Thursday Night Football Afterword: Broncos vs Ravens

The Broncos hosted the 2012 NFL Champion Ravens last night.
Photo credit to SNF on NBC on Facebook.

Last night’s game was rather odd in a way. Early in the 4^th quarter I found myself, dare I say it, bored. The Broncos led 42-17, Peyton Manning had tied two NFL records and set a third, and it looked to be just a matter of running the final thirteen minutes off the clock.

Instead, the game suddenly took an ugly turn for the better as Danny Trevathan picked off a 4^th & 1 pass by Joe Flacco, took it within two yards of the end zone, then dropped it a la DeSean Jackson and Leon Lett, giving the Ravens the ball at the 20 rather than the Broncos a 49-17 lead.

Joe Flacco made quick work of the Denver defense, completing all four of his attempts and taking advantage of a 15-yard facemask penalty by Raheem Moore to take Baltimore to a touchdown. After a three-and-out by Denver, Flacco again drove Baltimore down the field but they had to settle for a field goal to make it a two-possession game at 42-27.

On the third play of the following drive, Manning saw an opening in the defense and audibled into one of his favorite plays, one that has resulted in a touchdown nearly every time he’s called it in Denver, a screen pass to Demaryius Thomas, and the play went for 78 yards and Manning’s 7^th touchdown pass of the game.

Before you buy into all the hype ESPN is dishing about the Broncos or against the Ravens, lets remember that this was one game. Our focus should be on Peyton Manning’s historic night, on the fact that Denver’s defense set out to prove that they could hold their own without Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller, on Baltimore’s receivers letting down Joe Flacco with several drops on well-placed balls, and one John Harbaugh’s assistant coaches letting him down on a crucial complete pass to Wes Welker that should have been challenged and reversed.

Yes Denver proved to be a dominant team in last night’s game, but this is still a defense that struggled last night. Drops by Ed Dickson, Dallas Clark and others kept this game from being close throughout.

And before we right off Baltimore, keep in mind that these young offensive players, as well as those new to the system, will get in rhythm with Joe Flacco at some point, and the defense will mesh. It wasn’t very fair to them to be pitted against the best slew of receivers an NFL team has to offer right now.

Be sure to listen to Football Freaks tonight at 7pm on WMUC Sports and follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.