Third-and-12 from the Denver 12: Peyton Manning’s pass intended for tight end Jacob Tamme was intercepted by Falcons safety William Moore and returned 33 yards to the Denver 1-yard line. Three plays later, running back Michael Turner jumped over the pile and crossed the goal line to give Atlanta the early lead.
Second-and-11 from the Denver 27: For the second time in the team’s first two possessions, Manning’s pass was intercepted by a Falcons safety. Thomas DeCoud came down with the deep pass and returned it 15 yards to the Broncos 43-yard line. Denver’s defense held Atlanta to one first down on its ensuring drive and the Falcons settled for a Matt Bryant field goal.
First-and-10 from the Atlanta 40: With the Broncos driving into Falcons territory, Manning’s pass again wound up in the wrong hands. This time it was Robert McClain who picked off the deep pass and returned it to the Atlanta 47-yard line, ending a potential scoring drive.
Third-and-9 from the Atlanta 48: Following the third interception, Atlanta had the ball with prime field position to add to its lead. On third down, safety Mike Adams tipped Matt Ryan’s pass, forcing it to fall harmlessly to the turf. The officials threw a flag for defensive pass interference, but Head Coach John Fox challenged the call, which would eventually be overturned to force a fourth-down punt.
First-and-10 from the Atlanta 45: After starting with solid field position of its own, the Denver offense turned over the football for the fourth time in the opening quarter. Running back Knowshon Moreno fumbled the football and after much discussion, it was ruled that Atlanta had recovered. The Falcons converted that turnover into another Bryant field goal to go ahead 20-0 early in the second quarter.
Tags: Atlanta Falcons, Key Plays, Week 2
Pretty disapointing result! I will say this though we are a good team. If we take care of sandiego we should take care of the division. Another tough match against Houston coming up.
Go Broncos!!!
Wow, not the start or the outcome I was expecting. Extremely tough to win games with 4 turnovers and no take aways yourself.
While the INT’s are inexcusable, I must say that the officiating was horrible in this game and seemed to go against us with every flag. These guys were bush league at best. They slowed the game down so much and made terrible calls.
While I’m not at all happy with the outcome, I will say that the way this team kept battling was admirable and a great sign. Most teams put in that situation on the road would just pack it in…..but these guys kept at it and we almost had a chance to win it. The D was pretty great in the second half overall but just couldn’t get it done on that last third down.
This game was a great learning experience for the entire team and def something to build on. I believe this loss will only make them stronger next week. Another tough test coming up with the Texans…..but I think the comforts of home will prevail.
And to the joker on the last blog who said Manning is brutal and both he and Elway should be gone…….GIVE ME A BREAK! It’s one game……..we weren’t gonna win them all. This is still a terrific team and Manning will be sure that type of game never happens again.
Kod I am beyond proud of them and I woke up still. I hold my head high. We are fighters and any other team might be 44-0 in a game like that and we still had a chance to win. Plus our RB didn’t get a DUI after it either. Classy Atlanta.
Manning is not awful and I might just have PMS but I don’t think he will do that again.
I still don’t know how that ref called Atlanta ball after Moreno’s fumble. We clearly fell on top of it and came away with it as well. It seemed the refs were out to screw us from the get-go. Goodell, for the integrity of the game, just get a deal done already. These replacements are ruining the games…….
I agree with you Kod, the officiating was unbelievable. The Players Union should stand up and side with the Officials and make some sort of statement. This is stupid. The owners aren’t gonna budge other wise. If The Players were really concerned They would make a Stand.
I have never seen anything like that in my life. And I’m pissed as hell that it had ti be during MY game!!! I cant get over the Pass Interference Touchdown that should’ve never been either.
Not the start I was hoping for..not the start any Broncos fan was hoping for. I was worried that it was going to turn into the Raiders game from a couple of season ago when the very first play was an Orton pick six and we just ended up getting destroyed. We kept fighting and our defense kept us in and we battled back.
Was quite upset especially after Manning’s performance in week 1. First road game and the Falcons always play well at home. There is always some good stuff to take after a loss. I think the replacement refs are starting to actually get worse than improving. First of all there was the fumble..how exactly do you decide who has the ball when you’re still pulling people off the pile..guessing they figure they have a 50/50 shot at getting it right. Carters PI call was complete BS. The funny thing is the NFL is actually the ones preaching integrity of the game and they’re the ones ruining it by not getting a deal done with the refs. That should be the biggest C’mon Man!
