The Broncos used PEYTON MANNING’S right arm and the young (RONNIE HILLMAN) and veteran (WILLIS MCGAHEE) legs of their talented running backs to go upside the head of the visiting New Orleans Saints 34-14 at home. Manning shook off a right thumb injury in the second quarter (he suffered this minor ailment on the follow through of his pass and on the top of defender MARTEZ WILSON’S helmet) to eventually finish 22 of 30 for 305 yards and 3 touchdown passes with no interceptions.
And McGahee and Hillman combined for 208 of the teams’ 225 yards on the ground to put together one of the more complete games offensively and defensively in recent memory for Denver. Their defense harassed and held the Saints offense to just 252 yards on 69 plays (3.6 yards per play) and only allowed one touchdown per half.
With just under seven minutes left in the first quarter, DEMARYIUS THOMAS (7 catches for 137 yards and 1 score) caught a 41 yard pass that took his squad to the Saints 31 yard line. Six plays later, McGahee (23 carries for 122 yards and 1 score) scored from a yard out to give Denver a 7-0 lead.
Then early in the second quarter, DREW BREES (22 of 42 for 213 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception) completed a 29 yard touchdown pass to DARREN SPROLES (7 catches for 56 yards and one score) to tie the game at 7-7.
With nine minutes left in the half, linebacker WESLEY WOODYARD (13 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, and 1 interception) ended a promising Saints drive with a tipped interception to himself that he ended up catching on his back at the Denver 36. Since no one touched him, he got up and ambled 8 yards to the Bronco 44 yard line.
Later in the ensuing drive, Hillman carried twice for 11 to the Saints 17 yard line. His helpful runs led to an ERIC DECKER TD catch (4 catches for 43 yards and 2 scores) in the right corner of the end zone with 6:43 left in the half. This would be the first of many leads (14-7 at this point) that Denver would have for the remainder of the contest.
On the drive that Manning injured his thumb, Denver limited his passes and were more worried about running the ball. Later on 3rd and 7 with 45 seconds left in the half, Manning completed a 2 yard pass to BRANDON STOKLEY to the New Orleans 15 to force a 4th down. After that play and with less than 6 seconds left, MATT PRATER came in to boot a 33 yard field goal to give his team a 17-7 lead going into the half.
On the first drive of the second half for both teams, Denver put together one of their more crisp offensive drives of their season from their own 7 yard line. On one play, Manning play-action faked to Hillman then zoomed a pass to Thomas that went for 38 yards. Then a play later Hillman sped into the open field through a big hole—provided by left tackle RYAN CLADY, left guard ZANE BEADLES, and center JD WALTON—and later down near the left sideline for a 38 yard gain to the Saint 24 yard line. Those two big plays led to a Thomas 1 yard touchdown reception and eventual 24-7 lead.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Decker beat his man, cornerback PATRICK ROBINSON, to the end zone to complete a 5 yard touchdown reception and to give his team an insurmountable 31-7 advantage after the extra point kick was made.
On a drive that started from the 4 yard line, the Broncos went to little-used second year tight end VIRGIL GREEN (3 catches for 44 yards) to bail them out of bad field position to the tune of a 28 yard reception all the way to the Denver 34 yard line (from the 6 yard line). Then McGahee went over the 100 yard mark with a 17 yard run to the Saints 49 yard line. But this promising drive withered away due to a self-inflicted holding penalty by Denver and just a 4 yard gain on 3rd down by backup running back LANCE BALL.
By the 7:05 mark of the fourth quarter, Denver had bullied New Orleans’ defense for 530 yards total offense after a Hillman 24 yard run to the Saints 13 yard line. Denver received another successful Prater field goal out of this drive from 33 yards out to take a 34-7 lead.
The Saints put together their best offensive drive of the game (too bad it came very late in the game with them down by four touchdowns) from their own 20. A Brees 20 yard pass to star tight end JIMMY GRAHAM advanced the Saints to their own 40 with under five minutes left in the game. Three plays later Brees completed a 4th and 10 pass to MARQUES COLSTON, who was uncharacteristically quiet in this game for 15 yards and a first down. Then New Orleans went 2 for 2 on this drive on fourth down conversions, with a 4th and 8 Brees completion to Sproles for 11 yards.
Linebacker VON MILLER was soooooooooo close to deflecting Brees’ pass or sacking him on this play, but one has to give credit to the former for ignoring the linebacker and completing the pass. This completion helped lead to a Brees 18 yard touchdown strike to Graham over the head and right arm of safety MIKE ADAMS to give the final score of 34-14 Denver.
Denver has improved to 4-3 and is now in sole possession of first place in the AFC West. The Saints, meanwhile, fell to 2-5 with the second worst record in the NFC and five games behind division leading Atlanta (7-0), putting them in position to be eliminated from the playoff hunt before Thanksgiving.
