[Bathroom Reading] Week 1 Recap: Colts VS Broncos

Denver, CO -    

After much hype leading into this game, the Colts & Broncos did what many teams do not - live up to it.

The game started off a bit sloppy in the turnover department. Peyton was quickly picked off on his opening drive, which gave the Colts the ball on the Broncos side of the field. Luck and company were able to drive the ball down to the Broncos 1 yard line, but, after a 5 yard sack, Luck soon threw a ball behind his receiver in the endzone which the Broncos defense picked off. Despite both talented quarterbacks, Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, getting off to a shaky start by trading interceptions early in the game, they would go on to each pass for over 300 yards over the course of the night.

Following his defense saving his team from an early deficit, Manning then led his team down the field to put the first points on the board connecting with favorite target Demaryius Thomas for the first of his three total touchdowns in the evening.

To this, the Colts responded beautifully by putting up 17 unanswered points  by way of an Adam Vinatieri field goal, a touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks, and to wrap it all up an Ahmad Bradshaw touchdown run.

Fastforward through the game a bit and the Broncos and Colts have exchanged leads twice before the 4th quarter, but once the 4th quarter came the Colts kicked into another gear to gain the lead once again and keep it for the rest of the game, winning 35-32.

This was a tremendous offensive shoot out, one that is surely going to inspire a young Colts team with aspirations for the rest of the season and beyond.

Unsurprisingly, Coach Rechter felt good about his team's first victory.  Taling with the media after the game, he was quoted as saying, "I am proud of our guys for putting in the hard work this week at practice and all the offseason work that led them to this point.  That is not a good football team we just beat. That is a great football team we beat. It's a team that has accomplished things that we have only dreamed of making happen. Things we work towards everyday. Winning a road game against one of the best QBs in NFL history is no easy task and I am glad we were able to sneak out the win. I have to give a lot of credit to our run defense holding their running game to 30 yards on the day, giving us the opportunity to dictate tempo as we pleased. All that said, we still have a great deal to work on to be where we want to be and I have faith our team will pull throw."

Manning finished the day completing 24 of 35 passes for 397 yards, 4 touchdowns. and 1 interception.  Luck, who won Player of the Game honors, sliced through the defense completing 19 of 22 passes for 346 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception. He even showed the wheels he has, busting off a 17 yard run to move the chains when his team needed it. Teammate  Ahmad Bradshaw helped his quarterback seal the deal carrying the rock 19 times on his way to 100 yards and a rushing touchdown.

The Broncos will face a divisional rival in the Kansas City Chiefs next week at home in Denver while the Colts will have a home game as well versus the Philadelphia Eagles.