The Denver Broncos beat the New York Giants 41-23 Sunday afternoon at the Meadowlands, as Eli and Peyton Manning faced off for the third time; big brother Peyton is now 3-0 against his younger brother Eli.
On the Broncos first drive, Peyton picked up right where he left off last Thursday as he methodically moved the Broncos down the field, and a touchdown seemed imminent until Montee Ball’s fumble that was recovered by the Giants in the end zone for a touchback. Eli then got the ball and hit Victor Cruz with a 51-yard strike on the Giants’ first offensive play from scrimmage. After Cruz’s catch however, the Giants’ offense stalled and were forced to settle for a 36-yard Josh Brown field goal.
In the second quarter, the Broncos started their first drive from the Giants’ 40-yard line and made the G-Men pay with a 20-yard touchdown run by Knowshon Moreno. The Giants failed to capitalize as they drove deep into the red zone, but were forced to settle for another field goal. Again the Giants’ defense held the Broncos and gave the offense the ball at their own 40-yard line. The Broncos’ defense bent, but yet again refused to allow the Giants to get into the end zone as Brown converted his third field goal of the half.
Peyton finally got the offense moving again as Denver resorted to the two minute drill style offense, and capped off the drive with a Matt Prater field goal with less than a minute on the clock for the third lead change of the half. The Giants got the ball back with about 45 seconds on the clock and after Eli hit Hakeem Knicks for 34 yards and a 21-yard pass interference penalty was enforced, the Giants seemed to be headed for another field goal to take the lead before half; however, Eli decided to take a shot at the end zone and had his pass picked off by Dominique Rogers-Cromartie. Both offenses looked surprisingly stagnant in the first half for all of the weapons they possess. The key stat for the Giants in the first half was third down conversions: they were only able to convert one time on seven opportunities. The Broncos were far from perfect with six penalties for 53 yards lost/given up, yet they led at the half 10-9.
After the Giants opened up the half with a three and out, the Broncos marched down the field with a nine play 53-yard drive that was capped off by a two-yard touchdown pass to Wes Welker. After giving up 10 unanswered points the Giants were in need of a big offensive drive and got one along with some help from the Denver defense, which was penalized four times on the drive. Sort-of newly signed free agent Brandon Jacobs rumbled into the end zone for a one yard score; Tom Coughlin decided not to go for two, and the Giants were down 17-16. Denver continued the shootout-style play of the third quarter with a seven play 80-yard drive as Knowshon Moreno bounced to the outside and scooted into the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown run, his second of the game.
To open up the fourth quarter, Eli attempted to find Rueben Randle on an in-route but had the ball deflected off of a Denver defender’s foot, and then caught by cornerback Chris Harris for an interception. Peyton made little brother Eli pay for his mistake as he found breakout weapon Julius Thomas for an 11-yard touchdown to make it a two-score game at 31-16. Prior to this season Thomas had one reception in his career; after two weeks he has three touchdown receptions.
The Giants were again forced to punt to Trindon Holliday who took it to the house for 81 yards; this was the back breaker for the Giants who found themselves down three scores and with no momentum. Eli went for broke on fourth down of the Giants’ next series as he bombed a pass to the end zone but instead threw his third interception of the day, this time to Rahim Moore. Eli did throw a touchdown along with another interception late in the fourth quarter, but both were irrelevant to then end result.
Peyton finished the day 30-43, for 307 yards and two TD’s; Eli was 28-49 for 362 yards along with a touchdown and four interceptions. The two teams appear to be going in opposite directions as Denver has looked dominant in both of their games, particularly in the second half; meanwhile, the Giants are now 0-2 and Eli Manning has thrown seven interceptions in two games. This appears to be an issue to coach Tom Coughlin as well as he said after the game, “Somehow, someway you’ve got to stop the interceptions.”
The Giants can traditionally be slow starters, but Eli’s inconsistency along with the lack of a running game seems to be concerning. Meanwhile, the Broncos have now won 13 straight regular season games.The Broncos will play host to the Oakland Raiders next week, while the Giants will try to get on track against the Carolina Panthers.
