DENVER -- Apparently it takes roughly nine months to flip the script for the Denver Broncos.
The touchdown machine of the previous three seasons -- the Broncos set the league’s single-season scoring mark in 2013 with 606 points and averaged over 30 points a game since Peyton Manning’s arrival -- is now a work in progress on a team with plenty of defensive teeth.
What first-year Broncos coach Gary Kubiak has called the “meshing’’ of his offense with what Manning does well still has plenty of frayed edges.
“We’re excited about the win, a great win,’’ Manning said following the 19-13 victory over the Baltimore Ravens in Sports Authority Field at Mile High. “To beat Baltimore, at home, a team that you just know is going to be in the postseason, they always are, they’re always a Super Bowl contender and a tough team. You beat them at home and like I said, the one thing, no matter how many different times you ask it, this is not three different teams we have here, we don’t have the Broncos offensive team, Broncos defensive team, Broncos special teams, right? But that’s how you have to ask the question. The Broncos beat the Ravens [Sunday]; there’s your summary right there.’’
In the too-close-for-comfort win, the Broncos’ defense had to overcome the team’s offensive struggles and carry the day. The Broncos' revamped offensive line, with four new starters from last season, struggled to consistently protect Manning.
With two players starting their first regular-season game in the offensive front -- left tackle Ty Sambrailo and center Matt Paradis -- Manning was sacked four times in a game for the first time since his return to Indianapolis on Oct. 20, 2013.
As a result, an under-pressure Manning was just 19-of-35 for 137 yards by the end of the third quarter, finished the game 24-of-40 for 175 yards, and he had a deflected pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown in the third quarter by Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith. Pile on a run game that had averaged just 2.8 yards per carry in the game, and the Broncos were teetering on the brink until cornerback Aqib Talib returned an interception 51 yards for a touchdown as the third quarter drew to a close.
Asked about the fact he did not look as comfortable in the new offense as last season, Manning said: “I would expect that to be the case. … When you make some changes, everybody’s just kind of feeling their way out, it’s just going to be a work in progress; we’re going to try to get better throughout the season.’’
The Broncos’ first two drives ended in field goals -- 57- and 56-yarders by Brandon McManus, who hit a 43-yarder just before halftime as well -- and until a 17-play, fourth-quarter drive that used up 10 minutes, 56 seconds of the fourth quarter to close the deal, the Broncos’ offense had been a combination of punts and frustration for most of the day.
“It might be the greatest defensive football game I’ve ever been a part of as a coach,’’ Kubiak said. “ … Offensively we had a chance to make a couple big plays early in the game we didn’t make; it was a battle from then on.’’
Manning was held without a touchdown pass twice last season: in a Dec. 7 win against the Buffalo Bills and against the Oakland Raiders in the regular-season finale when he played with a thigh injury. The last time the Broncos were held to fewer than 20 points in a regular-season home game was in the last week of the regular season in 2011, a 7-3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs when Tim Tebow was 6-of-22 for 60 yards in the game.