Broncos Sluggish In 31-17 Win Over Jets

It was a slow start for the Denver Broncos (4-1) but two second quarter touchdown passes from Peyton Manning to Demaryius Thomas and Julius Thomas helped ignite their offense in a 31-17 victory over the New York Jets (1-5) at MetLife Stadium.

Manning would throw three touchdowns in the game to give himself 506 for his career as he continues his chase of Brett Favre's NFL record of 508. The victory was also the 171st of Manning's career, a record also held by Favre with 187.

"Any time you win on the road in the NFL," Manning said, "it's a good thing."

Manning would finish the day completing 22-of-33 for 237 yards. The win allowed the Broncos to keep pace in the AFC West with the 5-1 San Diego Chargers who downed the Oakland Raiders 31-28.

"It was a gritty victory," said Head Coach John Fox

It was hard going for Manning and the offense as the Jets defense kept steady pressure on Manning. Most of the first half Manning was rolling out of the pocket as the Jets forced him to throw on the run. The Jets gave the Broncos everything they had and then some in a game that many expected to be a Denver runaway victory.

"It's the NFL, man. We're always going to have games like this," said cornerback Chris Harris Jr. "People have got to understand: teams play us, and it's their Super Bowl every time they play the Denver Broncos, and that's how it is."

The offensive line had a difficult time early holding off the Jets pass rush and combined with the tight ends to commit six penalties in the game. Center Manny Ramirez snapped the ball past Manning in a moment that was eerily similar to the first snap of the Super Bowl that went for a safety. This time Wes Welker was able to recover the ball in the field of play to maintain possession.

“The game is hard enough as it is,” Manning said. “I don’t know how many penalties we had, it felt like a lot. Some first-and-20s and second-and-20s, those are tough to overcome. We have to fix that quickly. When we did execute, we moved the ball and scored touchdowns, but I thought there were too many series where we had some mistakes that made it tough to move the ball against a good defense.”

Rex Ryan changed up their normal defensive scheme of overloading the line with their corners left to cover the receivers. On Sunday, Ryan sent just three rushers while dropping eight defenders back to cover the receivers.

"We were going to present light boxes to Peyton to try to get the ball out of his hands and have them run the football," Ryan said. "You have to do something against that guy. It's ridiculous how good he is."

The decision to go with light boxes looked like a bad decision on the first play of the game as Manning connected on the run to Demaryius Thomas for a 56-yard gain to the New York 26-yard line. The Jets defense would hold the Broncos to a 37-yard field goal from Brandon McManus for a 3-0 lead.

The Jets would take the lead with 4:16 remaining in the first quarter on a 7-play, 47-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard pass from Geno Smith to tight end Jace Amaro for a touchdown.

The 7-3 Jets lead would hold up until 5:55 remaining in the second quarter when a scampering Manning hit Demaryius Thomas in the endzone for their first touchdown of the game.

The touchdown appeared to break the Broncos out of their offensive rut. On their next possession they resembled their old self as they executed a crisp, 9-play, 80 yard drive that was capped with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Julius Thomas for a 17-7 Denver lead with 2:38 remaining in the half. The touchdown gave Thomas eight on the year, the most through five games by a tight end in NFL history (7-Mike Ditka and Antonio Gates).

The Broncos would extend their lead with 8:11 remaining in the third quarter when Manning found Julius Thomas once again for a 4-yard touchdown to go up 24-7.

The Jets wouldn't go away quietly as they began to fight their way back late in the third quarter. With :40 remaining in the third, Nick Folk would hit on a 30-yard field goal to cut the lead to 24-10.

The Jets defense would force a Broncos punt from deep in their own end that resulted in Smith and the offense taking over at their own 37-yard line. The Jets drive would go 63-yards in 9-plays and end on a 2-yard touchdown pass to former Broncos wide receiver Eric Decker to cut the lead to 24-17 with 7:59 remaining in the game.

It would remain a 7-point lead for the Broncos when the Jets would get the ball back with :56 left in regulation. Smith and the Jets offense began their final drive deep in their own territory at the 5-yard line. Following an incomplete pass, Von Miller sacked Smith in what replay would show to be in the endzone. The refs would rule Smith down at the 1-yard line and there would be no replay by the officials.

On third-and-14, Smith was intercepted by Aqib Talib at the New York 22-yard line for a pick-6 and a 31-17 Broncos lead with just :23 remaining to seal the win.

Behind Ronnie Hillman who was making his first NFL start at running back, the Broncos were able to establish a running game against the Jets and their 6th ranked rushing defense. Hillman was able to reach the century mark on 24 carries. Juwan Thompson also saw action, running the ball eight times for 38 yards.

"They did a couple of unorthodox things," Manning said. "They were dropping a number of defenders and that's why the running game opened up."

Injury Report

Danny Trevathan left the game in the first quarter after injuring his left knee, the same knee that he broke during training camp. He will be evaluated further on Monday in Denver.

Coming Up:

Broncos- The Broncos will play two prime-time home games in 11-days. It all begins with the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football this Sunday. That game will be followed four days later by the San Diego Chargers on Thursday Night Football.

Jets- The Jets have a short week as they head to Boston to take on the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football.