Colts at Broncos Line


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The Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos square off Sunday with each coming off huge bounce-back home victories last week. After losing 24-34 to Houston on the road to open the season, Peyton Manning got the better of brother Eli last week in a 38-14 victory over the Giants. The Broncos suffered a heartbreaking 17-24 defeat at the hands of Jacksonville on the road in Week 1, but responded with a dominant 31-14 home win over the Seahawks last week. NFL odds for this one show the Colts -5.5 over the Broncos with a total set of 48 points.

The Broncos will have their hands full against Manning, who leads the NFL in passing yards and touchdowns and has yet to throw an interception. They have a depleted secondary, and they have wide receiver Kenny McKinley on their minds after an apparent suicide when he was found dead in his home on Monday. Manning has thrown for 688 yards and six touchdowns already, well on his way to repeating as the league’s MVP.

In Sunday night’s 38-14 win over New York, Manning outplayed his brother by throwing for 255 yards on 20-of-26 passing with three more touchdowns. He had thrown for 433 yards and three touchdowns in their opening loss to Houston. It’s unclear whether or not starting cornerbacks Champ Bailey and Andre Goodman will be able to go or not Sunday for Denver. Bailey was on crutches with a foot injury after their win over the Seahawks last week, and Goodman is dealing with a thigh injury.

Both corners are doing what they can to get ready to play, but if they can’t go they the Broncos will be left to start a pair of rookies in Perrish Cox and Cassius Vaughn. Cox got his first career interception against Seattle, with Bailey and safety Brian Dawkins also coming up with picks in a dominant effort defensively. Coincidentally, it was the most interceptions in a game by a Denver team since they picked off Peyton Manning three times on December 13th last year. But he came up with four touchdown passes to make up for it, and the Colts went on to win that game 28-16. Manning has thrown 19 touchdowns passes in his last five games against Denver, where Indy is 5-0 including a pair of victories in the playoffs.

The Colts got some balance last week, finally getting a solid rushing effort from the duo of Joseph Addai and Donald Brown. After getting outgained 257-44 in rushing against Houston, the Colts got 161 yards on the ground last week which certainly helped keep the New York defense off balance. The defense was also much sharper, forcing three turnovers. Star defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis sacked Eli Manning twice each.

Though Kyle Orton has many critics, he keeps getting the job done. He has been nothing short of spectacular for Denver, becoming one of only six quarterbacks with at least 600 yards passing through two weeks. Orton threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns against Seattle last week. His favorite target was rookie Demaryius Thomas, who had a coming out party in his NFL debut with eight catches for 97 yards and a touchdown. Orton made his money on third down last week, going 11-of-14 for 152 yards and two touchdowns. He’ll need a repeat effort this week so the Broncos can keep Manning off the field as much as possible if they are going to have any chance of pulling off the upset.

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One Response to “Colts at Broncos Line”

  1. NFL Tickets on September 25th, 2010 7:02 AM

    Peyton Manning is the quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts where he has remained since his rookie season in the NFL.

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