of the end zone became a usual camp occurrence. And then the Houston preseason game happened, when he laid out for a highlight-reel, diving, 40-yard catch off a Trevor Siemian pass. Bennie Fowler had arrived. Soon after, he arrived on the Broncos' 53-man roster. His encore performance came Sunday, when the Bloomfield, Mich., native and former Michigan State Spartan recorded four catches for 50 yards in the Broncos' 24-12 victory over the Lions. "I had my first college catch here, and now I got my first NFL catch here," he said. Fowler's pair of 13-yard catches in the second quarter helped set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Ronnie Hillman that put the Broncos (3-0) on the board first and give them their first rushing touchdown of the season. Fowler followed with an 11-yard catch on the Broncos' next drive, which ended with a touchdown to Demaryius Thomas. And then he caught another 13-yarder in the fourth to open a five-play drive that would end with a 48-yard field goal by Brandon McManus. After two games in which Peyton Manning and the Broncos' offense struggled to blend the styles of their veteran quarterback and new coach, Gary Kubiak, Denver went back to what it does best while in Detroit. Manning played in shotgun for most of the game after many failed attempts under center in Weeks 1 and 2. "It means a lot, playing on a team like this, with the receiving corps we have, and then also playing with Peyton," Fowler said. "It's a dream come true." Kubiak on Friday said he remained committed to running the ball more, but the Broncos' rushing options became limited in the first half at Detroit (0-3) when C.J. Anderson left briefly after a helmet-to-helmet hit in the first quarter and Juwan Thompson went down with a neck injury in the second and was later ruled out.

But as the run game failed to produce, Manning continued to spray passes to his receivers, completing 31 of 42 attempts for 324 yards and two touchdowns. Thomas led all with nine catches for 92 yards and a touchdown. Sanders followed with six catches for 87 yards. But it was Fowler, a name few knew just two months ago, who helped Manning find his rhythm and the Broncos find the end zone. Fowler spent all of 2014 on the Broncos practice squad, impressing in spurts but ultimately failing to win a spot on the active roster. Sunday, in front a crowd that knew his name and knew it well, he showed that, yes, he really is supposed to be here, on a 53-man roster, fielding passes from Peyton Manning.

Broncos’ bests/worsts vs. Lions: DeMarcus Ware and Bennie Fowler By Cameron Wolfe and Nicki Jhabvala Denver Post September 28, 2015 BESTS Bennie Fowler grew up in Michigan, attended Michigan State and got his first career catches in the Broncos 24-12 victory over the Lions in Detroit. Fowler was the Broncos’ third leading receiver, with four catches for 50 yards. BeWare of No. 94. DeMarcus Ware continued his great season Sunday with 1½ sacks, two tackles for loss and three hits on Matthew Stafford. Ware, 33, is second in the NFL in sacks (3.5) through three games. Roby the ballhawk. Fresh off his game-winning scoop-and-score touchdown last week, cornerback Bradley Roby showed off his athleticism picking off a Stafford first-quarter pass intended for Golden Tate. WORSTS Three straight games, it’s starting to become an epidemic. Broncos running backs made 19 carries for 41 yards (2.2 yards per carry). Peyton Manning threw at least 40 passes for the third straight game. A win is a win, but this is a problem that needs serious attention. Shooting yourself in the foot The Broncos once again did not make friends with the yellow flag. They had eight penalties for 89 yards, including three personal-foul penalties. Finish the play He made a great touchdown catch to end the first half, but Demaryius Thomas had at least three drops and a crucial fumble that led to a Lions touchdown. Grades Offense: B Peyton Manning went back to what Peyton Manning does best – playing in shotgun. And it worked, for the most part. Ronnie Hillman ran in their first rushing touchdown of the season. Then Manning found Demaryius Thomas for a 45-yard strike. And then Manning found Owen Daniels for an 11-yard touchdown pass in the fourth. But there were still blips along the way: an interception in the second, a taunting penalty and a fumble by Thomas, and a sack in the third after a missed block by C.J. Anderson. Defense: B+ The swarming defense returned, but so did the penalties. DeMarcus Ware claimed 1½ sacks in the first quarter alone. Bradley Roby had a highlight-reel pick off a Matthew Stafford pass. Aqib Talib blocked an extra point. Shaquil Barrett caused a strip sack fumble that was recovered by Malik Jackson. And David Bruton had an acrobatic interception in the fourth. But the defense racked up six of the Broncos’ nine penalties. Special Teams: A

Britton Colquitt took a pay cut and beat out punters in training camp to keep his job. On Sunday, he proved the Broncos made a sound decision in keeping him, as he booted five punts for 213 yards, including a 45-yarder to the right and a 31-yarder to the left in the first half, putting the Lions at their own 12- and 11-yard lines, respectively. And Brandon McManus kicked a 48-yard field goal in the fourth to extend Denver’s lead. Coaching: B Gary Kubiak let Manning do what Manning does best and it worked. The Broncos jumped to a 14-6 lead at halftime with the veteran quarterback playing almost entirely in shotgun. Big plays by the defense set up a field goal and touchdown in the fourth to extend their record to 3-0, but the running game, again, failed to produce (19 carries, 41 yards). Game balls DeMarcus Ware, Peyton Manning and Demaryius Thomas.

Pistol Peyton and the Broncos defeat the Lions, 24-12 By Mike Klis 9 News September 28, 2015 They have a running game that crawls. A defense prone to penalties. A quarterback who is 39 years old. Yet, the Denver Broncos get by on the guile of their ageless – not aging, ageless -- quarterback, two terrific receivers in Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, and a defense that transfers its aggressive behavior into pressure and turnovers. The Broncos are also 3-0 after defeating the Detroit Lions, 24-12, here Sunday night at Ford Field. It was the Broncos' third consecutive closely-contested triumph of the 2015 season. It's getting to the point where more is expected. "I told the guys tonight, You usually don't go in there after a win and start with something negative, but we need to fix the penalties," said Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak. Careful what you wish for, coach. it's the mean, nasty and angry that tends to go too far. In some ways, this was supposed to be a transition year for the Broncos. The end of Peyton Manning's career and start of the Kubiak era. But since their paths have crossed, they might as well get along. Make the most of it. Do a little Kubiak offense here. Mix in some Manning specialities there. And -- poof! -- the Broncos stumbled into a Pistol formation that may help them go all the way. As in, you know, all the way. "I know he was very comfortable tonight, I could tell," Kubiak said of Manning. "We protected him very well tonight. Obviously, we didn't run the ball very good. That's a battle right now. We're going to keep battling but I think we made some progress tonight." Give Kubiak credit. Good coaches don't make players adapt to their systems. Good coaches adapt to their players. Peyton in the Pistol is a compromise that helped Manning deliver his best performance of the 2015 season. He completed 31 of 42 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns with one interception that came off a deflection. "That was something the coaches came up with during the week," Manning said. "I imagine it'll be a part of the aresenal throughout the season ... it gave us some help in protection." Perhaps, if the Broncos had a running game, they could put a little more distance between themselves and their opponents. They tried to get their run game going Sunday by using the Pistol formation, where Manning stood halfway between the center and shotgun position. On passing downs, Pistol Peyton backed up into the shotgun. The running game still stinks. But Manning is as brilliant as ever.

Manning threw touchdown passes of 45 yards to Demaryius Thomas seconds before halftime to give the Broncos a 14-6 lead and later connected with tight end Owen Daniels on a beautifully thrown 11-yard touchdown pass off a rollout to ice the game late. Thomas had nine catches for 92 yards. Sanders had six catches for 87 yards. The running game got in the way. The Denver defense forced Lions' quarterback Matthew Stafford into three turnovers on two interceptions and a fumble. The Broncos also had four sacks, including another 1.5 from DeMarcus Ware, who now has 3.5 in three games. Ware seemed to slow down in the second half of last season. At 33, he looks better. "I opened up a good bottle this year," Ware said, referring to the fine win metaphor. "But, no, I'm feeling good. I get two messages every day. I work my butt off. I think that's what it is. A change in regiment and working my butt off." Ware has 130.5 career sacks. Two more and he'll be tied with Leslie O'Neal and none other than Lawrence Taylor for 11th place on the all-time list. The running game? Pistol or not, it's still not working. The Broncos' running back trio of Ronnie Hillman, C.J. Anderson and Juwan Thompson combined for 42 yards on 18 carries (2.3 yards per carry) against a Lions' defense that surrendered 147.5 rushing yards through its first two games. The Lions fell to 0-3 and have Seattle and Arizona next on their schedule. The Broncos are 3-0 and next play Minnesota, Oakland and Cleveland. Thomas giveth the Denver Broncos a nice halftime lead. Thomas nearly tooketh away. To end the first half, Thomas made a superb 45-yard catch for a touchdown on a long pass down the right sideline thrown by Peyton Manning with 5 seconds left in the first half. The pitch-and-catch gave the Broncos a 14-6 lead against the Detroit Lions. However, on the first series of the second half, Thomas on third-and-5 caught a 4-yard pass and reached out with one hand on the ball in hopes of picking up that yard for a first down at the Broncos' 38 yard line. The momentum of the play caused Thomas to whip his hand forward where it hit the helmet of Lions tackler and cornerback Rashean Mathis. The ball flew forward and the Lions' Quandre Diggs recovered at the Broncos' 29. "I was trying to make a play, tried to convert a third down and messed around,'' Thomas said. "I knew it was a fumble right when I got up because I was chasing him. ... It was just bad on my part.'' Initially, the officials ruled Thomas down by contract. The play was challenged and overturned. A 15-yard late hit penalty by Denver defensive tackle Sylvester Williams put the Lions closer and running back Ameer Abdullah beat Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall on a slant route. Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford hit Abdullah perfectly across the middle for a 16-yard, catch-and-sprint touchdown.

The Lions were within 14-12, but two-point attempt was stuffed. That's the way the third quarter ended with the Broncos up 14-12. However, a strip-sack by Broncos backup linebacker Shaq Barrett on Stafford stopped one promising Lions' drive and David Bruton came off the bench just in time to pick off a Stafford pass intended for Calvin Johnson to thwart another. "It was being alert on what type of play was coming and what they were going to throw," Bruton said. "All the film study just paid off." Let it be told that Manning and Kubiak decided in concert to ignore the down, distance, time clock and field position late in the first half. Manning and Kubiak instead decided to use a fourth-and-1 to see if they could get Thomas isolated against a smaller cornerback. Fake the bunt, swing for the fences. "I'm not much into baseball," Thomas said. "But we did think they thought we would pick up a first down and kick a field goal. Most teams would do that.'' The Broncos had the ball at the Detroit Lions' 45 yard line, fourth-and-1 but only 13 seconds left in the first half. The Lions blitzed up the middle. Fine, because Manning was looking outside were the physical, 6-foot-3, 229-pound Thomas was matched up against 6-foot, 190-pound cornerback Darius Slay. Manning didn't have to be perfect with the throw. He just threw it out there. Slay peeked into the backfield long enough for the ball to go over his head. Thomas snagged it and pranced into the end zone for a touchdown. Thomas was penalized, but so what. There were just 5 seconds remaining and he just gave the Broncos a 14-6 halftime lead. "We called the play expecting blitz, we got the blitz," Manning said. "Tried to hit Emmanuel on a little option route there and they kind of covered him. ... So had to take a chance. Caught the corner squatting a little bit which is what that blitz and that coverage a corner is required to do, squat a little bit and D.T. was able to get behind him. But I was looking for Emmanuel first and I was kind of late going to D.T. and D.T. made a great play and was able to get it into the end zone." See how his mind works? He processed all that in a split second, by the way. It was 0-0 until the final three drives of the half. Manning hit Bennie Fowler, a former Michigan State star, for a 13-yard gain. It was Fowler's first career catch. "I had my first college catch here and now my first NFL catch here," Fowler said. "Played in two state (high school) championships here.'' Manning then connected with tight end Virgil Green, who broke a double-team tackle and rumbled down to the Lions' 2 for a 26-yard gain. A play later, Ronnie Hillman scooted in for a 1-yard touchdown and the Broncos were up 7-0.

The Lions came back with their own touchdown drive thanks to two terrific catches by their superstar receiver Calvin Johnson and two penalties against the Denver defense. The extra point kick by Matt Prater was blocked and Broncos cornerback Chris Harris nearly returned it for a 2-point conversion, although he was pushed out of bounds in Lions' territory. Prater was up much of the night suffering from a bout of food poisoning. It was 7-6. Manning got the ball back at his own 20 yard line with only 1:03 left in the half. He hit Fowler for 11, Thomas for 15 and tight end Owen Daniels for 9, which eventually brought fourth-and-1 at the Lions' 45. No doubt, the Lions thought the Broncos would try to run for a first down, spike it and have kicker Brandon McManus try a 60-something-yard field goal. Even if the Broncos didn't make it on fourth-and-1, there would be less than 10 seconds left for the Lions' offense. So the Broncos basically used the certain sacrifice bunt situation to swing for a home run. Manning and Thomas got it.

How the Broncos beat the Lions (and how they can lose) By Mike Klis 9 News September 27, 2015 Why the Broncos beat the Lions. *2-0 vs. 0-2. The Broncos are the better team. The Lions are the Lions. Detriot blew a 21-3 lead in the opener at San Diego, allowing the Chargers to score the next 30 points. The Lions were lethargic while getting physically beat up by the Vikings at Minnesota last week. Yes, the Broncos struggled to win each of their first two games. But good teams find ways to win. If the game is close late, which team figures to stay poised, efficient and finish? *Defense. The Lions are running the ball worse than the Broncos. Detroit is averaging just 53.5 rushing yards in their first two games. Without a running game, the Lions can't slow down Denver's pass rush led by DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller. Denver's defense has seven sacks and seven turnovers in two games. The best blocker along Detroit's front line so far has been left guard Manny Ramirez, the former Broncos' center. And while the Lions have two terrific receivers in Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate, the Broncos will counter with two terrific cornerbacks in Aqib Talib and Chris Harris. *Manning vs. Stafford. Throughout his career, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has been much like Jay Cutler – terrific arm and puts up impressive yardage totals, but commits a turnover at crucial times in defeat. Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning has not been his usual magnificent self through the first two games, but he finished both with terrific drives that led to victory. Why the Broncos lose to the Lions *The Dome. There is something about the indoor, carpeted atmosphere the Broncos don't like. Since 2006, the Broncos are 2-5 in domes – including a 44-7 loss to the Lions at enclosed Ford Field in 2007. And it wasn't that close. It was 44-0 before Patrick Ramsey, subbing for the battered Cutler, threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Stokley with 2:31 left in the game. The Broncos ordinarily play outside and on grass. The Lions will seem a tick faster coming off the ball on the Ford Field carpet "The noise seems like it gets tougher, but I mean Kansas City, to me, is as tough as it can get,'' said Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak when asked about the challenges of playing in a dome this week. "Obviously, everything gets confined a little bit, those type of things, just a little bit different atmosphere. "I think all atmospheres in this league are tough. … They all present the exact same problem. It's an offensive problem. Defensively, it's usually quiet when you're playing. You've got to work on it on that side of the ball all week long. That's what we're trying to do." *The Lions are desperate. After finishing 11-5 last season and reaching the playoffs, Detroit is 0-2 this season. After this game against the Broncos, the Lions play at Seattle then against Arizona. Lose this game and they may well be 0-5. They must win.

The 2-0 Broncos can lose and with Minnesota, Oakland and Cleveland up next, they can still be 5-1 entering their bye week. *Football's balance. How, again, are the Broncos 2-0? The winning score in each game was on a defensive touchdown. Credit Wade Phillips' aggressive, opportunistic defense for creating that luck. But it still takes some good fortune. The Broncos' offense has struggled with running the ball (2.8 yards per carry, 31st in the league), pass protection (Manning is tied for the fourth-most sacks taken with 7) and the deep throw (Manning ranks 32nd with 5.07 yards per attempt).

Casey, Schofield sitting for Broncos; McCray, Doss dress By Mike Klis 9 News September 27, 2015 Fullback James Casey and backup offensive tackle Michael Schofield were the biggest surprises on the Denver Broncos' inactive list here Sunday night. Dressing instead for the first time this season were Broncos outside linebacker Lerentee McCray and rookie cornerback Lorenzo Doss. No doubt, Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak was looking for more speed for their game against the Detroit Lions on the artificial surface of Ford Field. Casey's absence should mean a few more offensive snaps for Juwan Thompson, the largest of the Broncos' three running backs. Schofield's absence means right guard Louis Vasquez is likely the backup offensive tackle. Backup guard Max Garcia, a rookie, also played some tackle in college. The Broncos only dressed seven offensive linemen – the five starters (from left to right, Ty Sambrailo, Evan Mathis, Matt Paradis, Vasquez, Ryan Harris) and backup center James Ferentz and Garcia. The seven Broncos who did not dress Sunday night: No. 3 quarterback Trevor Siemian, kickoff returner/backup safety Omar Bolden (foot injury), cornerback Kayvon Webster (ankle), guard-center Shelley Smith, Schofield, Casey and defensive end Kenny Anunike (knee).

All eyes may be on Megatron but don't forget about DT By Rod Mackey 9 News September 27, 2015 Calvin Johnson is getting more attention, but don't forget about Demaryius Thomas, the other former Georgia Tech receiver who will be on Ford Field Sunday night. "I'm worried about us going up and trying to beat Detroit in Detroit," said Thomas. "Of course, I'll see Calvin. I see him in the offseason enough. It's mainly going up there and trying to get a win in Detroit. It's their first home game and I think that they're going to come out and play tough in front of their fans." Before the season started, DT said one of his goals was to break Megatron's all time receiving record for yards, a goal he's still shooting for despite the Broncos offensive struggles. "I think that anything is. Right now, it's mainly trying to get better at what I do in this new offense. That's going out and doing whatever I have to do to help this team win. If that's making a play at the end of the game and that's my only play, that's what I have to do. That's all that I can say right now" Johnson and Thomas have both school and size in common. Each receiver has been able to use their bigger bodies to their advantage. "I think so. I think that it was one of my advantages when I first started playing, coming out of high school. That's why I think, that I really stuck to football. At first, I was a basketball player, but I was able to outrun some guys and if I got a little winded, I could just tell them to give a chance to go up and get it. I did that a couple [of times] in the last game. I think that it's a big advantage for us." Thomas leads the Broncos in yards received so far this season, but he still hasn't found the endzone. The 2-0 Broncos visit the 0-2 Lions Sunday night at 6:30pm on 9news.

Peyton Manning, Broncos find happy medium and 3-0 record By Jeff Legwold ESPN.com September 28, 2015 In the end, compromise won the day on offense for the Denver Broncos. And it, coupled with a sack-happy, turnover-causing defense, won another game to move to 3-0 with a 24-12 victory over the Detroit Lions Sunday night in Ford Field. Along the way, the Broncos tweaked the offense, found a little more of a groove and everyone got a little more of what they like out of the whole thing. Quarterback Peyton Manning likes to be in the shotgun, away from center. He likes to see the defense and do his work from there. And even with the Broncos’ early-season choppiness, he has performed the best from there. Coach Gary Kubiak, on the other hand, thinks a quarterback in the shotgun, with the running back to one side or the other instead of directly behind the quarterback, tips an offense’s hand, and the defense doesn’t have to honor both sides of the formation on a run play. Still, the Broncos want more points; they want Manning to be comfortable, and they want more from their running game. And the solution, at least for one night, was to put Manning in the pistol formation and, frankly, two out of three ain't bad at all. “Obviously, I want to get Peyton as comfortable as I possibly can in what we’re trying to do,’’ Kubiak said. “We want to maintain some balance as far formation-wise in what you do. I’m not talking about run-pass, I’m talking about how you operate formationally as a football team. … But I know he was very comfortable [Sunday night], I could tell.’’ He could tell because Manning finished 31-of-42 passing for 324 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. And the Broncos, who had surrendered seven sacks in the first two games of the season combined -- the first time in Manning's career he has been sacked seven times in the first two games -- also protected him better. The Lions sacked Manning just once. In the pistol, Manning gets what he likes -- he’s away from the center -- and Kubiak gets a little of what he likes as well because in the pistol the quarterback is slightly closer to the line of scrimmage so a running back can line up directly behind the quarterback. And by the end of the third quarter, Manning had been in the pistol for 23 snaps. “It’s something coaches came up with early in the week, something Green Bay did against [the Lions] last year late in the season and had pretty good success with it,’’ Manning said. “I imagine it will be part of the arsenal throughout the season, but will we use it next week, in two weeks? I don’t know, but it was part of the game plan and it gave us some help in protection.’’ The Broncos still are searching in the playbook wilderness to find their run game. With 41 yards on their 19 carries Sunday, they’re 31st in the league in rushing. But no matter, a comfortable Manning is a

productive Manning, and the feeling is the run game can remain a work in progress as the Broncos score touchdowns along the way. Manning was 6-of-7 passing on the Broncos' first touchdown drive of the game in which he hit wide receiver Demaryius Thomas on a 45-yard jump ball that Thomas turned into a catch-and-run touchdown on a fourth-and-1 play with five seconds left in the first half. It was the longest play the Broncos have had on offense this season. Manning moved in the pocket when he had to, completing passes to nine different players. “We made some progress tonight, thought we found some plays that we were calling over and over again that were working,’’ Manning said. “We’re finding out some plays that everybody seems to play fast when we call those particular plays. I think it just takes some games to figure out what those plays are. … Thought we made some improvement on some things.’’ It wasn’t always smooth or the high-speed race for touchdowns folks have gotten used to over the past three seasons. But it was progress. And with a defensive muscle the Broncos have shown in their first three games, any progress on offense is a good thing.

