Indianapolis Colts vs Denver Broncos Match Player Stats On Sep 07, 2014

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 7, 2014

Broncos 31, Colts 24: Peyton Manning threw three first-half touchdown passes to Julius Thomas as host Denver built a big lead and held off a late comeback by Indianapolis.

Manning finished 22-of-36 for 269 yards, Thomas had seven catches for 104 yards and Montee Ball rushed for 67 yards and a TD as the Broncos improved to an NFL-best 41-13-1 in home openers and avenged a loss at Indianapolis last season. It marked the 21st time in 33 regular-season games with Denver that Manning has thrown at least three scoring passes.

Andrew Luck nearly rallied the Colts (0-1) back from a 24-point deficit, tossing a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Dwayne Allen and Hakeem Nicks before his fourth-down pass at Denver's 39 was batted away with 1:51 to play. Luck was 35-of-53 for 370 yards and two interceptions, and also ran for a touchdown, while Reggie Wayne added nine catches for 98 yards.

Denver scored on its first four possessions to bolt to a 24-0 lead, getting a 21-yard field goal from Brandon McManus before Manning capped three straight drives with scoring passes of 3, 35 and 5 yards to Thomas, who had five catches for 90 yards in the opening half. The Colts finally got on the board when Luck engineered an 80-yard march and ran in the final 9 himself with a dive to the right pylon with 28 seconds left in the half.

The Broncos stuffed Luck on fourth-and-goal at the 1 and forced Indy to settle for a field goal after a first-and-goal at the 4 before taking advantage of a short field to seize a 31-10 lead when Ball dove in from the 3-yard line with 9:54 to play. Luck responded with a 41-yard strike to Allen just over two minutes later and got the Colts within 31-24 on a 9-yard scoring pass to Nicks with 3:26 to play.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Manning surpassed 65,000 passing yards in the first half and boosted his career total to 494 touchdown passes, 15 shy of passing Brett Favre (508) for first place on the all-time list. Manning also joined Favre as the only quarterbacks to defeat all 32 teams in the league. ... Colts WR Wayne, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in last year's win over Denver, registered his 72nd consecutive game with at least three catches - the longest streak in league history. ... The Broncos offered a video tribute to owner Pat Bowlen, who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and was not in attendance. Colts owner Jim Irsay also was not at the game, serving the first of a six-game suspension for violating the league's personal-conduct policy.