2. Week 2: Denver Broncos @ Kansas City Chiefs, 31-24
This game will be remembered for the Broncos’ defensive performance, where they forced five turnovers including the game-winning fumble return, but what people have forgotten is that this was likely Peyton Manning’s best game of the season.
Take away the pick-six he threw midway through the second quarter, and Manning actually put up some Manning-like numbers: 256 yards and three touchdowns.
The game wasn’t pretty — Manning only completed 58 percent of his passes — but when it mattered, he got it done, which he continued to do through the first seven weeks of the season.
But when we talk about why this game was so exciting, it starts and stops with the defense. Against a quarterback who only threw seven interceptions all season, the Broncos took two away from Alex Smith, and they added three more takeaways on the ground, too.
And when Knile Davis rushed into the end zone for a touchdown with just over 2:32 remaining on the clock, it seemed all but over. But after Manning and Demaryius Thomas drove Denver down the field to tie the game up, Bradley Roby put the game away with a 21-yard fumble return into the end zone.
In retrospect, that game was more important than we ever could have known at the time; if the Chiefs had pulled out the victory, they would be the AFC West champions today.