Broncos continue to lean on defense while Peyton Manning settles in By Jeff Legwold ESPN.com September 27, 2015 The Denver Broncos keep saying they’d like to be diversified on offense. That they’d like quarterback Peyton Manning to work under center, in the shotgun and in the pistol formation. And, they'd like to have a balanced attack, with the run being a big part of the offense. And then they get in a game, and in order to protect Manning and move the ball consistently, they have to back Manning out, away from under center. They put him in the shotgun or in the pistol with three wide receivers in the formation to let Manning wing it around to see if that helps push-start their offense as they continue to ride their defense's efforts. Peyton Manning finished with 324 passing yards and two touchdowns as the Broncos continue to look to establish a balanced attack. Joe Amon/The Denver Post/Getty Images Manning was at it again Sunday night with 324 passing yards and two touchdowns in a 24-12 victory against the Detroit Lions on Sunday night in Ford Field. And the offense they showed a was bit of a compromise between what coach Gary Kubiak wants -- a run game that doesn't tip its hand with a back to one side or the other of the quarterback in the shotgun -- and what Manning is comfortable with before the snap. It was choppy at times, productive at others, and decidedly pass-heavy, but Manning finished with his first 300-yard passing game of the season and the Broncos are 3-0 even as they try to work it all out. What it means: The Broncos’ chuck-it-around look still isn't always pretty, but it was punctuated by Manning’s toss to Demaryius Thomas with just five seconds remaining in the first half. On a fourth-and-1, Manning saw Thomas was single-covered as the only receiver on the right side of the formation and put the ball up where only Thomas could get it. Thomas shed Lions cornerback Darius Slay and finished off the play for a touchdown that gave the Broncos a 14-12 lead. It was a key play that pushed the Broncos to a 3-0 start. What were they thinking? Cue the single coverage on Thomas to the open side of the formation. Slay was matched with no deep help and it wasn’t disguised in the least. And say what you want about Manning’s arm strength or the Broncos’ offense that is a matchup Manning will always take a swing at. One reason to get excited: The Broncos' defense is certainly prime-time worthy. By the end of the third quarter, the Lions had gained just 177 total yards, a total that included just 25 yards rushing. They consistently pressured Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, intercepted him once and forced a key fourth-quarter fumble with a hit on Stafford with just more than 10 minutes to play in the game. One reason to panic: The Broncos tossed aside any notion of putting Manning under center with the kind of beefed-up run game to protect him. The Broncos didn’t put Manning under center for a single snap in the first three quarters and they still couldn’t crank up the run game against the Lions’ 29th-

ranked run defense. The Broncos had 18 yards rushing at halftime, just 29 yards rushing by the end of the third quarter. Fantasy watch: Until the Broncos prove they will both stay committed to the run game, it might be more than wise the stay away from their backs. Right now they have not found the happy medium of getting the offense moving the formation they use the most -- three wide receivers -- and running the ball out of that with any effectiveness. Ouch: Running back C.J. Anderson briefly left the game in the first half after taking a big hit in the first quarter. Anderson was evaluated for a concussion, but cleared to return to the game and he was back in the lineup before halftime. Running back Juwan Thompson was also helped from the field in the second quarter with a neck injury and did not return. Fullbacks in short supply: Because James Casey was a game-day inactive, the Broncos went into Sunday night’s game with just two players -- running back Juwan Thompson and tight end Virgil Green -- who have seen any time as the lead back in a two-back set. However, Thompson left the game in the second quarter with a neck injury and did not return. And while Denver's intentions to lean heavily to a three-wide receiver set could be seen once Casey was not in uniform for the game, Thompson’s injury limited the Broncos’ ability to beef up the formation as the game wore on. Flag days: After having three unnecessary roughness penalties to go with a roughing the passer penalty in the win in Kansas City -- DeMarcus Ware and Malik Jackson were each fined because of hits against the Chiefs -- the Broncos were flagged two more times Sunday night for hits on the quarterback. Linebacker Von Miller was flagged for roughing the passer in the first quarter for a hit on Stafford and nose tackle Sylvester Williams was penalized for unnecessary roughness for a hit on Stafford in the third quarter. The Broncos will likely dispute the call against Williams, as he appeared to try to stop as Stafford slid at his feet.

Broncos must protect Peyton Manning better to kick-start offense By Jeff Legwold ESPN.com September 27, 2015 The Denver Broncos sit at 2-0, powered by a top-tier defense to go with some late-game heroics from quarterback Peyton Manning. And as they continue to try to iron out their issues on offense – the Broncos are last in the league in total offense after two games – and as questions swirl about Manning’s health/arm/future, Manning himself has taken a far narrower approach. Asked this past week if he is motivated at all by trying to quiet some of the criticism, he said; ""I’m motivated because I want to do my job to help my team win. That’s plenty for me. That’s what always keeps you going, keeps you driven to work in the offseason and prepare hard in season and to play as hard as you possibly can.’’ With that in mind, a little W2W4 as the Broncos make their first visit to Detroit since 2007: Slow the rush: This is Manning’s 18th NFL season and never have opposing defenses blitzed him more than they are right now. Manning has been blitzed on 43.5 percent of pass attempts, and that's when he threw both of his interceptions, both returned for touchdowns. He also has been sacked seven times in the first two games, his highest total in the first two games of any season in his career. The Broncos know Manning cannot hold up if the current rate of punishment continues. The Lions have just three sacks this season, but they, like the Chiefs and Ravens, figure to take their shots. Keep Stafford out of rhythm: It is the Lions’ home opener so Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford will get to work in the relative peace and quiet of the home field. His top three targets so far have been wide receivers Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate to go with second-year tight end Eric Ebron – 21, 18 and 15 targets in the first two games -- so he has moved the ball around the formation to get his completions to this point. Stafford is dealing with a rib injury, so his ability to rotate his upper body properly in his throwing motion could be compromised, and the Lions could concentrate on the shorter routes to get the ball out of his hands more quickly. If the Broncos’ defense can manage first- and second-down situations, they should get the pass rush opportunities they covet to put some pressure on Stafford. Make some creases: Broncos coach Gary Kubiak has promised – he actually said he would “demand’’ it – the Broncos will run the ball better. The game against the Lions, who are 29th in run defense, begins a stretch of four games when the Broncos face four run defenses ranked 20th or worse. The Broncos are expected to try and muscle up in this one, a big part of their plan to keep opposing pass rushers off Manning as well. So look for a healthy dose of their traditional stretch play to go with a smattering of screen passes. Match up: Despite Stafford’s injury, the Broncos expect plenty of three-wide receiver sets from the Lions, or at least plenty of open formations to spread out the Broncos’ coverage plans a bit. The Broncos would counter that look with their dime package, that moves safety T.J. Ward down into the weakside linebacker spot and adds David Bruton Jr. and Bradley Roby into the secondary. It has been a highly-effective look for the Broncos thus far – four interceptions and a sack in the Broncos’ two games. The

Broncos would likely work their coverage plans on getting help on Johnson and elect to man-up on the rest of the Lions’ pass catchers.

Demaryius Thomas, Calvin Johnson redefine what it means to be 'open' By Jeff Legwold ESPN.com September 27, 2015 During his final four seasons with the Denver Broncos Champ Bailey’s locker was one step away from Demaryius Thomas’. And on more than one occasion, Bailey would point his gaze at Thomas and say, “Right there, guys like him, that’s the biggest difference in this league, guys as big a tight ends who run like they’re 100-meter guys. I came into this league as a big corner, I’ll go out covering guys like him.’’ Two of the next-gen, supersized sprinters -- Thomas and Calvin Johnson -- will be on the same field Sunday night when the Broncos and the Lions play at Ford Field. And over the last 15 years, receivers are getting bigger and the cornerbacks who cover them have stayed the same. In 1992, the wide receivers selected for the Pro Bowl averaged 6-feet-½ inch and weighed 195.6 pounds. The cornerbacks selected to that Pro Bowl averaged 6-¼ and weighed 189.5 pounds. By 2002, the gap had widened to 6-1¼ and 204.1 pounds for the Pro Bowl receivers compared to 5-11¾ and 194.3 pounds for corners. And by 2013, the Pro Bowl receivers averaged 6-2½, 215.8 pounds, and the corners were 5-11½, 196.4. Johnson is 6-5, listed at 237 pounds, and Thomas is 6-3, 229 pounds. At 6-1, 205 pounds, the Broncos’ Aqib Talib is the biggest cornerback either team will suit up Sunday. What that means isn’t exactly rocket science. “You look around guys are 6-4 plus; fast, great routes,’’ Talib said. “ … For a minute, the NFL used to be all about speed out there, but now it’s about size and speed as far as receivers are concerned. Guys like Calvin, D.T., you can’t get your hands on them because they’re so big ... and you better worry about the deep ball because they can run like short cats and go get the ball with all that size.’’ And, the bottom line: “Man, their catch radius,’’ Talib said. “They don’t really have to be open to make a play on the ball.’’ True enough, especially since the Broncos just won a game last week -- last Thursday in Kansas City -- when Thomas didn’t have to be open to make a play on the ball. On the Broncos’ game-tying drive in the final minutes, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning completed three passes to Thomas on the 80-yard drive for 53 yards, two of those on plays when Thomas likely wasn’t technically open, when he had Chiefs defensive backs draped on him like a well-fit suit jacket. Players like Thomas and Johnson have changed the definition of what constitutes open. “I would say so -- I know Demaryius was probably not open on that third-and-10 the other night in the two-minute drill; the guy had pretty good coverage on him. I would think that corner probably got a plus on his grade sheet for covering everything right,’’ Manning said. “But when you have a big body, you can put the ball in a place where he can use his body to kind of to get between the ball and the defender.

You can only do that with a certain type of guy. With his size, with his ability to elevate, don’t underestimate that -- 6-4, but he can play much taller than that with his ability to jump. It’s hard to overthrow him on a back-shoulder because he has so much range.’’ Toss in the fact defensive backs are decidedly handcuffed by the league’s rules makers, who appear in search of more points and have constructed an environment where receivers have more room to run. It has made the big receiver a premium player in any offense. So much so the Broncos signed Thomas to a five-year, $70 million deal just before the season. And Johnson’s seven-year, $113.45 million deal, signed in 2012, is still the biggest by any player at the position. All because they are matchup problems who can’t always be cured by doing the right thing on defense. Bigger and faster is simply not preparation ground that can be covered Wednesday through Saturday. “That’s the big thing,’’ Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said. “You roll their way, you play trail [technique] on them, you get somebody over the top, you still underthrow balls and they make plays on you. Sometimes you come out of games and you’ve got 70, 80 yards in [pass interference penalties] against players like that. They affect the game that way, too.’’

Monday NFL preview: Steelers begin life without Ben Roethlisberger By ESPN.com Staff ESPN.com September 28, 2015 NFL Nation reporters look ahead to what Monday has in store for each team. AFC EAST Buffalo Bills: The Bills are riding high after a bounce-back win on the road against the Dolphins, but they'll need to address some injury situations in the upcoming week. Wide receiver Sammy Watkins has a calf injury that led to him sitting out the final three quarters of Sunday's game, while running back LeSean McCoy is still nursing his hamstring injury. McCoy told me after the game he needs to find a "medium" between being tough and being smart about his injury. -- Mike Rodak Miami Dolphins: The Dolphins begin Week 4 with several questions following their 41-14 loss to the Bills. The biggest is how to fix an underachieving defense, which has three Pro Bowlers in Ndamukong Suh, Brent Grimes and Cameron Wake. -- James Walker New England Patriots: Tom Brady is off to the best three-game start of his career, and in that sense, the Patriots' bye week couldn't come at a worse time. The team is off in Week 4 after trouncing the Jaguars 51-17 on Sunday. Brady was asked if this is the best he has ever played and he simply said, "I'm just happy we're 3-0." On Monday, players are expected to review the game. -- Mike Reiss New York Jets: The Jets on Monday will await word on right guard Willie Colon, who sustained a potentially serious knee injury. It also will be a regrouping day for the Jets, who have plenty of corrections to make -- especially along the offensive and defensive lines. -- Rich Cimini AFC NORTH Baltimore Ravens: The Ravens relied heavily on Steve Smith (13 catches for 186 yards and two touchdowns) because they didn't have their second-best target. Tight end Crockett Gillmore stood on the sideline for the fourth quarter, and coach John Harbaugh declined to say what was wrong. Gillmore was looked at by trainers for a possible concussion earlier in the game. -- Jamison Hensley Cincinnati Bengals: What in the world is going on with Jeremy Hill? The Bengals running back had just 21 yards in a 12-carry outing in Sunday's 28-24 win over the Ravens. When I asked Hill after the game where he was mentally following that performance, he said he was fine. Hill added he and offensive coordinator Hue Jackson spoke coming off the field, and both were in agreement: the back is getting close. They are optimistic he will eventually turn it around. -- Coley Harvey Cleveland Browns: The Browns will find out if they will lose Joe Haden today when he has an MRI for his ribs. Haden played after injuring his ribs in the first play of the loss to Oakland. X-rays taken during the game were negative. -- Pat McManamon Pittsburgh Steelers: The Steelers must cope with the loss of Ben Roethlisberger, who suffered a sprained MCL and will miss four to six weeks, according to reports from ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortenson.

Coach Mike Tomlin addresses the media at noon Monday and will no doubt put up a united front for his team, which will turn to veteran backup Michael Vick. The Steelers remain loaded with offensive weapons, but losing Roethlisberger will hurt. -- Jeremy Fowler AFC SOUTH Houston Texans: Texans defensive end J.J. Watt had kind words for one Tampa Bay player Sunday: rookie kicker Kyle Brindza, who missed three field goals and an extra point. "Their field goal kicker kind of helped us out a little bit," Watt said. "Appreciate that." -- Tania Ganguli Indianapolis Colts: The Colts came out of a game injury-free for the first time all season. Cornerback Jalil Brown, who has started the past two games because of injuries to Greg Toler and Darius Butler, left the game momentarily but returned several plays later. The Colts hope to have Butler back for Sunday's game against the Jaguars. -- Mike Wells Jacksonville Jaguars: Safeties Sergio Brown (calf) and Josh Evans (knee) left Sunday's game against New England with injuries, which meant the Jaguars had to use a rookie and a cornerback in their spots. The team will have updates on their status on Monday, and the Jaguars could be in trouble with a game against Andrew Luck looming. -- Mike DiRocco Tennessee Titans: The Titans will almost certainly have Jason McCourty, their best cornerback, on the field for the first time this season when they return to action on Oct. 11 against Buffalo. McCourty (groin) should help prevent things like Andrew Luck's late-game explosion that crushed the Titans on Sunday. -- Paul Kuharsky AFC WEST Denver Broncos: The Broncos may have depth issues at running back after their Sunday night game in Detroit. Both C.J. Anderson and Juwan Thompson left the game with injuries. Anderson, after being evaluated for a concussion, was cleared to return and played plenty in the second half. Thompson, however, left the game with a neck injury and did not return. He will be evaluated more Monday. -- Jeff Legwold Kansas City Chiefs: Getting big offensive plays will be a focus against the Packers. The Chiefs have struggled to assemble long touchdown drives. Of their six touchdowns, one was scored by the defense and two were set up by the defense, which forced a turnover each time inside the opponents' 15-yard line. The Chiefs don't figure to get many turnovers against Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who has a streak of 545 passes at home without an interception. -- Adam Teicher Oakland Raiders: The Raiders are 2-1 and have secured both wins in the final seconds. In Week 2 against Baltimore, the offense went on a game-winning drive. Sunday at Cleveland, Charles Woodson preserved the win with a game-clinching interception in the final seconds. New coach Jack Del Rio said good teams find ways to win, and he is pleased to see both units clinch wins. -- Bill Williamson San Diego Chargers: Falling to 1-2 after a humbling 31-7 loss to the Vikings on the road, San Diego safety Eric Weddle said the Chargers need a more consistent approach heading into Week 4. "We have to get back, focus in, prepare and sacrifice everything," Weddle said. "That is all I have ever known. Hopefully, guys take the same approach and take it serious, and we will move on." -- Eric D. Williams NFC EAST

Dallas Cowboys: The Cowboys like to say they want to challenge defenses in many ways through the air and on the ground. They did not challenge Atlanta much through the air with Brandon Weeden looking almost exclusively at his runners and tight ends. The Cowboys will have to figure out a way to stretch the field with Weeden's arm in order to keep defenses honest with the run. When the Falcons figured out the Cowboys weren't going to take chances outside, they were able to shut down the Cowboys. If the Cowboys don't take at least some chances, Weeden's job will be even more difficult. -- Todd Archer New York Giants: The Giants return to practice Monday and hope to have Victor Cruz on the field with them for the first time since Aug. 17. As he has been throughout his recovery, Cruz is optimistic he's on the cusp of returning, and if he gets through this week of practice without any setbacks, he could make his 2015 season debut Sunday in Buffalo. -- Dan Graziano Philadelphia Eagles: The Eagles can relax Monday and enjoy their first win of the 2015 season. Coach Chip Kelly will address the media and assess injuries to his offensive line. Left tackle Jason Peters and right guard Andrew Gardner left Sunday's game against the Jets. -- Phil Sheridan Washington Redskins: As the Redskins return to work Monday, they need to figure out a way to get their defense to help by making some plays. One problem vs. the Giants was the inability to cause any turnovers. Through three games, they've recovered one fumble and intercepted no passes. The defensive front has been solid, but they lack playmakers along the line. Linebacker Ryan Kerrigan has forced one fumble, giving him 16 since entering the NFL in 2011. But he can't do it alone, and losing corner DeAngelo Hall and his 43 career interceptions to a toe injury for at least three to four weeks does not help. -- John Keim NFC NORTH Chicago Bears: The Bears return home from Seattle with a record of 0-3. Coach John Fox needs to reboot the team and focus on making improvements over the final 13 games. That begins on special teams, where players were unhappy the kickoff return unit surrendered a long touchdown for the second consecutive week. The Bears also need help on offense after being shut out for the first time since 2002. The team misses quarterback Jay Cutler (hamstring), who traveled to Seattle and worked out prior to the game. The Bears better hope Cutler can return soon. -- Jeff Dickerson Detroit Lions: The Lions are going to wake up with a harsh reality Monday morning -- facing 0-3 and having to go to the toughest place in the NFL to play, Seattle, in a prime-time Monday night game. With Arizona after that, there's a legitimate chance the Lions could be looking at an 0-5 start. -- Michael Rothstein Green Bay Packers: With Eddie Lacy and Davante Adams upgraded from questionable to probable on Sunday, the Packers should feel good about their offense heading into Monday Night Football against the Chiefs. The Packers believe the ankle injuries both players sustained in Week 2 against the Seahawks should not be much of a factor. Defensively, however, there's reason for concern because safety Morgan Burnett will miss his second game in three weeks because of a calf injury. -- Rob Demovsky Minnesota Vikings: Cornerback Xavier Rhodes will go through the NFL's concussion protocol this week after safety Andrew Sendejo ran into him on Sunday. As the Vikings head to Denver to face Peyton Manning and the Broncos, they'll have to hope Rhodes -- their top cover corner -- is able to play. -- Ben Goessling

NFC SOUTH Atlanta Falcons: The strong game by Devonta Freeman, who rushed for a career-high 141 yards and three touchdowns against the Cowboys, means the Falcons will have a decision to make when rookie Tevin Coleman returns from a fractured rib. Do they start Coleman or Freeman? It looks as if Atlanta has a powerful two-headed attack. -- Vaughn McClure Carolina Panthers: Coach Ron Rivera gave players the day off last Monday because he was pleased with the overall "team effort'' in the longest regulation game in team history. It's doubtful he'll do the same this week after his defense gave up 380 yards and more big plays on third down than he cares to count. The biggest concern is with defensive end Charles Johnson, who was carted off the field with a severe hamstring injury. Rivera admitted it didn't look good. -- David Newton New Orleans Saints: Another week of "Drew Brees shoulder watch" kicks off today as he tries to return from the bruised rotator cuff that sidelined him Sunday. Brees again stressed in postgame interviews it's an issue of "functionality" rather than pain tolerance. So it will come down to how much strength and velocity he has on his throws by the end of the week. The Saints host a Cowboys team that is even more depleted by injuries next Sunday night. -- Mike Triplett Tampa Bay Buccaneers: It appears the Bucs have a kicking conundrum. Kyle Brindza missed an extra point and three field goals during the loss to the Texans, all after he converted a 58-yard attempt in the second quarter . Despite being gashed for 413 yards, Tampa Bay's defense played well enough to win, but the special-teams miscues were too much to overcome. This was a missed chance to gain a second consecutive victory on the road. Now the Bucs will face the undefeated Panthers in Week 4 at Raymond James Stadium, where coach Lovie Smith has yet to earn a win. -- Andrew Astleford NFC WEST Arizona Cardinals: When the Cardinals wake up Monday morning, they're going to find themselves among the best teams -- if not the best team -- in the NFL at the moment. They came out of Sunday's win over San Francisco healthy, and with the Rams' tough front seven coming to Glendale next week, the Cardinals can't afford to be beat up for another week. -- Josh Weinfuss St. Louis Rams: The Rams find themselves in a precarious position after losing a winnable 12-6 game to the Steelers on Sunday. They now must hit the road to face the Cardinals and Packers the next two weeks. And while the Rams have a knack for springing upsets, if they don't find a way to get one or two victories, they're staring in the face of a 1-4 start with the threat of relocation after the season. -- Nick Wagoner San Francisco 49ers: Back to the drawing board? The Niners need to figure out something quick with Colin Kaepernick's stunning regression in a 47-7 loss at Arizona on Sunday. The playbook has been simplified, but the Cardinals' defense also took note, picking him off four times with two pick-sixes. Kaepernick's four turnovers resulted in 24 points for the Cardinals. Kaepernick promised all offseason a "7torm" was coming. I don't think he meant like this. -- Paul Gutierrez Seattle Seahawks: The Seahawks have something special in rookie Tyler Lockett. The third-round pick gave them a boost with a 105-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to open the second half against the Bears. He has now reached the end zone in two of three games, giving the Seahawks a special-teams weapon they were missing last year. -- Sheil Kapadia

Cam Newton: Ref Ed Hochuli said I wasn't 'old enough' to get call By David Newton ESPN.com September 27, 2015 Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was "ticked off" about being told he wasn't old enough to get a personal foul called after being hit out of bounds in Sunday's 27-22 victory over New Orleans. Newton, 26, thought a penalty could have been called early in the fourth quarter when he was hit hard near the out-of-bounds marker by defensive tackle Tyeler Davison after throwing an incompletion. When the two-time Pro Bowler asked referee Ed Hochuli about the call, Newton said he was told, "You're not old enough to get that call." "I looked at him like: 'Jesus! I didn't think you had to have seniority to get a personal foul or anything like that,'" Newton said. "Officials make decisions based upon the play on the field, and no other factors," NFL spokesman Michael Signora said in a statement. "On the play in question, there is no roughing the passer because the quarterback is out of the pocket and a runner, and no unnecessary roughness because the contact is not late." That the Panthers were penalized for a late hit on 34-year-old Saints quarterback Luke McCown earlier in the game didn't help matters. "It's one thing to be frustrated in a situation where you see a personal foul on the opposing quarterback get called," Newton said. "And then for me, when it's something around that same range and for that flag not to be called, I'm ticked off, really." Newton capped the drive with a 13-yard touchdown run around the left side to go with two passing touchdowns. But he still was upset about the late hit that wasn't called. "If he would have said he missed the call, that is one thing," Newton said. "But for his response to be what it was and I'm not old enough to get that call ... Geez! "So heaven forbid he gets any rookies or they're gonna have a long day, man."