Couple of my opinions. I thought we should’ve ran the ball more esspecially after Mannings 2nd INT. We started running and we were actually gaining good yardage. Then he throws another INT. Moreno…um..I was giving him a chance this season to prove himself and he hasn’t yet..and his fumble last night was hard to take. He needs to ride the aluminum and let Ball and Hillman get his carries. Manning…well he just has those games sometimes. Everyone is taking Manning to be some sort of rookie QB..he kind of looked like it int he first qtr. last night. He’ll bounce back..he’s had those types of games before and he always comes back. Although if he threw one more INT I was rooting to put Osweiler in for the rest of the game.
Defense…decent. Kept us in it and held Altanta to field goals in some key spots. Still need work on third downs. Gotta find someway to get off the field. And in a key 3rd down late in the game…gotta make a play. We need to work on our pass rush too. I thougth having Doom and Miller healthy they’d be reaking havoc but haven’t seen it yet.
All in all not a bad loss considering the way it started. I thought it was going to be a lot to a little. But we battled back and I like to always see that. We didn’t roll over we kept on fighting.
I agree with all of what killerkod says.
Hey…I know we shouldn’t get “should upon” but if we didn’t have those 4 turnovers…completely different game in my opinion.
Texans..gotta get ready for them!
Kod I don’t know if you read Woody Paiges article or not but go do it… Demaryius goes on and on about how Eric had thebball in the pile and the refs just gave it to Atlanta.
yeah, like brian said, they called Atlanta ball before the pile was even cleared……..a loss I can take, but officiating like that just makes my blood boil! I’ll def check it out cat…..thanks!
Don’t fool yourself killer, this here is not a real football world, it’s only a bloggers’ world, some were already talking here that we had a legitimate chance to go undefeated this season after last week win, well…. so some did indeed think we were going to win them all. Anyway, all foolish blogosphere set aside, now a little meat for you guys:
This was a very encouraging game for our D up front. Very pleased to see the major improvements on the front line. Stopping the run up front is something I haven’t seen for years!
As for many years now we have a well below average LBs corp in the middle and our safeties are basically some of the worse in the league now period, talk about a sorry middle of the D against any kind of short passing game… Rahim “I’m blessed” Moore is a nut case and better get his head out of his “blessed” world and into the real football one.
The nickel position killed us with Clark out, having Porter there at times screwed everything up, we need someone better than Carter as said here many times. Porter and Bailey belong at the corners. Get well Chris!
Manning did nothing more than proving it takes a long time to gel with a completely new team and new system. He knew it and said it for who cared to listen but most fans did not. I took us to lose in the official contest so that loss made perfect sense to me, no matter how it came about. Not concerned at all about anything for Manning long term, he will gradually put it all together to hopefully get to the 10-6 win record I predicted.
Moreno is another bum on our team who for the life of me I have zero clue as why they hang on to him other than we did not address the running position adequately for this year once again. Fox keeps disappointing me in that regard. Of all coaches I thought he would have that one figured out, run baby run, I could give a hoot nanny about this has become a passing league, give us Manning and a solid running game for 16 weeks and we will do better than 10-6.
One missing link on the O line hurts tremendously, Ramirez does not have it and probably never will, we better get Kuper back pronto is all I can say.
Demaryius went from made of glass to good enough to be immortalized in a glass trophy case.
Better receriving TEs is obviously where the team went instead of strengthening up the running game appropriately, and thanks for them at least that’s working.
Slot machine Stokley keeps amazing an old man like me but unfortunately I see possible and probable injuries in the near future. The slot is a tough position for any man, it’s a lot to ask for a little older guy like him, he barely made it through this one.
Decker keeps playing well.
And my boy Willis does what’s asked of him as a receiver, proud of him considering many here loath him, but they like Moreno, go figure.
Have a good week and get ready for another high stake game Sunday, this one is even more important because it’s an AFC game. After one great D coordinator in Nolan who used to be ours, it’s on to another in Phillips who used to be our head coach. Small world this NFL!
It doesn’t get easier until Oakland, LOL.
P.S. Our lack of depth is evident, we miss a nickel corner and hell breaks loose.
woody nailed it on the head……..
