Perhaps lost in the euphoria of a trip to the team’s eighth Super Bowl was another difficult second-half performance for the Denver Broncos offense, one that nearly cost them the game.

Denver escaped with a 20-18 win over the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game, but the offense again struggled to put points on the board in the game’s final 30 minutes. The defense delivered perhaps its greatest performance of the year against its toughest foe, Tom Brady, but the burden really didn’t need to be so heavy on that unit.

Peyton Manning and the Denver offense scored touchdowns on their first drive of the game, and another on a short field thanks to a Von Miller interception, but they were able to generate only six more points on the day, only three of which came in the second half.

In the second half, Denver punted on five of six possessions, four of those being three-and-outs that compiled a combined -3 yards and used a total of 5:37 in clock time.

The running game, which was supposed to be a strength against New England, did not break the 100-yard mark and averaged just 3.3 yards per attempt. Were it not for a 30-yard C.J. Anderson rush, those numbers might have not looked even that good. At one point in the second half, Manning was the team’s leading rusher after a 12-yard scramble.

That wasn’t the only running that Manning was doing. Unfortunately, much of the other running he did was backwards or laterally as he attempted to evade the New England pass rush. While Denver’s pass rush was one of the major determining factors in the outcome, their pass protection was almost the cause for another second-half collapse.

The Broncos offensive line surrendered three sacks for a whopping 31 yards. Fortunately, Manning was able to evade the onslaught better than expected for a 39-year-old and he suffered just four hits on the day. Still, the 10-plus yard average on the sacks stalled out several drives.  On the day, Denver went three-and-out on seven different occasions, not including their lone turnover.

On that drive Denver mustered just two plays before Ronnie Hillman allowed a lateral to fall at his feet and be scooped up by New England. The resulting drive was a Patriots touchdown. Hillman struggled running the ball, as well; he had just 16 yards on 11 carries. But his performance was not the most disappointing on the day on offense.

Demaryius Thomas continued his disappointing season with a dismal AFC Championship Game. Denver’s $70 million man had only two catches for 12 yards. None of them came in the second half. He was targeted seven times, second only to Emmanuel Sanders with eight.

One bright spot (sort of) for the Broncos offense (other than Manning’s 12-yard scramble on third-and-10) was Owen Daniels, who was the recipient of both touchdowns. But like the rest of the offense, Daniels did no damage in the second half. Both his catches went for first-half touchdowns; they would be his only receptions on the day.

Some of the responsibility has to fall on Gary Kubiak, who was incredibly conservative yet again in his play calling once the Broncos had a fourth-quarter lead.

Manning was efficient and, most importantly, played mistake-free football again this week. He certainly didn’t get any help from the rest of the offense. He was 17-of-32 passing for 176 yards and those two all-important touchdowns.

Denver is headed to the Super Bowl in part because they turned what last week had been field goal drives into touchdowns. However, their continued struggles on offense – especially in the second half – nearly cost them the game. Needing only a first down or two on two different fourth quarter possessions to run out the clock, the Denver offense went three-and-out. The defense saved the day on multiple occasions, again. The offense surely wants to be a part of the win, but certainly not an “in spite of” part. It almost wasn’t one on Sunday.

Here’s what the Mile High Sports team, plus some of our favorite follows, had to say on some of the different offensive problems as they played out…

On Manning…

https://twitter.com/jmorton78/status/691354903365554176

Not everyone was pleased with Manning’s performance, however…

https://twitter.com/ReillyRick/status/691408761575976960

On the offensive line and protection for Manning…

https://twitter.com/MikeKlis/status/691383093979000833

On Demaryius Thomas…

https://twitter.com/MikeKlis/status/691383514948726784

On the run game…

On coaching…