Manning, Broncos still unbeaten after win over Lions By Noah Trister Associated Press September 28, 2015 Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos are undefeated, even though they haven't exactly wowed anybody offensively. That could be a very good sign for the five-time MVP and his team. "We've beaten three playoff teams, right? Two of them on the road," Manning said. "Knew we were playing a team who was going to come out with everything they had tonight." Manning threw for 324 yards and two touchdowns Sunday night, and the Broncos beat the Detroit Lions 24-12. The winless Lions never led in the game, and now they have their work cut out for them if they want to make the playoffs for a second straight season. Manning's postgame comment wasn't entirely accurate. Denver (3-0) has beaten Baltimore, Kansas City and Detroit, and only the Ravens and Lions made the postseason last year. Still, the Broncos are atop the AFC West, and with games against Minnesota, Oakland and Cleveland coming up, they have a chance to extend this impressive start for a while. Denver led 7-6 when Manning decided to throw deep on fourth-and-1 near the end of the second quarter. Demaryius Thomas was able to come down with the ball and stay on his feet, strolling into the end zone with 5 seconds left in the half for a 45-yard touchdown. Denver came into the game ranked last in the league in offense and second in defense. The Broncos forced three turnovers by Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford — two interceptions and a fumble. "We've got 13 more football games starting next Monday night," Stafford said. "So we've just got to prepare to win and find ways to play a little bit better, a little bit cleaner." The Lions (0-3) play at Seattle next Monday night. Here are a few things we learned from Denver's victory Sunday: PROTECTION PROBLEMS This wasn't an ideal matchup for a Detroit team that struggled to keep its quarterback from being knocked around the previous weekend at Minnesota. Stafford was sacked four times against the Broncos, with DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller closing in on him on several occasions. JUMP BALLS Manning's touch is impressive to behold. Three of his most important passes looked like they were essentially thrown up for grabs, but the Denver quarterback put the ball right where his receivers needed it. The touchdown pass to Thomas looked similar to another big play in the fourth quarter, when Manning lofted a 34-yard pass to Emmanuel Sanders along the right sideline.

That set up Denver's final touchdown, an 11-yard pass from Manning to Owen Daniels. Manning put the ball where only Daniels had a chance to catch it. KICKING PROBLEMS Lions coach Jim Caldwell said K Matt Prater had an undisclosed illness. Prater's lone extra-point try was blocked, and he didn't attempt any field goals. INJURED RUNNING BACKS Denver RB C.J. Anderson left in the first half after a crunching collision with Detroit's Darryl Tapp. Anderson passed a concussion test and returned, but backup RB Juwan Thompson left for good with a neck injury after a helmet-to-helmet collision near the Detroit goal line. ACROBATIC INTERCEPTIONS When a quarterback throws a pass that's even slightly off, the Broncos can take advantage. Both of Stafford's interceptions came on fine plays by Denver DBs. Bradley Roby made a diving play in the first quarter, and David Bruton Jr. tipped the ball to himself in the fourth to derail another Detroit drive.

Peyton Manning throws 2 TD passes, Broncos beat Lions 24-12 By Larry Lage Associated Press September 28, 2015 Peyton Manning was cool and confident, lofting passes to teammates as if they were buddies in his backyard. Whether it was third or fourth down, in the second or fourth quarter, the 39-year-old Manning showed he still has it. Manning converted a fourth down with a 45-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas with 5 seconds left in the first half. Then he threw an 11-yard scoring pass to Owen Daniels on a third down with 2:28 remaining, lifting the Denver Broncos to a 24-12 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday night. He credited the coaching staff with using a pistol formation, giving him the ball in a short shotgun with a running back behind him, after he was under center for some snaps during the first two games. "I imagine it will be part of the arsenal throughout the season," Manning said. "It gave us some help in protection." Manning was sacked only once after he was sacked seven times in the first two games, helping him more than double his longest pass of the year on his 45-yard pass to Thomas. "We protected him better than we have," Denver coach Gary Kubiak said. Manning was 31 of 42 for 324 yards with two TDs and an interception. He Brett Favre as the only players in NFL history with at least 6,000 completions. The last time the Broncos (3-0) won their first three games was in 2013, when they reached the Super Bowl. The Lions (0-3) are off to their worst start since 2010, when they finished 6-10. "We do have 13 games left," Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. "They're not handing out trophies after three games and you can't be eliminated after three games." Aqib Talib blocked an extra-point kick by former Bronco Matt Prater early in the second quarter to keep Denver's one-point lead. The Broncos also stopped a 2-point conversion run, keeping them ahead 14-12 early in the third quarter. Stafford had three turnovers, including a fumble and interception at midfield in the fourth quarter. He might've had a good reason to be rattled because DeMarcus Ware was in on two sacks and he was hit and hurried throughout Detroit's home opener. "Anytime you have that many turnovers, that's going to give you some problems," Caldwell said.

Broncos running back C.J. Anderson left in the first half to be evaluated for a concussion, but was cleared and returned in the second half. Thomas had nine receptions for 92 yards and a lead-padding score in which he outleaped Darius Slay to snatch the football out of the air. He celebrated by backpedaling into the end zone, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Stafford was 31 of 45 for 282 yards with a 16-yard TD pass to Ameer Abdullah in the third quarter, two interceptions and a fumble on a play in which he had at least once chance to throw the ball away. Calvin Johnson had eight receptions for 77 yards and drew a pass-interference penalty against Talib in the end zone to set up Joique Bell's 1-yard leap over a pile of lineman. It looked as if Detroit's defense was going to prevent the Broncos from taking advantage of Stafford's second turnover, but it negated a missed field goal by being in an illegal formation. "I'm at fault," Caldwell said. Denver got 5 yards closer and Brandon McManus made the field goal to give the Broncos a five-point lead. Stafford then tried to force a pass to Johnson and safety David Bruton Jr. dropped into a zone to pick off the pass he tipped to himself with his right hand, then returned 12 yards. "Our responsibility is get to the ball on defense," Bruton said. Moments later, Manning lofted a 34-yard pass to Emmanuel Sanders, who outjumped Slay, to set up his throw that only the 6-foot-3 Daniels could catch in the end zone. NOTES: Lions LB DeAndre Levy (hip) was inactive for the third straight week, and DE Ezekiel Ansah (groin) and OG Larry Warford (ankle) were injured during the game. ... Just after Anderson cleared a concussion test, backup RB Juwan Thompson left the game with a neck injury.

The Latest: Peyton Manning completes 6,000th pass By Noah Trister Associated Press September 28, 2015 The Latest from NFL stadiums around the country on the third Sunday of the season (all times EDT): 10:45 p.m. Another milestone for Manning. Peyton Manning has become the second player to complete 6,000 passes in the NFL. Manning reached the mark with a 5-yard pass to Jordan Norwood in the third quarter Sunday night. Manning's Denver Broncos led Detroit 14-12 at the time. Only Brett Favre (6,300) has more completions than Manning, who reached the 6,000 mark with his 23rd completion Sunday. Matthew Stafford, Detroit's quarterback, isn't having quite as good a night. He actually caught his own pass in the third quarter for a loss of 6 after the ball bounced back to him from the line of scrimmage. — Noah Trister reporting from Detroit ___ 10:30 p.m. When reaching for a first down goes horribly wrong. Denver's Demaryius Thomas tried to stretch the ball forward while being dragged to the ground by Detroit's Rashean Mathis in the third quarter Sunday night. But as Thomas was rolling over on top of Mathis, the ball came loose and sailed about 10 yards back toward Denver's own end zone. Quandre Diggs picked it up for the Lions and took off toward the end zone, but Thomas was ruled down by contact. That ruling was overturned by replay, giving Detroit the ball at the Denver 29. Detroit eventually scored on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to Ameer Abdullah. A 2-point conversion was stopped, and Denver still led 14-12. Broncos running back C.J. Anderson passed a concussion test after a crunching hit by Detroit's Darryl Tapp in the first half. — Noah Trister reporting from Detroit ___ 9:10 p.m.

Denver running back C.J. Anderson walked to the locker room after a crunching hit by Detroit's Darryl Tapp on the final play of the first quarter Sunday night. Anderson was being evaluated for a concussion. Anderson was met around the line of scrimmage by Tapp, and the running back remained down on the field for a bit before walking off. Detroit's Matthew Stafford, meanwhile, was under more pressure early after being knocked around last weekend at Minnesota. Stafford, who was on the injury report with rib issues this past week, was sacked by DeMarcus Ware on Detroit's second offensive play, and again on the Lions' second series. Then Ware forced Stafford to throw the ball away and sent him to the ground for good measure. The game was scoreless after one quarter. — Noah Trister reporting from Detroit

Sunday's NFL Capsules By Staff Associated Press September 27, 2015 Matt Ryan and Julio Jones connected for two touchdowns, Devonta Freeman ran for 141 yards and three scores, and the Atlanta Falcons beat Dallas 39-28 Sunday in the Cowboys' first game without Tony Romo and Dez Bryant. Freeman's third score early in the fourth quarter capped a rally from a trio of 14-point deficits for the Falcons (3-0), who didn't win their third game until Week 10 last year, and Week 13 in 2013. Jones had his third straight 100-yard game to start the season, finishing with 164 and a clinching 2-yard score in the fourth quarter. The Cowboys (2-1) had a six-game winning streak in the regular season snapped in backup quarterback Brandon Weeden's ninth straight loss as a starter. Weeden completed his first 16 passes to start the season, but the run ended with a second-quarter interception that turned the game in the Falcons' favor. ___ STEELERS 12, RAMS 6 ST. LOUIS (AP) — Ben Roethlisberger was carted off the field with a knee injury in the second half and Pittsburgh's defense came through.; Le'Veon Bell scored from a yard out in the first half in his first game back after a suspension, but the Steelers' focus will be on the status of their star quarterback. Roethlisberger's leg got caught underneath him on a diving, sliding sack by Mark Barron. There was no immediate word on the extent of Roethlisberger's injury. Will Allen's interception with 1:56 left set up a field goal by Josh Scobee to put Pittsburgh (2-1) ahead by six points. ___ PATRIOTS 51, JAGUARS 17 FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Brady became the fourth quarterback in NFL history to throw 400 touchdown passes, connecting for a pair of scores. Brady completed a 1-yard TD pass to Danny Amendola in the second quarter and added a 13-yard touchdown to Keshawn Martin in the third. In all, Brady completed 33 of 42 passes for 358 yards. Rob Gronkowski caught four passes for 101 yards for the Patriots (3-0). LeGarrette Blount ran for three 1-yard touchdowns.

It was the most points ever allowed by the Jaguars (1-2). ___ SEAHAWKS 26, BEARS 0 SEATTLE (AP) — Tyler Lockett returned the second-half kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown, Russell Wilson connected with Jimmy Graham on a 30-yard TD, and the Seahawks routed the undermanned Bears. Seattle led just 6-0 at halftime after an offensive performance that led to a cascade of boos. Lockett started a huge second half as he went untouched on a perfectly executed return, the longest in franchise history. Later in the quarter, Wilson found Graham across the middle for his second touchdown catch this season. Steven Hauschka added four field goals and the Seahawks started the process of erasing an 0-2 start. Chicago (0-3) was shut out for the first time since 2002 and the fourth time since 1990. Jimmy Clausen started at quarterback in place of Jay Cutler and was 9 of 17 for 63 yards. CARDINALS 47, 49ERS 7 GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Carson Palmer threw for 311 yards and Arizona returned two of Colin Kaepernick's first four passes for touchdowns. Larry Fitzgerald caught nine passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns and Chris Johnson rushed for 110 yards and two scores for the Cardinals (3-0), who won at Chicago 48-23 last week. It's the first time the franchise has had two 40-point victories in a row since 1969 and its largest margin of victory since a 44-0 win over Houston in 1970. Kaepernick threw a career-worst four interceptions, two by Tyrann Mathieu, and finished 9 for 19 for 67 yards. Justin Bethel returned the first one 21 yards for a touchdown and Mathieu ran untouched 33 yards for another score. Kaepernick had a 12-yard TD run for San Francisco (1-2). ___ BILLS 41, DOLPHINS 14 MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Tyrod Taylor threw for 277 yards and three scores in his first NFL road start. The Bills totaled 429 yards, intercepted Ryan Tannehill three times in the first half, and led 27-0 before Miami scored late in the third quarter.

Buffalo (2-1) bounced back from a dismal loss at home to New England. The Dolphins (1-2), who began the season with high hopes of ending a seven-year playoff drought, fell into last place in the AFC East with their second consecutive loss. The Bills improved to 5-2 against Miami over the past four years. They're 18-26 against everyone else during that span. The victory was especially sweet for former Dolphins Richie Incognito and Charles Clay, who were co-captains for Buffalo. ___ TEXANS 19, BUCCANEERS 9 HOUSTON (AP) — Ryan Mallett threw for threw for 228 yards and a touchdown and Alfred Blue had 139 yards rushing for Houston's first win of the season. Mallett gave Houston (1-2) the lead on a 5-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins on the opening drive. The Buccaneers (1-2) went up 9-7 on a TD catch by Charles Sims in the second quarter. Bucs kicker Kyle Brindza, who made a 58-yard field goal early in the second quarter, missed an extra point and three field goals in the second half. Jameis Winston threw for 261 yards with a touchdown and an interception for Tampa Bay. ___ EAGLES 24, JETS 17 EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Darren Sproles returned a punt 89 yards for a score and added a 1-yard touchdown run for Philadelphia's first win. Sam Bradford threw a TD pass to Ryan Mathews, who also rushed for 108 yards while starting in place of the injured DeMarco Murray. The Eagles (1-2) improved to 10-0 all-time against the Jets (2-1), who were coming off a victory at Indianapolis last Monday night. Ryan Fitzpatrick threw touchdown passes to Brandon Marshall and Jeremy Kerley, but was intercepted three times. ___ RAIDERS 27, BROWNS 20 CLEVELAND (AP) — Derek Carr threw two touchdown passes, Latavius Murray rushed for 139 yards and Oakland snapped an 11-game road losing streak. Carr connected with Andre Holmes and Seth Roberts in the first half and the Raiders (2-1) held off a late Cleveland comeback to win their first road game since Nov. 17, 2013.

The Browns (1-2) were driving for a tying TD in the final minute, but Charles Woodson intercepted Josh McCown with 38 seconds left Carr, who went 0-8 on the road as a rookie in 2014, finished 20 of 32 for 134 yards. ___ BENGALS 28, RAVENS 24 BALTIMORE (AP) — Andy Dalton threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Green with 2:10 left, and Cincinnati remained unbeaten. Baltimore dropped to 0-3 for the first time in franchise history. The Bengals (3-0) blew a 14-0 lead and twice trailed in the fourth quarter before Dalton brought them back by repeatedly picking apart the porous Baltimore pass defense. Dalton went 20 for 32 for 383 yards and three touchdowns. His favorite target was Green, who finished with 10 catches for a career-high 227 yards and two scores. Baltimore lost despite getting 362 yards passing from Joe Flacco, who twice connected with Steve Smith for touchdowns. Smith had 13 catches for 186 yards ___ COLTS 35, TITANS 33 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Andrew Luck threw two touchdown passes 56 seconds apart in the fourth quarter as he rallied Indianapolis. Luck improved to 7-0 against Tennessee with another stunning comeback. The Colts (1-2) trailed 27-14 before Luck got going. He drove the Colts 98 yards before hitting Phillip Dorsett on a 35-yard TD with 6:49 left. Dwight Lowery intercepted two passes by rookie Marcus Mariota, one for a 69-yard TD. The Titans (1-2) have lost 13 of 14 against their AFC South rival. ___ PANTHERS 27, SAINTS 22 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Cam Newton threw for 315 yards and a pair of touchdowns to tight end Greg Olsen and also ran for a score. Luke McCown, starting in place of the injured Drew Brees, completed 31 of 38 passes for 310 yards but it wasn't enough to save the Saints (0-3). It was the first game Brees has missed because of injury since joining the Saints in 2006. Newton ran for a 13-yard TD on a bootleg as the Panthers started 3-0 for the first time since reaching the Super Bowl in the 2003 season.

Panthers cornerback Josh Norman sealed the game with a leaping interception in the end zone with 1:09 remaining. ___ VIKINGS 31, CHARGERS 14 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Adrian Peterson plowed through San Diego's defense for 126 yards and two touchdowns on 20 rushes in three quarters. Chad Greenway scored on a 91-yard interception return for the Vikings (2-1). The Chargers are 1-2. Rivers was pulled for Kellen Clemens midway through the fourth quarter when the deficit reached 24 points. Sacked four times for a loss of 28 yards, Rivers went 21 for 34 for 246 yards with two turnovers and took a hard hit to the midsection from Anthony Barr in the third quarter.

Broncos adapt to make Peyton Manning more comfortable By Lindsay Jones USA Today September 28, 2015 The Denver Broncos offense is continuing to evolve, and while it does, the Broncos somehow manage to keep winning. With a 24-12 win against the Detroit Lions Sunday at Ford Field, the Broncos' offense looked much more like the 2012-2014 versions than the offense we saw over the first two weeks of 2015. In what could be a sign that Denver’s new coaching staff is acknowledging that its plans for Peyton Manning weren’t working, Gary Kubiak and Co. appear to be letting Manning be himself. That meant Manning was back to running a no-huddle offense, and he was doing it out of the shotgun and pistol formations. Manning didn’t take a snap from under center Sunday night until late in the second quarter, when the Broncos were lined up inside the 5-yard line. Feel free to debate Manning’s arm strength and analyze every throw, but it was clear that the adjustments made the 39-year-old quarterback more comfortable and helped the Broncos’ passing game. Manning was hit fewer times and sacked only once by the Lions — a marked change from the first two weeks, when he was sacked seven times — and at last, the Broncos connected a deep ball — a 45-yard touchdown from Manning to receiver Demaryius Thomas. That touchdown, on a fourth-and-1 just before halftime, might have been Manning sending a message after weeks of criticism about the offense and particularly of his arm strength. That he threw that ball to Thomas against Lions cornerback Darius Slay, who earlier this week said he’d ask Manning to autograph a ball if Slay intercepted it, was likely no accident. Manning finished the game with his best stats of the season: 324 passing yards, a pair of touchdowns and one interception. But let’s be clear: The Broncos offense is far from fixed. Kubiak still envisions his team as one that is led by its running game to reduce the burden placed on its aging quarterback, and through three games that has yet to transpire. Sunday against the Lions, Denver’s running backs averaged just 2.3 yards per carry. The Broncos now have a three-game sample size, enough proof that this is their new reality: They are no longer an offensive juggernaut. But with a defense that has 10 takeaways in three weeks, including two interceptions and a forced fumble against the Lions, and with a pass rush that sacked Matthew Stafford four times, it doesn’t have to be, and that’s allowing Kubiak and Manning time to adjust.

