Broncos 29, Packers 10
The hype may have built Sunday night into more than it was. The two non-conference opponents had little in common besides the undefeated records they brought to Sports Authority Field at Mile High for Sunday Night Football. But the two teams, led by future Hall of Fame quarterbacks, presented some great entertainment. The home team, in front of 77,043, simply stole the show.
The Broncos, led by a razor-sharp Peyton Manning, showed flare, daring and execution as they dismantled the Packers from Green Bay. Ronnie Hillman showed off his speed, Demaryius Thomas caught everything in sight and, outside of some key penalties, the defense swarmed with a relentless recklessness.
The Broncos jumped out to an early lead after both teams punted on their opening drives. A 16-yard run by Hillman and 30-yard reception by Thomas set up the game’s first score. Hillman ran up the middle for a one-yard touchdown and the Broncos would not relinquish the lead the entire night.
The offense went on to score another touchdown and a field goal to increase the score to 17-0. Virgil Green and Owen Daniels had catches of 19 and 16 yards, respectively, and Hillman had his second touchdown of the day. This time he showed off his speed and got to the outside for a 15-yard run.
The Broncos defense matched the offense’s efficiency and simply dominated the Aaron Rodgers-led Packers. Broken plays and penalties gave the visitors a glimmer of hope in the second quarter.
The Broncos brought their signature edge pass rush but initially could not get to the quarterback. After shutting down the Packers first three drives, a Rodgers scrabble, two untimely Broncos penalties set up Eddie Lacy’s 1-yard touchdown run. The Broncos final drive of the half was cut short by a two penalties on backup guard, Max Garcia. The Packers then came out of halftime and again, benefited from a long Rodgers scramble and a lengthy pass interference penalty by T.J. Ward. Green Bay’s Mason Crosby kicked a 56-yard field goal to close the gap to 17-10.
From then on it was all Broncos. Manning continued to pick apart the struggling Packers secondary that suffered multiple injuries throughout the game. Thomas was constantly wide open and shook off would-be tacklers for extra yards. When Thomas was not open, Virgil Green was a surprising target from Manning. He finished the evening with three catches for 61 yards.
Rodgers was fantastic at eluding the Broncos pass rush in the first half but soon the Broncos finally corralled him. They sacked him three times in the second half, including a Demarcus Ware sack that resulted in a fumble and a safety.
Anderson had a breakout game as well. He answered the Packers’ 10 straight points with a 28-yard touchdown run to increase the home team’s lead to 24-10 and finished the game with 101 yards.
The Broncos took a drive into the start of the fourth quarter and capped it off with another McManus field goal. While the game was never in doubt, the increased lead to start the last quarter was all the team needed to relax and put the Packers away.
When it was all said and done, the meeting of two undefeated teams finished with a truly complete team effort for the Broncos. The offense tallied 500 yards of offense while the defense held the Packers to an incredible 140 net yards.
