SportsDirect Inc. staff
Dec 30, 2012
Broncos 38, Chiefs 3: Peyton Manning threw for 304 yards and three touchdowns as host Denver sewed up the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with its 11th consecutive victory.
Manning threw a pair of scoring passes to Eric Decker in the final 5:32 of the first half to stake the Broncos (13-3) to a 21-3 lead en route to claiming the top seed, which was made possible when Houston lost at Indianapolis earlier in the day.
Demaryius Thomas had seven receptions for 122 yards and a score to cap Manning's ninth three-TD game and give Denver its longest winning streak since the 1998 club won 13 straight on its way to a second straight Super Bowl championship.
The Chiefs (2-14) grabbed the No. 1 overall pick in next year's NFL draft with another woeful offensive performance. Brady Quinn threw for 49 yards on 7-of-16 passing and the league's lowest-scoring team mustered only eight first downs and 119 total yards to end the season on a four-game losing streak.
Manning connected on 23 of 29 passes and compiled a 144.8 passer rating in throwing for over 300 yards for the ninth time. He wound up with 37 TDs, 11 interceptions and 4,664 yards to surpass Jay Cutler's (4,526) single-season franchise record.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Thomas had his seventh 100-yard game - one shy of the team record - and Decker had seven catches for 76 yards and the two scores. They became the first Denver teammates to eclipse 1,000 yards since Rod Smith and Ashley Lelie in 2004. ... Kansas City was limited to 13 points or fewer for the 10th time and scored only 23 points combined during its four-game skid. ... LB Von Miller had one of Denver's four sacks to give him 18.5 on the season.