50 things we learned from Week 3 of the NFL season By USA Today Sports USA Today September 28, 2015 In honor of Super Bowl 50, here are 50 things we learned in Week 3: 1. Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Ryan proved again why he has earned the “Matty Ice” tag. He does not blink when the Falcons are trailing. He proved that again in rallying his team past the Dallas Cowboys. 2. And if Falcons WR Julio Jones keeps up his current pace, he'll finish the season with 181 catches for 2,347 yards. Yikes. 3. Minnesota Vikings RB Adrian Peterson and wife Ashley gave birth to a son, Axyl Eugene Peterson, on Sunday morning. “Basically, I said, ‘Are you not going to be at the game?’ And he said, ‘I can’t say that,’” Zimmer recalled. “And I said, ‘Well, I need to know by a certain time.’” 4. Peterson then scored on a 2-yard run with 9:05 to go in the second quarter – his first touchdown since Nov. 24, 2013. And he finished the game with 126 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. 5. The pre-draft scouting reports on Oakland Raiders WR Amari Cooper were spot on. He’s already drawing coverage from the opposition’s No. 1 corner (on Sunday it was Joe Haden of the Cleveland Browns) and looking like a Pro Bowl talent. 6. Cincinnati Bengals WR A.J. Green just continues to remind us every Sunday he is one of the best in the game. 7. Let the record show the chants for Johnny Manziel started in the second quarter in Cleveland. Loudly. 8. New England Patriots president Jonathan Kraft pregame quote on the Patriots' rivals starting 0-2: "It's too bad about Baltimore isn't it? It's really too bad about Baltimore." Ouch. (And imagine how he felt when they went to 0-3). 9. Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor: On the field. About time. 10. Browns WR Dwayne Bowe got a $9 million guaranteed deal in March. He was a healthy scratch. 11. Cowboys running back Joseph Randle had 91 yards rushing and two touchdowns. In the first quarter. 12. St. Louis Rams RB Todd Gurley: On the field. Welcome to the NFL. 13. The New York Jets are now 0-10 vs. the Philadelphia Eagles. Lifetime. 14. The Cowboys, with all the injury problems on offense, were the first team to score on Sunday. 15. The McCown brothers, Luke and Josh, were both starters. If Week 3 is not remembered for anything else, well, that happened. We won't mention they both threw interceptions to end their respective games. Oops, we just did.

16. It was Patriots RB Dion Lewis’ 25th birthday on Sunday. He scored a touchdown. That beats getting a tie. 17. Indianapolis Colts RB Frank Gore scored a touchdown. It is the first time he did that not wearing a San Francisco 49ers uniform. 18. We must admit, pretty impressed with the way the Buffalo Bills bounced back from an emotional loss to New England. A sign of maturity. 19. The Detroit Lions continued with their baffling use of running back Joique Bell, who has a DeMarco Murray-esque 22 yards on 20 carries this season. Rookie Ameer Abdullah deserves a larger role. 20. Did Kirk Cousins just throw another interception? Sorry, Thursday flashback. 21. No matter how well they play, doesn’t it seem like the Bengals always find a way to let the opponent hang around longer than they should? 22. And in steps Michael Vick for the injured Ben Roethlisberger. Too bad for Big Ben. He was off to a great start. And now it appears he will miss four to six weeks. 23. The start of the St. Louis Rams game was delayed about 20 minutes because of a fire. On the field. It was the result of a pre-game fireworks display. 24. We’re just glad the Rams weren’t playing the Giants. Don’t think Tom Coughlin could have handled that -- the delay or the fireworks. 25. So maybe the 49ers are as bad as everyone thought they might be before the season started. 26. Bengals QB Andy Dalton running into the end zone - or anywhere, for that matter - was mesmerizing. For some reason, we can’t stop watching that. 27. We could also watch the Eagles' Darren Sproles returning punts all day. Make sure you catch his 89-yarder that went for a touchdown Sunday. 28. Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Kyle Brindza hit a 58-yard field goal ... but missed three other attempts on the day. 29. Jets coach Todd Bowles gave in to the crowd reaction and challenged a call in the first half that was clearly correct. C’mon, rook. 30. Maybe Peyton Manning will get a break from the incessant criticism after hitting a few deep throws against the Lions. And being 3-0 helps. 31. We didn’t notice DeMarco Murray, who sat out with a hamstring injury, but we noticed that after Week 3 he has 11 yards rushing for the season. Last year after Week 3: 385 yards. 32. J.J. Watt went in for his first offensive snap of the season. He was a decoy. 33. A Brandon Weeden item: Carrying over from last week, he set a Cowboys record with 21 straight completions. Staubach. Aikman. Weeden. Yep, sounds about right.

34. Also, at one point early Sunday, Weeden and Luke McCown were a combined 20-for-21 for 173 yards. Wow. (Both ended up losing, though.) 35. Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton handed the ball to a young fan after a touchdown. Nicely done. 36. Somehow, the Colts’ impressive AFC South streak is alive. The Colts scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns against the Tennessee Titans to earn their 14th consecutive division win. 37. The amazing, ageless Charles Woodson recorded his 61st career interception to clinch the Raiders’ win against the Browns. Woodson, 38, is playing through a shoulder injury he suffered in Week 1. 38. Titans rookie QB Marcus Mariota threw an interception. And then another. Both cost the Titans dearly. 39. San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers now has thrown an interception in nine straight games, the longest active streak in the NFL. 40. Everyone who picked the Baltimore Ravens to go to the Super Bowl raise your hand. C’mon, don’t be shy. 41. An observation we agree with: For the first time in a long time, the Raiders seem worth watching. And QB Derek Carr (along with the aforementioned Cooper) is a big reason why. 42. Tom Brady threw his 400th touchdown pass. No, not this season. It just seems that way with the start he has had. He joins Peyton Manning, Brett Favre and Dan Marino as the only guys to throw 400 or more in a career. 43. After a disastrous start to the season for the Colts’ offense, they reshuffled the offensive line before Week 3 by benching veteran guard Todd Herremans, one of the team’s bigger free agent additions. 44. The Seahawks won a game. Phew. 45. Another Sunday, another Andrew Luck interception. Or two. Just sayin’. 46. The Year of the Tight End is in full swing. Ask the Saints, who were unable to cover the Panthers' Greg Olsen. 47. We are really going to miss watching Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith play. 48. Deal with it, NFL: Tom Brady is your frontrunner for NFL MVP honors. Who needs a deflated football? 49. We hope Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer stays healthy for the whole season, if only so we can see where it leads. 50. Odell Beckham. Touchdown Dance. Like it.

Broncos thump Lions, raise nasty level another notch By Paul Klee Colorado Springs Gazette September 27, 2015 They don’t particularly care for your well-being, or whether the yellow laundry scattered across the field is aimed at their feet. If you do manage to score a touchdown on their watch, don’t expect the extra point, so often a foregone conclusion, to come easy, either. “Points are points, man,” said Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib. He blocked a PAT. What continued to develop Sunday at Ford Field is a defense that should be illegal in some states. The Broncos thumped the Lions in the first, second and third quarters, and when the fourth quarter (“Our quarter,” as linebacker Danny Trevathan put it) finally rolled around, they just decided to take the ball away — twice — and go home. Denver beat Detroit, 24-12, and it looked more grimy than great. Perfect. This defense would rather win ugly, anyway. “We put in a little work tonight,” DeMarcus Ware said. So did the officials, you probably noticed. That’s becoming a thing, too. Nine penalties were tossed at the Broncos, including one where Sylvester Williams hit quarterback Matt Stafford, one where Chris Harris Jr. was called for a rare pass interference and one where Von Miller drew another roughing-the-passer flag. The Broncos are earning a reputation for fielding a defense nobody wants to deal with. If the Broncos score 24 points, chances are they will win. Theirs is a defense that hasn’t allowed more than 17 — the Chiefs scored 24, but seven came from the defense on a pick-6 — and the defense seems to ramp up its delight when the score is tight and the quarter says “4.” They are also earning a reputation for the kind of aggressive play that officials watch closely, eagerly, to make certain it doesn’t cross the line. Have they noticed? “Oh, yeah. We noticed. We knew coming into this game it was going to be called real close, (that) they were going to be looking for stuff,” Trevathan said. Second question: Is that a bad thing? If the officials expect the Broncos to play rough and tumble, it figures the opponent must know the same. “It’s not a bad thing,” Trevathan said. "I don't think it's a bad thing. We're aggressive. That's how we play. That's how we win. No plays off." It’s worth noting, as the sample size grows to three games, the best defense in the NFL in 2013 and 2014 was the one belonging to the Seahawks. Guess who led the NFL in penalties in 2013 and 2014? The same Seahawks. “There’s tone-setter penalties, and there’s little ticky-tack penalties,” lineman Malik Jackson said “The tone-setter things, we don’t really mind those.”

Williams, the nose tackle, said his pop on Stafford made sense when the official rushed to his side and explained why he drew a flag. “I get it,” Williams said. “They want to protect the quarterback. I pulled back, but not soon enough. I’ll be better next time.” The opposing fans streamed toward the exits with 2:28 left in the fourth quarter, which these days is early for a Broncos game. Shoot, this was a relaxing vacation in nearby Ontario compared to the last-minute Ravens and Chiefs wins. The exiting fans wore Matt Stafford jerseys (sans the turf stains smeared across his own), Barry Sanders throwbacks, even an Eminem jersey with the number “8.” Clever, very clever. And by the time it was over and Stafford was walking slowly through a tunnel in a spiffy suit jacket, the Lions wanted nothing to do with the Broncos beating on them. In the fourth quarter, when this swagtastic defense seems to crank up a final gear, the Broncos intercepted Stafford (on a juggling act by David Bruton) and made Stafford fumble (on a blindside tackle by Shaq Barrett). “In the fourth quarter,” Trevathan said, “Our attitude kicks in.” It’s early, but it seems the football world is taking notice that the nasty level of the Broncos’ defense is roughly a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10. Sunday’s three turnovers gave them 10 overall, their most through three games in 15 years. “We have drills we do in practice each and every day,” Ware said. The “Roar Meter” on the Jumbotron inside Ford Field ratcheted up to 116 decibels when Peyton Manning was on the field. The Broncos now are letting Manning be Manning. His play calls: 42 passes against 19 rushes, and those numbers look familiar. When Manning was not the cheetah under attack from a blitzing lion, he had more than enough arm strength to sling one 34 yards to Emmanuel Sanders, and one 45 to Demaryius Thomas. The issue lies with the offensive line’s inability to open lanes for the running backs. And that’s an issue that can derail a season, or at least a January. For now, and especially in the fourth quarter, the Broncos are earning a reputation. Even Thomas, whose idea of unsportsmanlike conduct is tapping your shoulder as he strolls the other way, got into the act. The whisper-quiet wide receiver earned a taunting penalty when he jogged backward to the end zone. “Guys are playing without fear,” Harris Jr. said. There’s nothing nice about playing these Broncos, and they sure seem to like it that way.

Only Week 3, and Denver Broncos in prime position in AFC West By Paul Klee Colorado Springs Gazette September 28, 2015 They were booed, harassed, then cheered. By the time the Lions crowd had found the exit, and the Greektown Casino down the road, the remaining fans inside Ford Field wore orange. After a 24-12 win Sunday night against the Lions, the Broncos are sitting pretty in the AFC, even while little about their 3-0 record has been pretty. The Raiders are 2-1, and it's a good story, but one with staying power? We are programmed to guess no. The Chargers are 1-2, and they still look like the top challenger to Denver, but two games back is two games back. The Chiefs are 1-1 with a road on Monday Night Football game at Green Bay, and you know how that usually goes. "I don't think we're close to where we can be. I think everyone in here would say the same thing," Sylvester Williams told me in the cramped visitors locker room early Monday morning inside Ford Field. "Coach Wade (Phillips), he had a good scheme for us," Chris Harris Jr. said. But they are in an awfully sweet spot, albeit without any semblance of a running game. The defense, goodness, and the offense, good enough.

Pregame report card, Klee prediction: Broncos at Lions By Paul Klee Colorado Springs Gazette September 27, 2015 Here's a pregame Broncos report card and Paul Klee's game prediction: Offense The dilemma: The Broncos spent big bucks on a wide receiver, Demaryius Thomas, when the offensive line is a shuffled mess. But Thomas saved their bacon at K.C. Advantage: Push Defense Calvin Johnson, the NFL’s top receiver, was demoted on fantasy sites to a second-tier wideout. What does it mean? Probably nothing. Or they saw Aqib Talib play lately. Advantage: Broncos Special teams Hey, Britton Colquitt is doing his job. The Broncos punter averages 47.8 yards per boot, 12th in the NFL. Problem is, he’s punting too often — 12 times, second overall. Advantage: Broncos Coaching Lions coach Jim Caldwell, who worked with Peyton Manning for a decade in Indianapolis, appraised the quarterback thusly: “He’s still very, very effective.” Advantage: Broncos Intangibles Detroit is 0-2. Last time the Broncos opened 0-2? 1999. They finished 6-10. Along the way, however, they beat two playoff teams — Seattle and, yes, Detroit. Advantage: Lions Klee’s Pick: Broncos 22, Lions 18 (prediction record: 2-0)

Broncos beat Lions, Peyton Manning improves: 10 things to know By Ryan Wilson CBSSports.com September 28, 2015 Peyton Manning came into Sunday night's Broncos-Lions game as the 34th-ranked quarterback, according to Football Outsiders. That's dead last among all starters. And the conversation about why the 39-year-old has played like, well, a 39-year-old always starts the same way: with Manning's inability to throw the ball more than 10 yards down the field. That's no exaggeration; Manning's touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas just before halftime was noteworthy for reasons that are almost impossible to comprehend given his resume. #DENvsDET ✔ @SNFonNBC That TD pass before the half was the 1st completion this season that went for over 20 yards. #SNF #DENvsDET 8:18 PM - 27 Sep 2015 But this isn't all about Manning's old age suddenly catching up with him, it's also first-year coach Gary Kubiak's new offense, one that has historically included the quarterback playing under center. In fact, during his time as the Texans' coach, Kubiak's quarterbacks play in the shotgun just 32 percent of the time. But during the first two weeks Manning struggled under center so much so that he was only in the pistol or shotgun on Sunday night. The results weren't vintage Peyton, but it was much better than we saw in the Broncos' first two games. By the time it was over, Manning was 31 of 42 for 324 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception. He's still struggling to throw the ball downfield with any consistency but there's plenty of reason for optimism. And it starts with ... 1. That defense. In all the chitchat about Manning's demise, a lot of people have overlooked just how dominant this defense has been. Through two weeks, they were the league's best unit, according to FO.com, and we saw exactly why against a Lions offense that looked overwhelmed and out of sorts for most of the night. Denver is No. 1 against the pass, and it's not singularly because of the defensive line or the linebackers or the secondary -- but all of them collectively playing at a high level. DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller are damn near unblockable; Brandon Marshall and Danny Trevathan are two of the best coverage linebackers in football, and the secondary is stingy. #DENvsDET ✔ @SNFonNBC These guys are good. REAL good. #SNF #DENvsDET 8:42 PM - 27 Sep 2015 And as long as the defense stifles opponents, Manning doesn't need to be perfect. Far from it, actually; we've seen teams make deep playoff runs on the back of great defenses, and Game Manager Manning might be all the Broncos need. And that's not a slight at the future Hall of Famer. Plenty of teams would take Game Manager Manning.

Like, say, the Lions. 2. About Matthew Stafford. To be fair, it's hard to gauge just how good a quarterback might be based on four quarters against this Broncos' D. That said, the Stafford we saw tonight is the same guy that has driven Lions' fans crazy for seven years. The short version: mind-blowing physical skills coupled with terrible decision-making means the Lions are destined for mediocrity. Or worse. Detroit fell to 0-3 on Sunday night and it's not clear they're a quick fix. And while this is a joke, it's not far off: NOT SportsCenter @NOTSportsCenter Matthew Stafford's 3 favorite plays 1. Heave it to Megatron and pray 2. Throw INT aiming for Megatron 3. Fumble before throwing to Megatron 9:16 PM - 27 Sep 2015 3. So ... what to do about Stafford? The problem: quarterbacks are overvalued in the NFL because it's impossible to win without a good one. Stafford is average -- but his potential is so alluring. And that's why the Lions won't get rid of him. And honestly, they probably shouldn't. (Who would you replace him with?) The (insurmountable?) task facing Jim Caldwell, the man who worked with Manning in Indy: putting Stafford in positions to succeed. It sounds good in a meeting room and looks good on paper, but can it happen on the field? Six-plus seasons paints a bleak picture. 4. Imagine where the Lions' O would be without Calvin Johnson. Megatron turns 30 on Tuesday, and he's battled injuries in recent seasons, but he remains one of the league's most dynamic wide receivers. Behold: NFL ✔ @NFL Aqib Talib thought he had a pick. He thought wrong. MEGATRON'S BALL. #DENvsDET 7:38 PM - 27 Sep 2015 5. Is Megatron still a top-five receiver? We think so, but CBS Sports' Boomer Esiason didn't have Johnson on his list during Sunday's The NFL Today. Again, more consistency from Stafford would go a long way in reminding everyone just how good Megatron is. Meanwhile ... 6. Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders are Manning's best friends. Here's Thomas just before halftime: NFL ✔ @NFL 4th & 1 at midfield. Go for the 1st Down? No. Chuck it to Demaryius Thomas for a 45-yard TD? Oh, Peyton. #DENvsDET 8:03 PM - 27 Sep 2015

1) Hey, look, Peyton can throw it down the field! 2) Not everyone was impressed. Michael David Smith @MichaelDavSmith I love Peyton Manning, but people who think his arm is fine are seriously delusional. That TD pass was underthrown. 8:02 PM - 27 Sep 2015 Thomas did make that play over Darius Slay, and Slay was again victimized late in the fourth quarter by Sanders: But again, Manning has that defense, and there isn't a successful quarterback in the league who doesn't benefit from having play-making pass-catchers to occasionally mask their mistakes. 7. We had a blocked extra point! NFL ✔ @NFL **BLOCKED EXTRA POINT ALERT** And Chris Harris Jr. almost ran it back...almost. #DENvsDET 7:51 PM - 27 Sep 2015 Sadly, it wasn't returned for two points (which is a new rule this season) -- but it's only a matter of time. 8. There was a bright spot for Stafford. He had one reception for 1 yard when he caught a pass ... from himself. 9. The whole blood moon thing may have been taken too far. From the funny: Aaron Schatz @FO_ASchatz Quick, if you go outside and look in the sky you can see Peyton Manning getting eclipsed by the shadow of the awesome Denver defense! 7:43 PM - 27 Sep 2015 · Somerville, MA, United States 10. In case you were wondering about the Pontiac Silverdome. Turns out, it's still standing, though the roof is missing.

The evolution of Peyton Manning: Good enough to keep the Broncos winning By Dan Wetzel Yahoo! Sports September 28, 2015 No one knows how long he'll last, how much more football Peyton Manning can get out of the neck that's been surgically repaired, or the fingers he no longer has feeling in or the arm that's often cited as some form of noodle (generally, it's described as "wet"). The NFL is never kind, but 39 years old can be particularly cruel. Maybe this is it, one last push for the playoffs, for a second Super Bowl title. Maybe it just collapses as the season's wear and tear arrives. There's so much defensive talent surrounding him in Denver, anything seems possible – even as New England looks as menacing than ever. The playoffs are a long way off, so everyone watches to see if it's over for Manning and then marvels when a guy with 70,000-plus career-passing yards can hit a down-and-out. "Defensively, we are making a hell of a lot of plays," John Elway, the Broncos current general manager and former all-time quarterbacking legend said Sunday, leaning up against a wall in the Denver locker room after a 24-12 victory. "Offensively, we are starting to make more plays." This isn't about whether Peyton Manning is as good as he once was because clearly he isn't. The Broncos' season will hinge on whether he's good enough to win games, or will still be in January, when it counts. So far, he has been. Denver is 3-0. Manning threw for 324 yards and a couple touchdowns Sunday in his strongest performance of the season. He went 31 for 42. He was the best quarterback on the field. Of course, the Lions' Matthew Stafford had to face the Broncos' defense, which forced three turnovers – two acrobatic interceptions and a strip fumble. "He does what he usually does," said Lions coach Jim Caldwell, who coached Peyton back in his Indianapolis prime. "He's one of those guys." Which is why it's unfair to call Manning a game manager or something like that – harkening back to Baltimore or Tampa, some Super Bowl champion with a superb defense but a limited QB. "It's part of being a team, right?" Manning said of his defense. He is not just some game manager. Manning can still throw it better than most in the NFL. Top five? No. Top 15? Yeah, probably. Have you seen the quarterbacking in this league? Besides, he's way too smart and experienced to become just some keep-it-simple cog in the machine. Maybe it was the 10 days between games, or maybe it's that the Lions aren't very good, or maybe it was a move out of the pistol offense, but Manning was about to control the game without the benefit of a rushing attack – just 41 yards, despite a switch to the pistol.

"We can win these games," Elway said. "But for us to go as far as we want, we need to work on that running game and get that going. For us to go as deep as we want in the playoffs, we need to run the ball." "[We need to know] we can't be in shotgun and throw the ball 60 times a game," Elway said. "That isn't the plan and that won't get us where we want to go." Except, because there is no run game, Peyton is forced to throw. He's averaging 42.3 attempts a game thus far this season. Two years ago, when he tossed for 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns, he averaged 41.2 attempts a game. All of this is part of why this feels, at times, like a high-wire act. There is a Hall of Fame quarterback who the franchise is all in with, yet no one knows how long he can make it. He's prone to late-season fades now. He's learning a new offense. The team is unbeaten, but all anyone talks about is making progress and trying to find its way and getting the QB comfortable with coach Gary Kubiak. It's all too fragile for anyone to speak definitively about January, the way the Patriots can, even though Tom Brady is, himself, 38. Most of the postgame talk was about getting Manning "comfortable" in the offense, especially with various gameplan wrinkles. "I think he played exceptional," Kubiak said. "We just need to keep battling, keep protecting him and he'll make his plays." All Elway knows is that Manning has been forced to change from where he was just two seasons ago, when he led the Broncos past New England and into the Super Bowl (albeit to a blowout loss to Seattle). In Denver this is about winning it all, now, because there isn't any other point or anymore time for anything else. Some would say it's already too late, that Denver can't wring one more great season out of Peyton Manning, that injury or weakness will derail the entire thing. "Over time it's how you adapt, the more you can adapt and understand where you are," Elway said. "The older you get you have to adapt. It's always hard to adapt, but I think Peyton is getting more used to it every week. "Having been through it when I was 38, I know it can be done," Elway continued. "He's getting better and more comfortable with what we're doing each week." Thus far, the developmental plan of an evolving quarterback/offensive system has produced three victories. It may not be the best Peyton Manning back there in the Broncos' backfield, but it's still Peyton Manning.

Peyton Manning has a big game in win, with Denver's new offensive look By Frank Schwab Yahoo! Sports September 27, 2015 The 2013 Denver Broncos were a fun team to watch. If you really enjoy and appreciate the NFL, it was even beautiful at times. Nobody would call the 2015 Broncos beautiful. But brutally effective? Yes. The Broncos defense is as good as any in the NFL outside of Seattle (and maybe better than the Seahawks? Hmmmm) and the offense got better on Sunday night. Denver's defense shut down the Detroit Lions and the offense did enough to give the Broncos a 24-12 win. Give Broncos coach Gary Kubiak credit — after a week of saying he wouldn't change his offense, he did. Peyton Manning was rarely under center on Sunday. For whatever reason — his vision of the defense, how quickly he can get out from under center, the Broncos' not-so-great offensive line — Manning is more comfortable in the shotgun, or in the pistol formation. Operating out of both against the Lions, Manning went 31-of-42 for 324 yards and two touchdowns. Manning got plenty of help. Demaryius Thomas jumped over cornerback Darius Slay and pulled in a 45-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1 to end the first half. Owen Daniels made a very nice touchdown catch to seal the win late in the game. That was set up by Emmanuel Sanders' ridiculous catch over Slay. But Manning had a lot to do with delivering the ball in the right spots to allow his receivers to make those plays. Compare that to Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who still has a cannon of an arm but always leave you wondering why he isn't better, considering the weapons he has. When the Lions trailed 17-12 in the fourth quarter, Stafford threw an interception. It was a really nice catch by safety David Bruton, but were you surprised Stafford didn't come through? These Broncos aren't winning pretty, but they are 3-0. The defense isn't going anywhere. The front is good against the run, the edge rushers are dominating and the secondary is deep and fantastic. Coordinator Wade Phillips is great at devising a defense. Has the offense figured it out? For one night, it seems so. Maybe Manning won't play like he did in 2013 ever again. It doesn't look like the Broncos need that Manning to win games anymore, though. What he did on Sunday night, out of his familiar spot in the shotgun, is more than enough with this defense.

The Peyton we're used to is gone, but the new one still knows how to win By Michael Rosenburg SI.com September 28, 2015 The arm is weaker but the record remains perfect. Peyton Manning’s Broncos are 3-0 after their Sunday Night Football victory over the desperate Lions, and … well, here we are, two sentences into a story about a quarterback with a shrinking margin for error, and I’ve already made my first mistake. Let’s not call them “Peyton Manning’s Broncos,” any more than they are Von Miller’s Broncos or Demaryius Thomas’s Broncos. We need to learn what Manning is learning, week by week: The Manning who could destroy defenses by himself is gone. But the new Manning’s team can still win. After the Broncos beat the Lions, 24-12, I asked Manning’s boss, John Elway: Do you see a different Manning than you saw last year? “You know, I see him as a 39-year-old quarterback,” Elway said. “That’s the thing: As much as you don’t want to see different things change, they do, the older you get. But more than that is the adaption to the new system, getting comfortable with that.” It’s not just the new system. It’s the new reality. Yes, Manning is adjusting to a new scheme, but he is a brilliant quarterback. He can do that. And yes, there are new wrinkles, like the Pistol formation he used to great effect Sunday, but Manning can handle that, too. Elway went through a similar transition at the end of his Hall of Fame career, and he says the toughest part was letting go of the steering wheel. “It was just adapting to relying more on other people than you are used to,” he said. “Because you are used to being The Guy. And that’s the hardest thing, is that adaption. It takes everybody a little bit of time, and we’re seeing that adaption, week by week, with Peyton.” Manning was not physically impressive against the Lions. But he was efficient, rope-a-doping his way to a 31-for-42, 324-yard night. His backup, Brock Osweiler, said Manning is doing a great job of taking what the defense gives him, but Osweiler acknowledged that phrase is not quite apt. Look at what Colin Kaepernick did against the Cardinals Sunday. Look at what Andrew Luck did for most of his game against Tennessee. Defenses gave them nothing. Manning has to find ways to take little pieces of the field wherever he can. Manning is a control freak. It’s part of what makes him great. It even explains why he has handled the public nature of his job so well. He is so great in press conferences and interviews because he is determined to be great in them—he doesn’t take any questions off. Sunday night, he explained his thinking on a crucial fourth-and-one play in such detail, even he seemed amused by it. It is not surprising that Manning acts so well in commercials; the only surprise is that he does not insist on directing them. In the past few years, Manning had to adjust to a new team, a new city, two new head coaches, three new offensive coordinators, and his own diminishing physical skills. And we have to adjust, too. America rolled its eyes at Manning’s flutterballs and mistakes in the first two games, because he is Peyton Manning and we can’t let go of that. He was the son of a beloved and famous quarterback. He

was the No. 1 recruit in the country as a high school senior. He would have been the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft if he had left Tennessee after his junior year, but he went back to school and so he was the No. 1 pick the next year. He was a Pro Bowl quarterback in his second season in Indianapolis, and even then, people wondered when he would win the Super Bowl. Almost all of the great sports movies are underdog stories, because we love underdog stories. Peyton Manning has been favored since the day he was born. So yes: This is hard for him. He can’t make manic hand signals at the line and decide to throw a pass most quarterbacks wouldn’t try. His arm won’t allow it. His team doesn’t want it. Manning finally completed a pass of at least 20 yards Sunday, in his third game of the season—this seemingly obscure bit of trivia had come to define his new limitations, and fuel the Peyton Is Done talk—and even that pass was slightly underthrown. This is not the same quarterback we watched all those years. But you know what? He can still win. Elway knows. He joined the Broncos in 1983, as a generational talent, and quickly led undermanned teams to three Super Bowls, though they lost all three. By 1997, Elway had lost some of the qualities that made him special. He was 37. He could no longer evade two pass rushers, change directions, run left and throw a dart to his right. But he had a coach, Mike Shanahan, who knew how to use him; and the roster around him was the strongest of his career. The Broncos won their Super Bowl, then won again the next year, at which point Elway retired. “That’s kind of the game plan, having been in that situation before … knowing how much a good defense, which we have, and a good strong running game can take the pressure off you,” Elway said. “Because you can’t carry a team any more when you get that old. You can still be a big part of that machine, but instead of [being] the machine, you’re a cog in the machine like everybody else.” Elway says he doesn’t talk to Manning much about this. Part of the reason their relationship works is that Elway gives Manning space, and neither man has to earn the other’s respect. So while America wondered if Peyton was done, Elway knew better. He has been here and done this. He had faith Manning could figure it out. “Everybody is getting used to each other,” Elway said. “Gary [Kubiak] is getting used to him, and he is getting used to what we’re trying to do offensively, and that’s try to mix in the running game there, which I think is important for us. If you get deep in the playoffs, you’re going to need those types of things. Plus, it takes pressure off him. “So, it’s coming together. We knew we would probably be ahead on defense compared to where we are offensively. It’s going to take us some time. It’s getting better each week.” The Broncos are 3-0 now, and the next three games are: the Vikings at home, at Oakland and at Cleveland (and after that, a bye week). The Broncos could be 6-0, and should be at least 5-1, heading into a Sunday night game against the Packers in Week 8. Green Bay will probably have the better quarterback that night. But Denver could have the better team. The man who carried offenses as well as anybody in NFL history does not have to do the heaviest lifting any more. He seems to be accepting that. Can we?

A Sleepy Football Sunday By Peter King MMQB.com September 28, 2015 This morning, we can see how a few more pieces fit into the 2015 NFL jigsaw puzzle. This wasn’t a particularly good weekend of pro football, and TVs across America must have clicked off with the three late-afternoon games being decided by 40, 27 and 26 points. (Average margin of victory on Sunday: 14.9 points.) But every week we find out a little more about where the year’s headed. The verities of Week 3: • The Bengals are in fabulous shape in the AFC North. At 3-0 after a crushing 28-24 win at 0-3 Baltimore on Sunday, Cincinnati is set up nicely for the fifth playoff appearance in Andy Dalton’s five years. “I’m as comfortable playing this game as I’ve ever been,” Dalton said from Baltimore. A 121.0 passer rating would seem to back him up. • The Steelers will need a 2010 version of Michael Vick to save their season. “How’s Ben?” Dalton asked late Sunday afternoon. “Hope he’s okay.” Ben Roethlisberger, his left knee caved in on a Rams pass-rush, suffered an MCL sprain and bone bruise, but no damage to his ACL. He’s gone for four to six weeks. Vick, 35, doesn’t have too much pressure on him: The Ravens travel to Pittsburgh to play the 2-1 Steelers in four days. • Jay Cutler, Tony Romo, Drew Brees … and now Roethlisberger. That’s four marquee quarterbacks hurt before the calendar turns to October. You can be sure the Competition Committee will be pushing for more offseason drill work for offensive linemen; players are now restricted from all offseason contact by the 2011 labor agreement. • The Patriots wake the echoes … of 2007. They’re already using the “U” word in New England. As in “undefeated.” New England went 16-0 in 2007, and advanced to a flawless-looking 3-0 Sunday against Jacksonville. More about that later, but as one of the ’07 team leaders, Rodney Harrison, opined Sunday night: “It’s 2007 all over again. Tom Brady’s playing like he’s 29, 30 years old.” Brady is 38, and he threw his 400th and 401st pro touchdown passes against the Jags. • Richie Incognito is back, and he’s really good. Incognito, who didn’t play football for 22 months after the Dolphins’ bullying scandal of 2013, had his third straight very good day at left guard Sunday for the Buffalo Bills, back at Miami. Incognito helped keep Tyrod Taylor sack-free, and through three weeks he’s allowed only one quarterback hit and no sacks in 196 snaps—good for the top guard in the league as rated by Pro Football Focus. “It’s great,” the 32-year-old Incognito said from Miami. “I just kept working on my game and on me as a person, and the Bills gave me a chance. I’m grateful.” • Indianapolis is the most fortunate decent team in the league. AFC South standings: T-1. Indianapolis/Jacksonville/Houston/Tennessee (1-2). The Colts, their season on the brink, went from disaster to tied for the division lead exiting September in one afternoon. You wouldn’t think a 35-33 win at Tennessee would make a coach emotional after a game. But Chuck Pagano was. “This is bigger than a football game,” he said, exhorting his team after the game in the locker room, via a Colts.com video. “This is about LIFE! That’s as big a win as I’ve ever been a part of IN MY LIFE!”

• There’s a reason you don’t have to worry about Peyton Manning’s health. The Denver defense is huge. “We just have ball hawks,” safety David Bruton said, a few minutes after making his third huge defensive play of the month, an athletic pick of Matthew Stafford to clinch the 24-12 win over Detroit. Stafford couldn’t breathe against the defensive pressure. Now the Broncos, 3-0 after a killer September, have a more humane October: Minnesota at home, Oakland and Cleveland on the road. • Carolina, Atlanta and Arizona, all 3-0, are there because of new stars. Cornerback Josh Norman saved the Panthers on Sunday with a ridiculous leaping end-zone interception down the stretch. Running back Devonta Freeman saved the Falcons with a 141-yard rushing game. And Tyrann Mathieu did the same for Arizona with a two-pick day. I asked Norman what’s the big difference in him this year from past seasons. “I’m playing,” he said. “Opportunity.” That’s all? • The Raiders, usually out of it by now, will actually have a winning record as October dawns. The Raiders (2-1) play on the road next week—and they are actually favored to beat Chicago. The quarterback, Derek Carr, is a big reason. “Having a quarterback is everything,” said Charles Woodson from Cleveland. Having Woodson is something too. His last-minute interception, 10 days shy of his 39th birthday, ensured the 27-20 win. “I’m not surprised at all,” he said. “I was born to do this.” So the games might have put us to sleep Sunday. The results, and the meaning, did not. * * * The Best Team in Football Takes the Week Off. It’s early-bye time for New England. No team likes the Week 4 bye. This year, only the Patriots and Titans have it. Strange to have a bye before the leaves turn in Foxboro. “Rest, let your muscles chill and do what you have to do to be ready for next game,” Rob Gronkowski said Sunday. Taking stock of this team, you don’t want to make too much of the almost-too-easy win over the Jaguars, but you can make a few comparisons to 2007. That was a sick team eight years ago. The ’07 Patriots started with 24, 24 and 31-point wins, and didn’t have a game closer than 34-17 (Week 5, Cleveland) in the first half of the season. This year, New England handled Pittsburgh, which made it close in the second half. Ditto Buffalo, and then the Jaguars rout. It’s easy now to say Brady has never been better, but he was: in 2007. In the first three weeks then, the 30-year-old Brady completed 79.5% of his throws with a plus-nine TD-to-pick ratio and a rating of 141.8. This year, he’s completing 72.2%, with a plus-nine and a rating of 119.6. It’s like quibbling over whether driving a Mercedes or a BMW is a smoother ride, but Brady set his all-time standard in 2007. “The only difference between that year and this year,” Harrison said, “is this team’s a little younger—so the guys are more impressionable.” Randy Moss, Kyle Brady, Mike Vrabel, Harrison, Tedy Bruschi, Larry Izzo … the ’07 team had self-starters. But this year, the remade offensive line and secondary have meshed earlier than young units on past teams, and Bill Belichick has already forged a pass rush that could be deeper than any he’s had in New England—I say could be, because the season is young. But with 13 sacks already, the Patriots are on pace for 69. The high in the previous 15 Belichick seasons in New England: 48, in 2013. New England is likely to be favored in all of its remaining games—save, perhaps, for the Week 12 Sunday-nighter at Denver. And the Patriots get several advantages. They play Dallas, without Tony Romo and Dez Bryant, coming off the bye in 13 days. They play the Colts (in the Deflategate Revenge Bowl) the

next week, and the Colts’ offensive line is currently in tatters. Conversely, Philadelphia may have time to get its act together by the time the Eagles come to Foxboro on Dec. 6. Harrison told me over the summer that the league did Brady and the Patriots a huge favor with the long-running investigation into Brady’s honor—he’d be supremely motivated to stick it to the league this year, even more motivated than the hyper-focused player usually is. So far, Harrison’s been spot on. Brady hasn’t thrown an interception since Super Sunday. He had the best passing day of a foe in the 56-year history of the Bills in Week 2, and he scored every time he had his hands on the ball Sunday against the Jaguars. And Brady still has one thing to accomplish that he hasn’t yet in his previous 16 pro seasons: winning ‘em all. Going 19-0. You’d be naïve to think he hasn’t thought of that—many times. * * * The Red Rifle is Trying to Bury His Past. Think of the environment the Bengals walked into Sunday: Ravens home opener, Ravens at 0-2 in desperate straits knowing a loss would put them three games out in the division after three games, and then the little thing about the Ravens and Bengals not liking each other. And then think of Dalton getting stripped in the fourth quarter, having it returned for a score, and, after being up 14-0, trailing 17-14 with seven minutes left, crowd going nuts. “I just knew we needed a play,” Dalton said from Baltimore. “We had to answer. I told A.J. Green what I thought we'd get for coverage, and I though the play to him would be there.” First down, Bengals’ 20. Dalton drops. Green runs a seam route deep up the left side, bracketed by safeties Kendrick Lewis and Will Hill; the left corner, Jimmy Smith, was singled on the outside receiver. Dalton threw a perfect strike 36 yards in the air, between the two safeties, and Green won the race against them and Smith, who came over to try to help. Too late: 80-yard touchdown. But the Ravens came back to take another lead. And here came Dalton again, taking over at his 20 again. “We’re going to need every one of you here,” he said in the huddle. “I trust every one of you to make plays right now.” Mohamed Sanu and Marvin Jones made big catches, and Dalton had a second-and-goal at the Baltimore seven, with 2:16 to go. Now he knew Smith would take Green, but Green got a step on him, and Dalton lofted the ball toward the left corner of the end zone. Again, a perfect strike. Touchdown. This time, the winning touchdown. In two drives during the last seven minutes, Dalton drove the Bengals 160 yards for two touchdowns … in a total of one minute and 58 seconds. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in what we’re doing,” Dalton said. “Once you’ve been in a system for a while and you know your receivers, you get a lot more confident, and that’s where I am with these guys right now.” I’d like to see Dalton’s three October tests, all against pressure defenses (Kansas City at home, Seattle at home, at Buffalo), before saying anything definitive about him. But what I saw Sunday, I liked a lot. Pressure throws, in a cauldron, with the game on the line. And one of them a well-placed long throw made with confidence right on the money. Dalton’s a 66.3% passer this morning, with eight touchdowns and one interception. And lots of confidence. Again: Dalton’s been a good regular-season quarterback (43-23-1, 107 touchdowns, 67 picks), and a maddening postseason one (0-4, one touchdown, six interceptions). Cincinnati won’t love him until that changes. But that can’t change in September, and what Dalton has done in September is all he can do. It’s been plenty good enough. * * *

The city of Pittsburgh sighs. Michael Vick, 35, has a better chance to go 2-2 against a tough October slate (Baltimore, at San Diego, Arizona, at Kansas City) than a majority of backup quarterbacks. But if you’re a Steelers fan, you have to hope that the four-to-six-week injury to Ben Roethlisberger keeps him out for those four games only. Thirty-four days from now (five weeks, so at the midpoint of what was the best guess for Roethlisberger’s recovery as of Sunday night), the Bengals come to Heinz Field to start a Cincinnati-Oakland-Cleveland home slate. You’ve got to figure Cincinnati is the game etched in Roethlisberger’s head (and Mike Tomlin’s) as the one he’d love to get back to play in. Because the Steelers play five of their six AFC North games Nov. 1 and later, Pittsburgh wouldn’t be out of contention if the Steelers could win at least one of the next four and Roethlisberger could return then. The injury is a strain of the MCL and a bone bruise. But the ACL is intact. Roethlisberger thought the worst when he left the field, because of the pain. And the Steelers have to feel good that Tomlin banged the drum to get Vick in the building as the backup, because he’s played in the kind of games he’ll have to win beginning Thursday night—against Baltimore, in a rabid-rivalry game at home. “I’m playing with some great talent,” Vick said Sunday. “I know how to do it right.” Doing it right is handing it to Le’Veon Bell and throwing it to Antonio Brown; the weapons are there. Vick has had some great hurrahs in the NFL, and there’s no reason why, with this talent, he can’t scotch-tape the offense together and win a couple of games over the next four weeks. * * * Three questions for… Richie Incognito. But first, a stat: Through three games, the former Dolphins guard—as mentioned above, Pro Football Focus’s top-rated guard in the NFL—has surrendered one quarterback disruption (either a quarterback sack, hit or pressure). The Dolphins’ starting guards have given up 26. My sense is Incognito will enjoy that one. Speaking from the Bills’ locker room after Buffalo’s 41-14 rout of his former team, Incognito reflected on his successful return to the game. The MMQB: What was important against such a good defensive front in keep Tyrod Taylor clean? Incognito: We came out and wanted to move the pocket with Tyrod. They are such a good one-gap penetrating team that we wanted to move him so they wouldn’t know where he’d be. For me, the important thing was to take out the emotion of coming back here. And I was able to do that, to take the emotion out and just go play a football game. In my younger days, I think my emotions would have gotten the best of me and who knows how I would have handled a day like today. The MMQB: Do you regret not being signed last year, even though you were eligible to play, and missing the entire season? Incognito: I do. A big part of me wishes I played last year. I missed the game. But I was able to work on a lot of things, so when I got my chance this year, I’d be ready. And the way it’s worked out is great—to get a chance here with Rex Ryan. I’m grateful [GM] Doug Whaley took a chance on me, and [owners] Terry and Kim Pegula. They showed faith in me, and I appreciate it.

The MMQB: When you say you worked on a lot of things—what exactly did you work on? Incognito: I spent my year off polishing my craft. A year and a half, really. It was a long time. But I worked on myself physically and mentally. I went to Exos Sports in Arizona and worked with a trainer, Brett Bartholomew, on all parts of my body. When you play year after year, even after an off-season, you enter the next year and something might be bugging you physically. Overall, taking a year off at this stage of my career—even though I wanted to play last year—has been a huge positive. And it’s been amazing coming back and playing again, after what happened [with the bullying scandal with Jonathan Martin]. You keep working and working and working, and good things can happen. It says something about the human spirit and second chances. * * * The dot-dot-dot… Through three weeks, NFL teams have missed 14 of the newfangled extra points, after missing 26 in the previous four seasons combined. With the line of scrimmage for the PAT pushed back from the two- to the 15-yard line, it’s obviously not such a gimme anymore. And that’s good. When a play is 99.6% successful, the pertinent question is why they play should exist. I loved what happened Sunday night in the Detroit-Denver game, when Bronco Aqib Talib blocked a Lions extra point, and cornerback Chris Harris picked it up and ran it 52 yards toward the opposite end zone before being tackled by Detroit’s Eric Ebron. If Harris had made it all the way, Denver would have been awarded two points, and a 7-6 Bronco lead would have grown to 9-6. The change was made to add some excitement to a dull play, and while I wouldn’t call a 33-yard extra point kick “exciting,” it certainly makes the point or points after touchdown more interesting than before … Did you catch the Chuck Pagano post-game speech in the winning Indy locker room? Powerful. Part of the emotion, clearly, was the pent-up tension between Pagano and the Colts’ front office, stemming from the inability to negotiate a contract extension in the offseason. “GRIT always wins!” he said, pacing back and forth. “You dig your way out of something that NO ONE thought you could dig your way out of … You can do anything that you want to do. ANYTHING! … I’ll cherish that one for the rest of my life. Why we do this is for moments just like this. MOMENTS JUST LIKE THIS!” The Colts aren’t out of the woods, but they do have the Jags and Texans the next two weeks ... The Panthers aren’t going to blow teams out, but no one’s blowing them out either. Playing without Luke Kuechly (concussion), the Panthers bent on defense, giving Luke McCown-led New Orleans 380 total yards, but didn’t break at the end of a 27-22 win. One of the game’s rising-star corners, Josh Norman, plucked a McCown pass intended for Brandin Cooks out of the sky. “I saw a bone, and I went up and got it,” Norman said. A bone? “Yeah, a bone. The ball. God gave me wings to fly, and I went up and got it. All the guys on this defense can make plays. Do your job. Be in the defense. I’m doing some pretty good stuff. I think we all are.” Carolina goes for 4-0 Sunday in Tampa ... Charles Woodson baited his trap Sunday in Cleveland, waited, waited and waited, then, with Oakland up 27-20 and 43 seconds left, Woodson cut on the Josh McCown throw deep downfield. He made the 61st interception in his career looks easy, as though he was the intended target. “They have one of the fastest guys in the league out there,” said Woodson, referring to Cleveland’s Travis Benjamin. “In my heart of hearts, I knew they were going to him. I just had to be smart.” Since when has Woodson not been smart? Through eight years in Oakland, then seven in Green Bay and now three more in Oakland, about to turn 39, Woodson needs five more picks this year (no small feat) to end his decade of the thirties as the fifth-leading interceptor of all time. Then again, there’s always next year. “I love the direction we’re headed,” said Woodson. The Raiders are 2-1. “I love the guys we’ve been bringing in. And this quarterback [Derek Carr] is going to be good for a long time.” Can you believe it? Raiders at Chicago Sunday, and a win would put them two games over .500. * * *

The Yogi Section. June 1990, West Orange, N.J., Yogi Berra’s annual charity golf tournament. Bill Parcells and Yogi Berra, in a country club locker room, are discussing Kirby Puckett’s record $3-million-a-year contract, and Parcells says: “Can you believe they’re paying a ballplayer $3 million a year, Yogi?” “If Branch Rickey was alive today,” Berra said, “he’d roll over in his grave.” Parcells relayed the story Friday. “I swear to God it’s true! He said it!” No one’s doubting it. The day before the Giants played a huge Thursday night game, in a short week when time was so valuable, Giants coach Tom Coughlin greeted his team at their daily morning meeting by talking about the death overnight of former Yankees catcher Yogi Berra. “Good morning, men. Yogi Berra is a New York legend. He was 5-7 but he could really hit a baseball. How’s this for a résumé?” And he put up two slides on the big screen in front of the Giants meeting room for all the players to see. As Coughlin said later: “Can you imagine what he accomplished—three MVPs, 10 world championships. How many batting titles? He was unbelievable. And not a big man. And he was in D-Day. And the fact that he could stick to his business all those years, when quite frankly, others weren’t.” The Giants went on to win Thursday night. Maybe there’s a place for humanness and perspective in the game after all. Berra, 90, died Tuesday. Yes, he was a 20-year-old kid from St. Louis on one of the first boats to provide Naval support at Normandy in World War II. He went on to one of the great careers in baseball history, and to be just a good person and quiet neighbor in the leafy burb of Montclair, N.J. (I lived there at the same time and knew him a little, but not much, from some events at his Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center on the campus of Montclair State University. We had a Montclair High softball booster club event at the place once, and I saw Yogi settle into a seat near the top of the auditorium and watch for a few minutes, and at the end, he said to me, “You run a tight meeting.” Mostly, he was a man of very few words. He liked hanging around the museum and saying hi to school kids and parents who would frequent the place.) Regarding his career: Imagine, in a six-year period, being the league MVP three times and finishing second, third and fourth the other three years—when you’re on the same team as Mickey Mantle for five of those six years. He finished third in 1950 and hit .322 with 28 homers and 124 RBI. And imagine the durability. In those five years, he played an average of 145 (out of 154) games per season. And there’s this: Major league baseball teams rarely schedule doubleheaders anymore. There have been 22 in 2015, but each was the result of a rainout necessitating playing twice in one day. Not so in Yogi Berra’s day. There were scheduled doubleheaders on most holidays, and when rain necessitated two in one day, they were played back-to-back, not in day-night fashion. I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating: Between 1950 and 1955, Yogi Berra caught 94 complete doubleheaders … every inning of both games, 94 times. The Yankees played doubleheaders on three straight days in 1953: July 4, 5 and 6. Berra caught every inning of the two games against Philadelphia on July 4 at Yankee Stadium, boarded the train for Washington after the second game, caught every inning of the two games on July 5 at Washington,

boarded another train for Philadelphia, and got a reward the next day: sitting out game one of the third straight twin bill. He caught all nine innings of game two in Philadelphia. Pretty special player, and person. * * * Emily Kaplan of The MMQB is the daughter of Dave Kaplan, who was close to Berra and runs the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center. Emily knew Berra for years, and I asked her for her recollections. Eight years ago, I tagged along with my dad and Yogi to Yankees spring training camp in Tampa. One particularly brisk morning, as we waited for players to take the field, my bare arms broke into goosebumps. (An aside: Yogi was notoriously punctual. He was known to turn on the lights in Joe Torre’s office before the manager arrived.) “Cold?” Yogi asked. “No,” I lied. Didn’t matter. He disappeared into the clubhouse and returned with an oversized, thick parka. I put it on, and Yogi smiled. “Good,” he said, and began to walk away before pausing. “Oh, and make sure you give that back. I stole it from Tino.” Tino Martinez. It was vintage Yogi: thoughtful, generous and authentic. Well-suited to be a superstar (sports icon, war hero, oft-quoted philosopher), Yogi didn't choose to be the everyman. He just was. He even signed autographs at my bat mitzvah for a couple of annoying 13-year-olds with Red Sox yarmulkes. (Apparently his wife, Carmen, insisted and even offered a pen.) Yogi owned a Purple Heart, but couldn’t be humbler. He won 10 world championships, but always talked about the next generation of ballplayers. He did good things because that’s all he knew. Every Thanksgiving, he and Carmen hired a horse carriage and invited neighborhood kids to take a pre-Turkey trot down his street. He always asked about how my field hockey team fared, though by the time my dad arrived at work, Yogi had already looked up the summary in the Star-Ledger. And yes, his funny quotes were genuine. In 2011, when my dad told him a writer from Sports Illustrated was coming for a story in the “Where Are They Now?” issue, Yogi responded: “What do you mean? I’m right here.” I believe the museum is a blessing because it not only preserves Yogi’s legacy, but promotes something he found important: programs on sportsmanship and building good character. I’ll miss Yogi so. He made everyone around him feel special. * * * Quotes of the Week I “I don’t care. It’s just a ball.” —Tom Brady, asked how he felt about Danny Amendola—the receiver of Brady's 400th NFL touchdown Sunday in Foxboro—handing the ball to a fan in the end zone after making the historic catch.

II “Well, not too good.” —Troy Aikman, on the FOX pregame show, when asked by studio analyst Jimmy Johnson how it felt when owner Jerry Jones said last week that Brandon Weeden threw the prettiest ball he has seen. III “I think there’s a little bit of karma coming back to him. Nelson Agholor hasn’t replaced Jeremy Maclin. Jeremy Maclin was a class-act guy. You can’t just replace people like they’re things, you know what I mean? Like they’re toys that you’re tired of playing with because you want something new. So I hope that he loses. I hope he loses every game.” —Former Jets linebacker and current CBS NFL analyst Bart Scott, on Chip Kelly, to WFAN radio in New York. Three thoughts: 1. It’s a little dicey when an NFL analyst says publicly he hopes one of the league’s 32 coaches, who he is going to have to comment about regularly, loses every game. 2. Jeremy Maclin left the Eagles to sign a free-agent contract last winter with Kansas City. In 2012, Maclin was the 28th-leading receiver in football, with 69 catches. In 2013, he missed the season with a torn ACL. In 2014, Maclin was the 13th-leading receiver in football, with 85 catches. He signed a five-year, $55-million contract with the Chiefs, which, at the time, was tied for the fourth-richest contract (per season) for a wide receiver in NFL history. Maybe letting Maclin walk for the fourth-richest receiver contract ever will be seen as a dumb decision in the long-term, though I doubt it. Smart teams let good players take exorbitant deals in free agency, and draft good players to replace them. I don’t know if this will work out; it’s obviously a gamble by the Chiefs to pay the money, and a gamble by Kelly to not meet Maclin’s demands. But I’d rather pay Agholor $2.3 million a year for the next four years (his rookie deal) than pay Maclin $11 million. And how does one judge after two games whether Agholor can adequately replace Maclin? 3. Did Baltimore GM Ozzie Newsome “replace people like they’re things” when he let Torrey Smith and Pernell McPhee walk in the off-season, as he does every year? Did John Elway treat tight end Julius Thomas “like a toy” for letting him go to Jacksonville for $9.2 million a year in free agency? Or Jerry Jones, with DeMarco Murray, when Murray got $8 million a year in Philadelphia? No. They made business decisions. Kelly has made a bunch of them in the past couple off-seasons. Some are not looking good right now. I know Scott, and I like him, and I love to see network analysts have strong opinions. I don’t understand this one, though. IV “The pageantry, the energy around a college football game is something the NFL just can’t replicate.” —Detroit Lions president Tom Lewand, at the Brigham Young-Michigan game in Ann Arbor on Saturday, on the Michigan radio broadcast of the game, as reported by MLive’s Kyle Meinke.

V “Go Eagles.” —Actor Mark Wahlberg, with Pope Francis behind him on a Philadelphia altar, introducing former Eagle and current pastor Herb Lusk at a event on the Pope’s tour Saturday. Lusk was the first player in NFL history to kneel in prayer after scoring a touchdown. VI “One of these days we'll figure out how to cover A.J. Green. It'd be nice if we did that before he retires.” —Baltimore coach John Harbaugh, after Green burned the Ravens for two second-half touchdown catches from Andy Dalton to win the game for Cincinnati. In his last four games against the Ravens, Green has 28 catches for 570 yards and five touchdowns. * * * The Award Section OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK Steve Smith Sr., wide receiver, Baltimore. Rare, particularly with all the great offensive performances Sunday, to reward a man from a losing team. I don’t recall the last time I did it. But Smith was absolutely indomitable in the 28-24 loss to Cincinnati. At 36, playing as physical as ever (and that is saying something; Smith has been one of the game’s most physical wideouts in this golden age of receivers), Smith nearly willed the Ravens to a win over the division foe that has given them huge trouble recently. With Baltimore down 14-0 in the third quarter and with the ball at midfield, Joe Flacco threw a short out route to the right for Smith, who caught it at the 45. He broke two tackles right away, then sprinted down the right side, and survived a hog-tying near the goal line by Cincinnati cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick to score. He had two catches on the next drive, which ended in a field goal that cut the lead to 14-10. Then each team scored a touchdown, and then Smith tied the franchise record with his 13th catch of the game, on a 16-yard strike from Flacco that looked like it might stand as the winning touchdown. It didn’t, but we’re not going to mark down Smith’s day for the way his defense let him down. There’s no good reason why Smith is retiring at the end of the season, which he’s already announced, except that he wants to do something else and is tired of the physical abuse. But he was magnificent Sunday. Devonta Freeman, running back, Atlanta. The 2014 fourth-round pick from Florida State is supposed to be a complementary back, not a feature back. Sunday in Arlington, Texas, he was a hammerhead who beat the Dallas Cowboys. Running at times elusively and at times like he had an anvil in his shoulder pads, the 5-8, 206-pound Freeman had equally dominant halves: 104 rushing/receiving yards and two touchdowns in the first half, 89 yards and a touchdown in the second half. For the game, 30 carries for 141 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. His previous high for carries in an NFL game: 12. DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Josh Norman, cornerback, Carolina. Channeling his inner Odell Beckham Jr., with the Panthers protecting a 27-22 lead over the Saints with 80 seconds left, Norman, a rising-star cornerback, was right behind Brandin Cooks sprinting down the right sideline. Luke McCown let what looked to be a well-thrown pass

fly, and Norman leapt, and he stretched to the length of his 6-foot frame, and caught the McCown pass at the height of its path. Just a beautiful play, at the precise time his team had to have it. It was the difference between the Panthers being 3-0 and tied for the AFC South lead, or being 2-1 and being a game behind the Falcons. Norman added five tackles. He’s turning into one of the best cornerbacks in the league. SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYERS OF THE WEEK Tyler Lockett, returner/wide receiver, Seattle. With the Bears clinging to life, losing just 6-0 to start the second half, kicker Robbie Gould booted the kickoff halfway into the end zone. Lockett received it. No one touched him for the next 105 yards. Touchdown. Ballgame. Lockett, the rookie third-round pick from Kansas State, is officially the most dangerous return man in football right now. Well, along with … Darren Sproles, punt returner/running back, Philadelphia. An 89-yard punt return to die for, the kind of return—hit by four Jets, slithering all the way up the left sideline through good punt coverage—that’s a signature play for this gifted player. When Sproles’ career is over, this should be one of the plays that’s shown on his career highlight reel. With DeMarco Murray missing in action with a hamstring injury Sunday, Sproles added a one-yard touchdown run in the Eagles’ 24-17 win. Brad Wing, punter; and Rashad Jennings, running back, New York Giants. Rare indeed for a starting running back to be a punt-rusher on special teams, but Thursday night was a desperate time for the Giants, 0-2 entering the game against Washington. Jennings pushed the momentum in the Giants’ direction on the first series of the game, blocking a Tress Way punt and having it bound out of the end zone for a safety. By the end of the quarter, it was a 12-0 Giants lead, and it was never closer than nine points the rest of the game. Wing, an Aussie, learned to punt playing Australian Rules Football, and several punters with similar backgrounds say that one of the techniques that has helped them succeed in the American game is that they can punt the ball and have it die, or go sideways upon hitting the ground. That’s advantageous, of course, for punts inside the 20. And Wing, late in the second quarter, hit such a punt from the Washington 46, a 45-yarder that Zak DeOssie downed at the one-foot line. For the game, Wing punted four times, and pinned Washington at the 12, 1, 26 and 12-yard lines. COACH OF THE WEEK Kyle Shanahan, offensive coordinator, Atlanta. Shanahan was the perfect choice as offensive coordinator of the Falcons, in part because of his offensive brain and in part because he’s not shy to coach the quarterback hard, and Matt Ryan is one of those quarterbacks who can’t be coached hard enough. The Falcons, with an injury knocking out Tevin Coleman on a day Shanahan wanted to run it a lot, didn’t let that bother them. Devonta Freeman churned for 141 rushing yards and the Falcons beat a strong Cowboys defense on the ground and in the air. With the Falcons averaging 29.7 points and 411.7 total yards a game, this is an offense that’s going to be hard to stop. GOATS OF THE WEEK Can we honor The Entire Miami Team here? No? Well, here are the goatiest three: Brandon Marshall, wide receiver, New York Jets. Jets in Eagles territory, driving to cut the Philly lead to 17-7. Marshall catches a throw from Ryan Fitzpatrick and, in traffic at the Eagles’ 35, attempts to lateral to a teammate and hits Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin right in the facemask. Philadelphia linebacker Jordan Hicks recovers. Instead of the Jets cutting the margin to 17-7, the Eagles drove and scored to go ahead 24-0. “I have been watching the Jets all my life,” Tweeted Jetaholic Mike Greenberg. “That is the

dumbest play I have ever seen.” Marshall agreed. “Probably the worst play in NFL history,” he said. There was more: With the Jets down 10 late and driving to try to stay in the game, Marshall let a fairly easy catch tip off his hands and into the hands of Walter Thurmond for a clinching interception. Colin Kaepernick, quarterback, San Francisco. Any chance the Niners had at Arizona on Sunday rested on the right arm of Kaepernick, who simply couldn’t turn it over against an offensively explosive team like the Cardinals. And on his first two series, he threw footballs to Cardinals. Both were intercepted, and both were returned—for 33 and 21 yards—for touchdowns, putting the Niners in a 14-0 hole they couldn’t dig out of. Trying to close a three-touchdown gap in the final minute of the first half, Kaepernick was intercepted by Tyrann Mathieu for a second time, setting up a field goal for Arizona to close the half. On his next pass, with San Francisco trailing 31-7 on the first drive of the second half, Kaepernick threw another pick, right into the hands of Arizona’s Jerraud Powers. A very bad day for Kaepernick. Kyle Brindza, kicker, Tampa Bay. Bucs lost by 10 at Houston. The rookie missed 10 points worth of kicks—an extra point clanked off the right upright, a 41-yard field goal and a 33-yarder went wide right, and a 51-yarder was shanked wide left. * * * Stat of the Week One of the underrated things about New England’s 3-0 start is what offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo has done with a nearly new interior of the line. Other teams struggle with protection—Denver, Tampa Bay—when inserting new players on the line. Not New England, at least so far. Though rookie guards Shaq Mason and Tre’ Jackson have struggled in run-blocking, they’ve been solid in keeping Tom Brady clean (139 pass drops, six sacks). The latest example of the Patriots getting young players ready to play and just playing them, through the first three games (223 plays) of the 2015 season:

Player, Year How Acquired Offensive Plays % Played

C David Andrews, rookie undrafted FA 223 100%

G Josh Kline, third year undrafted FA 194 87.0%

G Shaq Mason, rookie 4th round 154 69.1%

G Tre’ Jackson, rookie 4th round 108 48.4%

* * * Factoids of the Week That May Interest Only Me I The best passer rating for a season in Tom Brady’s career was 117.2, in the Patriots’ 16-0 season of 2007.

Since halftime of the AFC Championship Game, when, obviously, there have been eagle eyes on the pressure level in the footballs the Patriots use on offense, New England has played five-and-a-half games. Brady’s passer rating since halftime of the AFC title game: 117.8. Brady has never completed 70% of his passes in any season. Since his game balls have been micro-analyzed at halftime of the AFC title game, he has completed 73.6%. II The first nine Chicago drives at Seattle ended in punts. The first nine New England drives against Jacksonville ended in scores. * * * Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note of the Week The reason why Pope Francis was safe on his two-day trip to the island of Manhattan, viewed by someone who had to get around the east side of the city with Pope routes in the way: Every one of the 80,000 who packed the sides of the east roadway in Central Park for his Popemobile trip through the park late Friday afternoon had to pass through metal detectors to enter the park. Every one of the thousands who packed the barriers placed on the sides of Fifth Avenue to see the Pope and Popemobile pass by Thursday evening had to pass through metal detectors starting at about noon. If you wanted to pass from the east side of the city to midtown or west, you had to either take the subway or walk through an underground subway passage. Police erected 40 miles of barriers in the city, and 818 tons of concrete barriers. The New York Post quoted a law enforcement source as saying security for the visit was like “a POTUS [visit] on steroids.” POTUS, as in President of the United States. I’ve lived in Manhattan for only four years, but the prep for his visit was superb—like none I’ve seen. Nothing bad was happening to this Pope. * * * Ten Things I Think I Think 1. I think this is what I liked about Week 3: a. Tom Brady, joining the 400 touchdown club. I’ll take a bet right now that he hits 500. b. Adrian Peterson: 20 carries for 126 yards, two touchdowns. Running at 30 the way he ran at 23. Keep calling his name, Norv Turner. c. That’s the way Minnesota wants to play: 31 rushes, 24 passes. Not that Turner doesn’t trust Teddy Bridgewater; he does. But he wants Adrian Peterson to carry this offense, and Sunday, in the convincing 17-point win over San Diego, that’s what Turner called, and Peterson delivered.

d. The Flying McCown Brothers, starting on the same NFL weekend for the first time since 2007. In losses, Cleveland’s Josh and New Orleans’ Luke did well. “Wow, that quarterback played well,” said Josh Norman after the Panthers hung on to beat Luke, starting his first NFL since he quarterbacked the Jags in 2011. e. Jimmy Graham, finally getting involved. f. Lone Niner bright spot: the 37-yard punt return by Aussie Jarryd Hayne. g. Many Cardinal bright spots: Carson Palmer, Larry Fitzgerald, the ball-hawking secondary. This is a team to be reckoned with. h. You can’t stop Joseph Randle. You can only hope … aww, you know the rest. i. Last two weeks, Julio Jones: 35 targets, 25 catches, 299 yards, two touchdowns. j. Amari Cooper on third-and-long, and against Pro Bowl cornerback Joe Haden of the Browns. k. Bengals cornerback Leon Hall, keeping the Ravens out of the end zone and forcing Baltimore to kick a field goal instead of scoring the tying touchdown early in the fourth quarter. l. Smart design of the touchdown pitch play to Khiry Robinson by the Saints. m. San Diego’s John Phillips, who started camp as just another body for the Chargers at tight end, making the tight-end catch of the year. n. Justin Pugh at left tackle for the Giants, subbing for the injured Ereck Flowers. Thirty-two dropbacks for Eli Manning, two pressures and zero hits and zero sacks from Pugh’s man. o. Rueben Randle (seven catches, 116 yards), coming off the milk carton for the Giants. p. The instinctive and speedy 101-yard kickoff return by Washington’s Rashad Ross, tying the franchise’s longest kickoff return ever. q. The diving interception by rookie linebacker Kwon Alexander of Tampa Bay. r. Great wheel-route throw by Sam Bradford to Ryan Mathews for a touchdown. Led him perfectly. 2. I think this is what I didn’t like about Week 3: a. That mangy-looking ShopVac vacuuming the field in the Ed Jones Dome after the turf caught on fire. b. Kyle Rudolph, dropping the easiest touchdown pass he’ll have a chance to catch all season. c. On the next snap, Teddy Bridgewater throwing a pick in the end zone. That failure had multiple fathers. d. A 27-minute delay for a tiny piece of turf that caught on fire in St. Louis? Come on. Please. e. A Ryan Mathews drop, with 30 yards of open field in front of him.

f. Brandon Carr, with the terrific quick stop of Falcons back Devonta Freeman. Loss of five. g. Cold business, football: Dion Bailey waived to make room for Kam Chancellor on the 53-man Seattle roster. Bailey started in Week 1, fell down on the Rams’ game-tying touchdown at the end of the fourth quarter, got benched in Week 2, and, with Chancellor back in the fold, got whacked Saturday. h. Kirk Cousins. His awful read and interception by Prince Amukamara really set Washington on an impossible path to win Thursday night. i. Whatever rehab plan Baltimore rookie receiver Breshad Perriman is on. Sixty-one days ago, he tweaked his knee in practice, a tweaking so seemingly minor that John Harbaugh said after practice that day—I was there—about Perriman’s availability: “It could be as early as tomorrow, or a couple of days at the most.” Perriman is practicing. There’s that. j. C.J. Mosley, sprinting through the line on a blitz before the snap of the ball, like he didn’t know the rules and didn’t know offside was a penalty. k. St. Louis tight end Lance Kendricks, with an inexplicable drop, open behind the defense, for what should have been the go-ahead touchdown late in the first half against the Steelers. l. The numbers on Tampa Bay’s uniforms. You can’t read them. m. Darius Slay, apparently not “Big Game Slay,” as he said pre-game, letting Demaryius Thomas get behind him for a crucial late-first-half touchdown pass from Peyton Manning. n. The Chargers, looking slovenly, letting Chad Greenway lumber across the field after an interception, then down the sideline 91 yards for a touchdown. Where's the pursuit? o. Ryan Tannehill. An awful day. 3. I think if I were Todd Bowles, I’d be worried about Darrelle Revis. He’s 30 now. He suffered a strained groin last week, and left Sunday’s game against the Eagles with some hamstring injury. Revis said post-game he was fine, and maybe he is. But this is the cornerstone of the New York secondary, obviously, and if we’re not even to the end of September and he’s got an iffy groin and hamstring, that’s troubling. 4. I think if I were the 49ers, I’d be extremely concerned with Colin Kaepernick. His TD-to-Interception ratio in the past 10 games is 8-to-9, and he’s had one 300-yard passing game in that time. “I was 100% responsible,” he said about the embarrassing loss to Arizona on Sunday. Well, 80% maybe. But Kaepernick was awful. 5. I think the NFL had better have a good explanation (Ed Hochuli, too) for Cam Newton’s postgame claim Sunday concerning a borderline late hit on him. Newton wanted a personal foul called on the hit but it wasn’t flagged, and he said after the game: “The response I got [from Hochuli] was, ‘Cam, you’re not old enough to get that call.’ I didn’t think you had to have seniority to get a personal foul or anything like that.” I’m sure Hochuli will say (assuming he agrees that this is what he said) that he was joking. But it’s not something to joke about. The league’s got to get on this one this morning. 6. I think the aftermath of the Kam Chancellor contract hoo-ha is compelling. I find it very interesting that early this month, a report was floated that the Seattle strong safety wanted $4 million from his 2017 salary (the last year of his current contract) transferred to the 2016 season, and the Seahawks

were stuck on a transfer of $3.1 million. And when Chancellor reported to Seattle last week, nothing was done to his contract. He walked in with the contract containing the exact same terms as it had the day he signed it. So what gives? Well, all along it was a pipe dream that the Seahawks would do anything other than something totally cosmetic (such as guaranteeing some of his 2016 salary, cosmetic because there’s a 98% chance Chancellor will be on the team in 2016 anyway) for Chancellor. If Seattle moved money from 2017 to 2016, that would be a major coup for Chancellor, seeing that the Seahawks are on record as being willing to re-do contracts for important veterans with one year remaining; moving $4 million to 2016 would essentially be a $4 million bonus handed to a player as a reward for playing well with three years left on his contract, and if Seattle did it for Chancellor, others would be standing in line the minute they outperformed their existing deals. (Michael Bennett, for instance.) If Seattle indeed had ever offered $3.1 million to Chancellor—Pro Football Talk reported Chancellor believes the team reneged on a pledge to re-do his contract, something the site claimed the Seahawks deny—it stands to reason that would have been reflected in the deal when Chancellor reported to the team. So who to believe here? I just know this, from a training-camp conversation with GM John Schneider, during which he would not be specific about Chancellor or any player’s contract: He was adamant that the team would not endanger the long-term salary-cap health of the franchise to solve any single contract squabble. For him to have made a major commitment to re-do Chancellor’s deal in that same month would surprise me. 7. I think this is my favorite Jerry Jonesism of the year, and you have to know Jones (and his staunch defense of his guys in the face of everyone saying his guys are flawed, and understand that he tends to go overboard quite often) to understand why he would say this about Brandon Weeden: “He’s a thing of beauty on throwing a football. His passing motion and his arm, frankly, you won’t see a more gifted passer—power, accuracy, the entire aspect of it.” He made the comments to KRLD-FM in Dallas. Quite candidly (a favorite Jones way to start a sentence when he’s about to sound quite candid but you always wonder if he’s really feeling quite candid), I'm sure Jones doesn't think Weeden throws a prettier ball or a better deep ball or a better anything than Troy Aikman, for instance, but you have to understand, Weeden is today's quarterback. Jones is concerned with Weeden, not Aikman or Tony Romo or Roger Staubach. All Jones wants to do is boost the confidence of a guy who has only five career wins as a starter. 8. I think this is one of the coolest charitable things I’ve heard about this year—and it’s an annual thing: The Starkey Hearing Foundation of Minnesota, which has as its goal the distribution and installation of 175,000 hearing aids worldwide, combined with the Vikings and the Wilf Family Foundations (the Wilfs own the team), the New York Yankees and the Jewish Federations of North America to provide 100 people with free hearing aids Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. This includes an estimated 20 Holocaust survivors. “Being a family [with] Holocaust survivors, this is an extremely important cause,” said Vikings vice chairman Lenny Wilf. 9. I think, speaking of great causes, Cam Newton made one heck of a gesture in Charlotte the other day. He showed up unannounced at 10-year-old cancer patient Elijah Hughes’ early Halloween party—and brought an ice cream truck with him. 10. I think these are my non-NFL thoughts of the week: a. Such a sad story, the death of Warren Hills (N.J.) High quarterback Evan Murray, 17, from an injury suffered in Friday night’s game against Summit High.

b. That Leonard Fournette 48-yard run on what should have been an LSU quarterback sack at Syracuse was some play. Good note from Gil Brandt: Saturday’s win by LSU at Syracuse was the first game LSU has played in the state of New York since 1942. c. Jeter and Harbaugh, at the Big House. Cool sight before BYU-Michigan. d. Christian (son of Ed) McCaffrey and Barry (son of Barry) Sanders combined to rush for 303 yards in Stanford’s 42-24 rout of Oregon State. e. Stop the presses: Indiana and Northwestern are 4-0. f. Mike Trout doesn’t just hit home runs. g. Wouldn’t an Astros-at-Yankees wild-card game be fun to see? Correa and Keuchel (David) playing at Goliath? h. Having said that, I do hate the one-game wild-card playoff. It’s unfair for teams that have played 162 games to make the playoffs, and poof, it can be gone with one lousy inning. i. You’ve got to see this Mookie Betts catch. Tweeted Sox nut and writer of some note Stephen King: “The only other player I ever saw capable of a similar feat was Willie Mays.” j. So Betts was playing a fairly flawless center field for most of the year with the Red Sox, and earlier this month, superb defensive outfield Jackie Bradley Jr., began playing regularly in right field, and the Red Sox decided Bradley was a slightly better outfielder than Betts, and so moved Bradley to center and put Betts in right. Some players would have groused at the perceived defensive demotion. Betts: “I just want to do what I can to help this team win a World Series.” k. Can the three teams from the National League Central—as of Friday morning, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Chicago were 1-2-3 in major-league baseball in wins—just play a World Series round robin this year? Such a shame that, most likely, the Cubs and Pirates will meet in the play-in game, and three hours later, one of them will be out. l. Cool to see the Cubs in the playoffs for the first time in seven years. Cooler to see the Jays in the playoffs for the first time in 22 years. m. If you’re Joe Maddon, do you pitch Jake Arrieta at Pittsburgh in the play-in game? If you’re the Pirates, in line to play the third play-in game in three years, aren’t you tired of facing aces? Johnny Cueto and the Reds two years ago, Madison Bumgarner and the Giants last year, and probably Arrieta this year. n. Josh Donaldson: 41 homers, 40 doubles, 121 runs, 122 RBI, .951 OPS. That is one insane season. o. Bryce Harper: 1.125 OPS. That is one insane number. No one in baseball is within 100 points of him. p. I need an explanation for the 79-76 Washington Nationals. I mean, the Twins are 80-75. The Mets clinching the division with eight days left in the season … pretty hard to fathom. q. It’s not about you, Joe West. And it shouldn’t be.

r. Coffeenerdness: Thanks, Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal, for pointing out the weirdness of coffee shops in America in 2015, via Twitter: “There's a guy in this coffee shop sitting at a table, not on his phone, not on a laptop, just drinking coffee, like a psychopath.’’ s. Beernerdness: So happy for the great people at Allagash Brewery in Portland, Maine. Allagash White, which is only the greatest beer of all time, won gold in the Belgian Witbier category this weekend at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. That’s my little pet beer category, and Allagash White’s the best I’ve had. t. Having the Pope in town for two days was fantastic. Sounds corny, I guess, but the vibe and the good feeling was just so nice. Who doesn’t like this guy? u. I know some would say, “Keep politics out of this, Pope Francis. You’re not qualified to talk about global warming, and you have no idea what’s causing the discord in the Mideast and it’s easy for you to say everyone should take in refugees—just stick to religion.” I say: “Keep the pressure on, Pope. Keep talking about things that matter, especially global warming. Go get ‘em.” v. At the September 11th Memorial and Museum, with 9/11 families among those on hand, the Pope said: “Here we weep in the face of injustice, murder and the failure to settle conflicts through dialog.” Perfect words. w. And his energy. At 78, to see this vibrant person always with a smile and going hard for 11, 12 hours a day, day after day, with sciatica and a bad knee … pretty impressive. x. Good luck to friend and colleague David Elfin, a Washington sportswriting fixture, as he transitions to writing about the real world. Smart and honorable and dogged. Three pretty good traits to have in this business, and Elfin has them all. * * * Who I Like Tonight Green Bay 27, Kansas City 22. The well-documented 2005 draft (Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers competing for the top pick, Smith picked No. 1 and playing in year one, Rodgers picked No. 24 and sitting for three years) has been a big topic in the run-up to this game. “We’ve certainly moved beyond that,” said Smith, who has moved from San Francisco to Kansas City. “You get the what-ifs … I don’t give it any thought.” Strange thing: They’ve only faced each other twice, though they played on conference rivals for the first eight years of the post-draft period. Smith has a 30-22 win; Rodgers has a 30-24 win. They’ve never met anywhere other than Lambeau Field. Tonight, the keys will not be found on memory lane, but rather in whether Rodgers can win a game against a ferocious pass-rush and with offensive weapons Eddie Lacy and Davante Adams either sidelined or slowed with injuries. I’m really looking forward to Chiefs rookie sensation cornerback Marcus Peters covering Randall Cobb, who’s had a pretty quiet start. For Green Bay to win, Cobb is going to have to make some plays tonight, and I think he will. * * * The Adieu Haiku Pagano can speak. Wall broken down in Nashville. Colts ran through that thing.

Peyton shines in Broncos' methodical win over Lions By Jeremy Bergman NFL.com September 28, 2015 Peyton Manning and the Broncos offense came to life in Motown as Denver topped the winless Lions in a slow, methodical 24-12 victory to remain undefeated. 1. The Broncos' defense continues to be the rock of this team through three weeks. Denver tallied three more takeaways to reach 10 on the season, marking their most ever through three games of the season. Aqib Talib slowed down Calvin Johnson, more or less, and the Lions' running game was nonexistent. The play of the night belonged to David Bruton, who, on a potential Lions scoring drive, tipped a Matthew Stafford pass to himself for a pick -- the quarterback's second of the night -- with less than four minutes to go, and scampered into Lions territory to salt the win away. 2. Reports of Peyton Manning's demise have been greatly exaggerated, for now. The future Hall of Famer finished with 324 passing yards and two touchdowns with longs of 45 and 34 yards, silencing the critics for at least one more week. Manning grimaced on many of his deep outs, but rarely missed. Many of his best throws were tossed high to his athletic receivers in Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders and Owen Daniels, making them compensate for his fading strength. Also for those interested, and perhaps obsessed, with investigating Denver's offensive formations: Peyton lined up in either the shotgun or the pistol on every snap in the game, save for three red zone runs, one of which was Denver's first touchdown on the night. Gary Kubiak has gotten the message, and it appears the Broncos' offense is much better for it. 3. Denver's running game continues to struggle, and now the depth at the position is dwindling. C.J. Anderson went into the locker room in the first half to undergo concussion protocol. Soon after that, Juwan Thompson left with a neck injury. Ronnie Hillman was a mediocre fill-in, finishing with 13 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. The Broncos moved away from the run in the second half, instead focusing on shorter passing routes out of the backfield. It will be interesting to see how Kubiak game plans for the Vikings next week with a short staff at running back. 4. Lions cornerback Darius Slay had a rough night. One might say the Broncos' wideouts took him for a Slay ride... At the end of the first half, Slay was beaten by Thomas on a last-ditch heave by Manning, caught up to the underthrown ball, and was then outmuscled by Thomas, who caught the pass and walked -- backwards -- into the end zone. Not to be outdone, Sanders also posterized Slay with an amazing grab late in the fourth quarter.

Why on earth is Peyton Manning still playing football? By Cindy Boren The Washington Post September 27, 2015 This afternoon, Peyton Manning will walk into a locker room for the 258th regular-season game of his long NFL career. He’ll face the Detroit Lions and spend most of the day working out of a shotgun formation, the better to lessen the toll the game will take on him. But, make no mistake, he will pay a price for the game, just as he has for all the others. A recent story in ESPN the Magazine describes in detail just what Manning, who is six months from his 40th birthday, goes through after a game, offering an image that few people get to see. Kevin Van Valkenburg writes: “He begins with his cleats, which he can barely untie without assistance. A Broncos equipment staffer helps peel them off his feet while he does a radio interview, because after nearly 25 years of football dating back to high school, it’s a relief to not have to bend over that far. Next come his shoulder pads, which, when yanked over his head, generate a groan that is a mixture of suffering and sweet relief. Manning’s pale arms and torso are covered in fresh scrapes and old bruises, some the color of strawberries, others a shade of eggplant. His socks come off after several violent tugs, revealing toes that are twisted and bent into obtuse angles. When he removes a thick blue DonJoy knee brace from his stiff left leg, he twice pauses to grimace and gather himself before stripping it off and handing it to a staffer for safekeeping. As he slices away at the thick layers of athletic tape supporting his ankles, he looks like a surgeon operating on his own leg without anesthesia. When he finishes, he stands, joints creaking, loose strips of tape and blades of grass still stuck to his skin. He has just completed a comeback win over the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 2, and a flood of text messages keeps pinging his phone, which has a picture of his 4-year-old twins, Marshall and Mosley, as his background. He can’t resist reading a few and smirking with satisfaction. He drapes a towel over his shoulders, but the crooked pink scar on the back of his neck is still visible, evidence of the four neck surgeries he’s had to repair a pinched nerve and herniated disks and to fuse his vertebrae. Because of the victory — the 181st of his career — Manning smiles as he limps gingerly in the direction of the showers. If this is what it feels like on a good night, only two games into his 18th year, try to imagine the bad ones.” Why on earth would a man continue to do this to himself, when his next career beckons and promises to be even more lucrative? The money is great, the stats are even better and winning is the best thing of all. And the Denver Broncos may be 2-0, but darned if this description of one of the most popular athletes of all time doesn’t make you wish he’d quit today.

Quarterback injuries could prompt closer look at practice time By Mike Florio Pro Football Talk September 28, 2015 In 2011, the NFL agreed to unprecedented restrictions on practice time in order to finalize a new labor deal with players. Four years later, some believe there’s a connection between certain player injuries and the practice restrictions. Unlike the old-school, fire-makes-steel viewpoint that advocates tough practices in order to ensure toughness in games, this theory comes from the basic concern that football players may not be adequately prepared to play in games that count during the first four weeks of the regular season. As one source put it in the aftermath of the latest multi-week injury to a starting quarterback, defenses have an edge over offensive lines in the early portion of the season, as teams with new players and/or new coaches and/or new systems are trying to figure out how to work together. That cooperation and synchronization applies no more clearly than along the five-man wall of blockers, who hope to collectively create a layer of protection that four or more individuals operating with far less harmony will aggressively try to pierce. If they succeed, they get a chance to hit the quarterback. And for every hit on a quarterback, the chances of a quarterback injury increase. Already, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Saints quarterback Drew Brees, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, and Browns quarterback Josh McCown have suffered injuries that will cause them to miss one or more games. That’s 15.6 percent of all starting quarterbacks, in a league without enough good starting quarterbacks to go around. Plenty of others have been hit, repeatedly. From Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, who landed on the injury report after a Week One game against the Ravens, to Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who was bruised and battered by the Vikings in Week Two, to Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota, who was bruised and battered by the Browns in Week Two, to Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, who was bruised and battered by the Vikings in Week Three, more than 25 percent of all NFL starters have been tossed around with alarming frequency in only three games. It actually started before the season even began, with former Washington starting Robert Griffin III became a human piñata against the Lions during a preseason game. The challenge for the NFL will be to find a way to persuade the NFL Players Association to agree to increased offseason and/or preseason practice time. Those gains for players came during contentious negotiations, and the union won’t be inclined to simply agree to increased workloads without a concession of some sort from the league. At a time when the owners and players are sharing revenue, it’s arguably in the interests of all players to ensure that those players most responsible for the success or failure of a team aren’t relegated to the sidelines with injuries sustained while operating behind offensive lines that, due to a more relaxed approach to March through August, simply may not be ready for September.

Sunday Night wrap-up: Peyton Manning gets it done, differently By Darin Gantt Pro Football Talk September 28, 2015 Whether or not Peyton Manning is Peyton Manning any more isn’t really the point. Because the questions of whether he can move the ball down the field the way he used to shouldn’t even be up for debate any longer, since he can still move a team. Manning’s doing his football differently, but it still works, as he showed in Sunday’s 24-12 win over the Lions. The 39-year-old Broncos quarterback threw for 324 yards and two touchdowns, and there were moments when he looked like his old self. But he’s also clearly older, and doesn’t throw the ball with the same authority. That’s not based on sources. That’s based on having two working eyes. The ball flutters more. Doesn’t arrive as quickly. But it’s arriving often enough. His 45-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas was more than double his previous long completion of the year (a 22-yarder to Thomas). But it doesn’t stand as evidence of a miracle cure, as the ball traveled 30 yards or so in the air. Thomas made a great play on an under-thrown ball. But Manning has also figured out other ways around it. He can still evade rushes, and fit balls into windows other quarterbacks don’t see, as he did dumping it off to Jordan Norwood coming across the middle as he was being chased the other way, and as he did by adjusting at the line of scrimmage and finding Owen Daniels for a only-where-he-can-catch-it pass for the game-clinching touchdown. And by shifting to the pistol formation as the foundation for the Broncos offense, he’s shown he can compromise. Head coach Gary Kubiak still gets to talk about caring about the run, and Manning gets a chance to stand back and survey. The running part of the equation hasn’t come through yet, and Kubiak may eventually realize he’s hammering something with corners into a hole that is round. The play-calling disparity makes it clear who’s driving, as the Broncos threw 42 passes and ran it just 19 times (counting the knee Manning took to close it out). So it’s not a full-blown mid-life crisis, as I don’t think Buick even makes a convertible. But Manning is changing in front of our eyes. It’s less arm, but more mind. It doesn’t look like what we’re accustomed to from one of the best passers the game has ever known. But with every passing day, we’re all getting older, and Manning isn’t immune to that. He’s just figuring out a way to diminish the effects of aging, or at least to hold it off for one more day. Here are five more things we learned during Sunday Night Football: 1. Lions quarterback Matt Stafford is taking a beating, and it’s not because he’s playing a bunch of meanies every week.

The Lions have some pretty glaring protection breakdowns, and they were made more obvious by a Broncos defensive full of pass-rush threats. DeMarcus Ware dropped Stafford on the second play of the game, primarily because he was unblocked. Von Miller was able to blow up a run play later in the game on a laughable block attempt by tight end Eric Ebron. The cumulative effect is that Stafford doesn’t often have time to move the ball downfield, which is the thing he’s best at. And without that, the Lions offense as a whole looks out of sync. He can make the rare throws, but partly because of what’s happening around him, he’s making them too rarely. 2. Of course, the Broncos had a little something to do with that. Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips has an impressive array of playmakers at his disposal, guys who can change a game at each level of the defense. Their secondary depth is impressive, as the interception made by third corner Bradley Roby underscores. And they spent a first-round pick on pass-rusher Shane Ray, who doesn’t get all that many snaps because he’s playing behind two guys named Ware and Von Miller. 3. It’s an overstatement to say the Lions’ defensive issues stem from the loss of any one player. But the loss of so many has left their defense a shell of itself. While there’s little they could have done to kept defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh considering the pile of money Miami was willing to throw at him, he’s not the only impact player they’re missing. The hip injury that’s keeping linebacker DeAndre Levy off the field has left the Lions without much presence on defense. For the last few years, they had a degree of edge, and now, they have a collection of players, some better than others. That’s it. 4. The Lions should probably draw up a new two-point conversion play. The draw to Joique Bell has now not worked in back-to-back weeks, after it failed against the Vikings last Sunday. For a team with multiple weapons on the outside (including backs), it’s a stodgy choice to run it up the middle, and it’s hardly an accident it didn’t work. 5. They should also work on being more responsible. Giving the Broncos a chance at another field goal after a late miss is the kind of sloppy penalty that separates good teams from bad ones. At 0-3, it’s clear which kind the Lions are at the moment.

Offenses finally show up, with Broncos holding a 14-6 lead By Darin Gantt Pro Football Talk September 27, 2015 It’s taken a bit, but the offenses finally showed up in Detroit. The Broncos have built a 14-6 lead, after a slow start to Sunday Night Football. It took this game about 20 minutes to get warmed up, before a 12-play drive yielded a Ronnie Hillman touchdown run late in the second quarter. The Broncos look very much like a team in an offensive transition. Peyton Manning has worked almost exclusively out of the pistol or shotgun, and was averaging 6.8 yards per pass attempt until the final drive of the first half, not really looking downfield often. The Lions responded with a 1-yard touchdown run by Joique Bell, but Matt Prater’s point after kick attempt was blocked by Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib, leaving Manning with just enough time for another shot. And he took a shot for a change, with a 45-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas, which more than double his longest completion of the season (22 yards). We’ll see in the second half if he can sustain it, and whether the Lions have a response.

C.J. Anderson headed to locker room after helmet-to-helmet shot By Darin Gantt Pro Football Talk September 27, 2015 It’s easy to look at past results and expect plenty of points in a Lions-Broncos game. It’s also not an accurate way of looking at the current Lions and Broncos. It’s still scoreless after a quarter of Sunday Night Football, though there’s evidence to suggest it’s good defense rather than bad offense. Broncos cornerback Bradley Roby just made an acrobatic one-handed interception, the latest in a series of plays by the Broncos defense. The Lions have protection issues, and Matt Stafford has already been sacked twice. And with the short field, the Broncos are at least threatening. However, Broncos running back C.J. Anderson went down during that drive, after taking a helmet-to-helmet shot from Lions defensive end Darryl Tapp. He walked to the locker room under his own power, and will be evaluated for a concussion.

Report: Peyton Manning to operate primarily from shotgun By Mike Florio Pro Football Talk September 27, 2015 The Broncos are committed to Gary Kubiak’s offense. Unless they aren’t. Despite claims that the Broncos will stick with Kubiak’s under-center and stretch plays and rollouts approach, Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reports that Manning primarily will operate out of the shotgun in Sunday night’s game against the Lions. It actually would make the most sense to use both offenses, interchangeably and without any real pattern or trend. That would keep opposing defenses guessing — and it would force them to spend time preparing for both offenses. Either way, Kubiak needs to let Manning do the things with which he’s comfortable. Good coaches realize it’s not about their system but about their players, and how to get the most out of them.

By being 'the bully,' Broncos defense is dominating one game after another By Andrew Mason DenverBroncos.com September 28, 2015 Each week, the details of the mayhem caused by the Broncos' defense change: the nature of the blitzes, the substitution patterns. But the general plotline remains the same: defenders in the box attack, opposing quarterback and blocking scheme become discombobulated, offensive players make mistakes, and defensive backs clean up the mess. Lather, rinse, repeat. Through three games, the defense has yielded just 35 points and a league-best 4.25 yards per snap. Two teams have more sacks; one has more takeaways. But none have more combined takeaways (10) and sacks (11). They are connected; each in some way a result of the other. "We're going to challenge all throws. We're not going to hide what we're doing," said cornerback Chris Harris Jr. "We're going to play the bully. That's our motto: 'Be the bully.'" Sunday night, near downtown of perhaps the toughest, hardest, no-nonsense major American city, Harris and his fellow defenders pushed around the Lions to the tune of a 24-12 win. The Broncos sacked Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford four times -- 1.5 on the ledger of OLB DeMarcus Ware -- and coaxed three takeaways from him after putting him under siege throughout the night. It is a defense that is forceful. It plays to the whistle -- and sometimes beyond. That is the only quibble its head coach has with an otherwise dominant unit: a predilection for penalties that extend drives. Denver's defense has conceded just four touchdowns this season. Three came after drives that included at least one 15-yard infraction. "We’ve got to eliminate some penalties. I told the guys tonight, 'You usually don’t go in there after a win and start with something negative, but we need to fix the penalties,'" Head Coach Gary Kubiak said. "That starts with me as the coach. We have to do that." "Penalties are going to happen, but I think the timing of the penalties is absolutely a must-fix for us on defense," added Von Miller, who didn't sack Stafford but pressured him constantly and hit him once. "There's a lot of stuff we can fix, but that's definitely at the top of the priority list. We've got to get those 15-yarders out of there. We've got to be smarter. We can't put ourselves in that situation. If we line them up and make them earn it, we feel good with the odds on that, but we've got to cut that out. "It's been three weeks straight, honestly, and we're going to get that fixed up." The Broncos must walk a fine line: to remedy that single flaw while maintaining the fury and opportunism shown by the defense as a whole.

Five different defensive backs have interceptions this season; Bradley Roby and David Bruton Jr. became the latest to join the club Sunday night; they helped push the Broncos' takeaway total to 10 through three games. Only one team has more this year -- the New York Jets, with 11. But the significance of 10 takeaways is in comparison with last year's team, which did not force its 10th takeaway until Week 10. "I just think we've got playmakers in the back. There's not a lot of teams that have got that," Miller said. "We've got guys that aren't trying to get a PBU (pass breakup), they're trying to get the pick. And it's not just Chris and Talib, but you see Bradley and all these guys. "It's not just me and DeMarcus with the rush, it's all these guys rushing -- Shane [Ray], Lerentee [McCray]. It's not just one guy, it's a group, it's a combination of things that's making it happen for us." And that combination includes Shaquil Barrett, Miller's understudy at strong-side outside linebacker, whose thunderous strip-sack of Stafford in the fourth quarter squelched yet another Lions possession. Along with Bruton, Barrett provided the final jolts, causing thefts that led to the Broncos' final 10 points of the game that sent most of the sold-out Ford Field throng streaming to the exits. There was no question about Bruton's interception. But Barrett wasn't sure that his big play -- which was also the first regular-season sack of his career -- would stand. Three plays had already been subject to instant-replay review; two were reversed. And as Barrett watched his handiwork on one of the Godzillatrons perched above the end zones, he fretted his first game-changing play as a pro would be next. "I thought it was coming back, for sure. I thought [Stafford's] arm was going forward," Barrett said, smiling. But unlike when penalty flags flew, the officials did not intervene. The play stood. Barrett proved once again that the pass rush does not stop with Ware and Miller, and that the turnover touch does not end with the defensive backs. Indeed, the Broncos' defense shows total dominance from front to back. Its members take games and shape them into their own form. As Harris said, they want to be bullies. When bullies succeed, they take what they want. And, of course, this is the rare instance where bullying is not only okay, but encouraged. "They've been exceptional," Kubiak said.

Peyton's Take: Improvement in communication, protection drives road win By Ben Swanson DenverBroncos.com September 27, 2015 After allowing seven sacks in the first two games of the season, the Broncos offense looked to the pistol to come out guns a'blazing in the 24-12 win over the Lions on Sunday night. Keeping Manning upright is obviously a key objective, and with the shotgun-like single-back and single-tight end formation, the offensive line was able to keep him relatively clean. "It was something the coaches came up with during the week," Manning said of the formation's use. "Green Bay did it last year against them late in the season and had pretty good success with it. It's something we've repped throughout training camp but something we wanted to do this week and I'd imagine it'd be part of the arsenal throughout the season. But whether we use it next week or two weeks from now, I don't know." Manning was sacked just once by the Lions' defense, though it should be noted that they were without linebacker DeAndre Levy. Regardless, Manning was able to stand in the pocket to complete 31 of 42 passes and help put together four scoring drives. "It gave us some help in protection," Manning said. "I thought the line did a really good job. We threw it I think [42] times. I thought they really did a good job all night. We had good communication all night, as well -- two games in a row dealing with the crowd noise, five guys playing together for the first time. I thought we were on the same page from a communication standpoint—those are two real positives." Another positive that stood out--in part because of the improvement in protection--was the ability to create long plays. In the season opener, the Broncos' longest play was an 18-yard pass to Emmanuel Sanders, and in Week 2, it was a 22-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas. Against the Lions Sunday night, the Broncos eclipsed those plays three times, the biggest of which was a 45-yard bomb to Demaryius Thomas on fourth-and-1 with 13 seconds remaining in the first half. With time running down, a field goal would have been sufficient, but Manning saw a greater opportunity with the coverage the Lions assigned to Demaryius Thomas. "We called a play expecting blitz and ended up getting a blitz, a zone blitz," Manning said. "I tried to hit Emmanuel on the option route there and they kind of covered him in zone blitz and he roped in kind of where the guys were dropping out. "Obviously I knew we had to take a chance and I caught the corner [Darius Slay] squatting a little bit, which is what that blitz and that coverage, what the corner is required to do is to squat a little bit, and DT was able to get behind him. But I was looking to Emmanuel first so I was kind of late going to DT because I wanted just to get the first down and DT made a great play and was able to get into the end zone." A week after clawing their way to a comeback victory on the road against a divisional rival, the Broncos jumped out to an early lead and managed to keep the Lions at a deficit throughout the game. But it

wasn't until late in the fourth quarter that the Broncos were able to gain a comfortable two-possession lead, as an interception by David Bruton Jr. turned into seven points on a touchdown to Owen Daniels five plays later. The defense's outstanding ability to generate turnovers has consistently fueled the offense at crucial times, and Manning understands how much work goes into their success. "Those guys are getting their hands on the ball," Manning said. "I think if it's tipped balls or whatever it is, when you get your hands on the ball, it's not an accident. It's effort. It's believing you're going to get your hands on the ball and our defense is doing that right now, and giving us some good opportunities and giving us some good field position." One phase fed another yet again, and the Broncos succeeded to get another victory by way of that symbiotic football. The Broncos are 3-0 as they head back home and as they continue to make progress, Manning couldn't overlook the magnitude of beating a Lions team that he views as better than their record. "We knew we were playing a team who was going to come out with everything they had tonight. They were 0-2 coming into tonight [and] easily could've been 2-0. They had two games they could've won. [They are] a team that had the No. 2 ranked defense last year and playing at home for the first time. So for us to come in here and get a win, you cannot discount that."

Depth at defense lifts Broncos over Lions By Allie Raymond DenverBroncos.com September 27, 2015 Just three games into the 2015 season and already the Broncos defense has made a compelling case for why they’re one of the best in the league. Denver’s streak of picks and forced fumbles continued in its 24-12 win over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field Sunday night – but what was most noteworthy was that the three turnovers came from beyond the starting lineup. Cornerback Bradley Roby made a stunningly athletic interception in the first quarter to help set the tone for the rest of the game. Outside linebacker Shaq Barrett then forced a fumble in the fourth quarter that was recovered by Malik Jackson. But safety David Bruton Jr. doused the Lions’ comeback bid with less than four minutes remaining in the game with an interception that led to the Broncos' final touchdown on the ensuing drive. Roby, Barrett and Bruton may not be starters for the Broncos, but they are essential cogs in Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips' scheme. “This scheme really fits the talent that we have on this team,” said Roby. “We have great rushers, we have great backers – we have great everything. We think we can be a great defense, and y’all are seeing it each week. Y’all are seeing our hard work we put in this year come to fruition.” As a unit, the Broncos defense was able to hold Detroit’s offense to 290 total yards on offense and just 28 yards on the ground. “I just think we've got playmakers in the back,” said outside linebacker Von Miller. “There are not a lot of teams that have got that. We've got guys that aren't trying to get a PBU [pass breakup], they're trying to get the pick. And it's not just Chris [Harris Jr.] and [Aqib] Talib, but you see Bradley and all these guys. “It's not just me and DeMarcus [Ware] with the rush, it's all these guys rushing – Shane [Ray], Lerentee [McCray]. It's not just one guy, it's a group, it's a combination of things that's making it happen for us.” That combination is helping the Broncos pass rushers sack a quarterback four times – just like they did Sunday evening. “That’s what it takes to win a Super Bowl,” said Harris. “You need everybody. Some games are going to be [Bruton]’s game, some games going to be T.J. [Ward]’s game, some going to be Aqib’s game – as long was we keep taking turns it’ll be looking great for us at the end of the year.” Next, the Broncos will host the Minnesota Vikings back home at Sports Authority Field and it’s safe to say that fans can expect to see Denver’s depth on display – whether they’re coming off the bench or not. “It doesn’t matter,” said Marshall. “You’ve got Shaq, [who] comes in and makes a hell of a play and you’ve got Bruton and he makes a hell of play, so starter or no starter, [it] doesn’t matter – and Roby – that’s what we do.”

Three Keys Unlocked: Denver 24, Detroit 12 By Andrew Mason DenverBroncos.com September 27, 2015 The path might not have been the one the Broncos expected to take, but the end result was what they wanted: a 24-12 win over the Lions that improved the Broncos to 3-0 against a formidable September slate that included two of last year's playoff participants. How did the three keys turn out? 1. FIND A RHYTHM ON OFFENSE. Outside of the second quarter -- in which the Broncos marched to two scores, including Demaryius Thomas' 45-yard catch to cap a drive in the final 63 seconds -- the Broncos struggled to find a rhythm, and the ground game struggled to mount any consistent production. Running backs C.J. Anderson, Juwan Thompson and Ronnie Hillman combined for 42 yards on 18 carries, with a 6-yard run by Thompson before he left with a neck injury the only gain of more than five yards. The pistol was effectively the Broncos' base formation. Their first two plays were from that formation, and the Broncos used it on a majority of their snaps, with most of the others coming in a traditional shotgun alignment. The Broncos didn't go under center until they had first-and-goal from the Detroit 2-yard-line with 5:19 left in the second quarter. But over the course of the win, the passing game was effective. Peyton Manning had a typical Manning performance: 31-of-42 for 324 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas had 87 and 92 receiving yards, respectively. Owen Daniels overcame some drops in traffic with a gorgeous 11-yard touchdown catch with 2:28 left that effectively clinched the win. The struggles for consistency on the ground will continue to be a topic of discussion in the days to come, but in the meantime, the Broncos have found a way to get by without it, with the offense accounting for 24 points in each of the last two games. 2. MAKE MATTHEW STAFFORD UNCOMFORTABLE. The sack statistics don't entirely tell the story, as the Broncos ended the game with four -- a healthy total, but nowhere near illustrating the havoc the Broncos' pass rushers wreaked on Stafford. In the second half, Stafford found more success with screen passes and dump-offs that took the edge off the Broncos' pass rush. Denver still got pressure, punctuated by Shaquil Barrett's strip sack of Stafford that led to a fumble that the offense converted into a 48-yard Brandon McManus field goal. 3. DON'T ALLOW EXPLOSIVE PLAYS ON SPECIAL TEAMS. McManus took care of kickoffs, blasting all of them for touchbacks -- including one from the Denver 20-yard-line after a taunting penalty against Thomas on his 45-yard touchdown reception.

Punter Britton Colquitt did a good job with placement of his punts, dropping three of his five punts inside the Detroit 20-yard-line. Only one was returned, resulting in a 28-yard runback that was the longest allowed by the Broncos on a punt return this year. However, Barrett's forced fumble effectively rendered that return moot.

Injury Update: Broncos vs. Lions By Ben Swanson DenverBroncos.com September 27, 2015 Following a hit on a short-yardage run, C.J. Anderson is being evaluated for a concussion. On the last play of the first quarter, Anderson received the handoff at the Lions' 13-yard line and was hit at the line of scrimmage by defensive end Darryl Tapp. He received attention on the field and was helped off to the sideline. UPDATE: C.J. Anderson has been cleared and his return is probable. Running back Juwan Thompson is questionable with a neck injury. UPDATE: Juwan Thompson has been downgraded to OUT with a neck injury

Sundays with Sacco: Broncos have deep roots with Lions By Jim Saccomano DenverBroncos.com September 27, 2015 One of the great things about the NFL scheduling system is that, due to the number of teams and two conferences, teams do not play those from the rival conference more than every few years. This potentially makes those games more special for fans. With that in mind, the Denver Broncos have a history with the Detroit Lions that is deeper than most know, and the Lions themselves have a pedigree far greater than what is represented by the most recent seasons of play. The "modern era" has the Lions as the only team in the NFC never to have played in the Super Bowl, and the Broncos and Lions have faced each other just 11 times previously (in the regular season), with Denver having a 6-5 edge. But the rest of the story, the part most younger or more recent fans might not know, is as follows. The Broncos play the Lions in Detroit on Sunday night (everybody knows that, as the commercial says)--but did you know it is not our first national game in Detroit? The Broncos played a Thanksgiving Day game at old, venerable Tiger Stadium in 1974, a 31-27 Denver win, then also played on Thanksgiving Day in Detroit in my rookie year, 1978, and we lost, 17-14. The biggest difference in those two games was the Lions were playing in The Silverdome by 1978; conditions were awful due to torrential rain, and before we ever left the hotel, defensive coordinator Joe Collier lamented to me that the mud was perfect for our great defense--but alas, there was no mud indoors. Our defense was neutralized, and the Lions won. Now, the Lions and Broncos will play in Ford Field. But the Lions history indoors is actually of the "can you top this?" variety, and no team can, for they played in the very first indoor game in NFL history, and it was for the league title as well. The Lions began life as the Portsmouth Spartans and played the first major indoor football game and the first "unofficial" title game, in Chicago vs. the Bears in 1932, losing 9-0. There was no official league title game back in those days, but the two teams both had great regular seasons and it was agreed they would play this one final game for supremacy. But . . . There had been a tremendous snowstorm in Chicago, and they just could not get all the snow out of Soldier Field, so Bears owner/coach George Halas suggested they play the game indoors in Chicago Stadium, and all parties agreed. But . . .

The circus had just left Chicago, having performed for a full week in Chicago Stadium. You know, circuses, elephants, elephant residue. Halas was good-naturedly cursed by more than one player when they saw the field that had been set up, but they adjusted the field dimensions a bit, dodged and dashed through the unique playing surface, and the Lions and Bears made pro football history with the first indoor game, and for the championship no less. The Lions have a nice uniform, and one of the best color names in pro sport, as their blue is officially known as "Honolulu Blue." Way back when, the Lions' CEO and a player chose it for the waves in Hawaii. I do not know the specific Detroit connection to Hawaii, but it is a nice look. Despite the current record that includes limited playoff success, the Lions were a powerhouse franchise in the 1950s, winning three NFL championships, including one in 1957 after head coach Buddy Parker quit at the team's civic kickoff luncheon, announcing he "could no longer control this team." They appointed George Wilson as head coach and rambled through the schedule, thumping the immortal Cleveland Browns in the title game by a 59-14 score. Along the way, defensive coordinator Buster Ramsey invented the blitz. And when you are the first team blitzing the passer, you can create some real devastation. Which they did. And when the American Football League was formed and Buffalo was one of the franchises, Detroit resident and Bills owner Ralph Wilson looked no farther than his own city of residence for a head coach, hiring Ramsey as the first Buffalo head coach. Denver connections to the Lions are more than you might think. When the merger of the NFL and AFL took place and the two leagues first began playing each other in preseason games, the previously woeful Broncos actually became the first AFL team to defeat an NFL team, in a preseason (they still called them exhibitions then) game at the University of Denver Hilltop Stadium. I was there and the night was truly electric. Fans carried the Broncos head coach off the field on their shoulders. It was really a fantastic moment at that moment in time. Of course, that "out of control" 1957 Lions team was personified by quarterback Bobby Layne, a future Hall of Famer who was the last quarterback to never wear a facemask. He was one of those guys who studied the playbook by the light of a jukebox. Also on those teams was Doak Walker, who would finish his career in player personnel and as a coach for the Broncos in 1966. Doak resided in Steamboat Springs, Colo., until his death, and I am not going to go into his career notations here, as anything I write would be too little and insulting to the history of this great player who made Colorado his home. Another time, perhaps very soon, but not now.

Also on that Detroit team was Jack Christiansen, a tremendous defensive back and punt returner, also in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, who had played his college football at Colorado A&M back before Aggies grew into Rams. Another Lion with a Colorado connection was Earl "Dutch" Clark, who had played at Colorado College. And how good was Dutch Clark for the Lions? When the Hall of Fame was first created, and they named the very first class of 17 to open the doors of the Hall, Dutch Clark was in that class of 17. This is not a shot at you or me, but our ignorance of these guys is a reflection on us, not on their lack of greatness. One more Lions Hall of Famer with a Bronco connection makes me cringe. Curley Culp, the great nose tackle, played part of his career in Detroit on his way to the Hall. He had been the Broncos' top draft choice in the second round in 1968, but Lou Saban stubbornly insisted that Culp move to guard, which the rookie was adamantly against. It became such a standoff that Saban traded Culp to Kansas City before he ever played a game, and Curley Culp stayed on defense and went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Chiefs and Lions. But now that is a part of Broncos history and pretty easy to accept considering the great success which Broncos Country has enjoyed for the last 43 years. In that time span, Denver has the NFL's best combination of most Super Bowl appearances (seven) and fewest losing seasons (also seven). And while the history of the Broncos and Lions is not extensive on the playing field, the two franchises have connections rooted in the history and lore of pro football.