Not to use this as an excuse, but they said that Manning’s lost a little “zip” on his passes. While I think he still needs to rely on his arm I think he still needs to consider that being late in his career he maybe can thread all the needles that he thinks he can. Even Elway came to terms with that late in his career.
I agree bay…….ramirez def showed a lot of weakness last night…….and we really need Kuper in there.
Moreno was ineffective, and that fumble was just a killer considering we were finally starting to drive after the INT’s. Still don’t know how they called it Atlanta ball, but it should never have happened in the first place.
I also picked 10-6………..lol
Ughhh… I feel like I got sucker punched last night… Major disappointment with how that game unfolded, but like many, I’m actually very happy with how our team responded in the eye of adversity. The way that game was going, it would have been easy to give up, and play for next week. Major kudos goes to our team for hanging in there. These types of games can define an intire season, and rallying behind this and playing with a chip on our shoulder, and using this as a bonding experience will benefit us in the long term IMO. It’s all about peaking at the right time, just ask the Giants last year. There were times last season where they were not considered to make the playoffs, and then they got hott and got into the tournament….
The NFL is a business like no other. They literally just had a lockout, and now they are diminishing the quality of their product with these horrible officials, all while charging sky high prices, and yet we all just line up to buy their product… I don’t know ANY other business who can get away with that on planet Earth….
I also like the no huddle, but I do NOT think it should used exclusively. We passed 37 times, and ran 27 times. We need more balance, and I think we need to go back the a more ball controlled offense.
Roger Goodell is getting RIPPED out here… I agree, the guy is a disaster..
Despite the four turnovers and the HORRIBLE calls by the refs- we only lost by a touchdown! Cant ask for a better result than that. And Manning was bound to have a bad game. Now he and the offense know what to work on and will hopefully have it together for Houston.
You know Edd Hockuley was pumping some iron and smiling really big while the poor officiating was going on last night. I don’t know what to say about our performance in the first half other then it was bad but you got give our D lots of credit for keeping us in a game that we could have lost by 40.
Apparently Leshawn McCoy said one the the replacement refs said to him during a game: “I need you for my fantasy team”……
Wow!!! If thats true then the NFL should suck it up and give the reffs what they want today!!!!
I heard the interview courtesy of a Philly station. No way of proving it, but I wouldn’t be surprised.. These guys are awful.
Check out the play by play of the NE game. After the holding call on 2 and 10 from the 30, they repeated 2nd and 10 from the 30.. Shouldn’t it have been 2 and 20 from the 40?? Thank god they still missed that FG…
http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/playbyplay?gameId=320916017&period=4
Unsportsman like on red lol I think we have a good shot Sunday as long as Haris comes back and Peyton can throw the ball to the right team this time. Oh and keep mareno on the bench
*correction
The official said “you better get it going, I have you on my fantasy team.” Which is even worse… The NFL is really opening up themselves to a potential gambling scandal…
Does anyone know what the main reason for the hold out is? I;m sure its money but how much
http://sports.yahoo.com/sportsminute
So bad last night
Did anyone read Mark Kiszla’s Article this morning from the Denver Post? It was the best article I ever read from him. He’s stating the same thing as us fans. And while he says the Broncos played a bad game and lost, rightfully so, Kiszla speaks out about the SCAB refs horrible calls. I’m proud of our Bronco’s for fighting through this hard fought game.
Bay, great read this morning. And as for Rahim Moore, I gave up on him late last year. Start Q from now on, and cut the ties with KNOW-SHOW, and bring in JJ!!
We need to start Danny Trevathan at LB. It wouldn’t hurt. LOL
Admittedly, I haven’t followed the details of the officials hold out, but from my understanding the two major issues are the pension for officials, and the league wanting officials to be full time. Ed Hockuli, for example, is a partner at an Arizona law firm, and I doubt he’s gonna leave that behind..
I like the Idea of bringing in JJ I like the that kid a lot.
Thanks OT I had heard something about pension but not in detail media is to busy talking about the Saints bounty
I was watching the game last night at a buddy’s house and I said to him, this is the worst play calling we’ve ever seen and it’s getting much uglier and it’s nationally televised. I’ll tell ya what, this is the straw that’ll break the camels back, I told him. Can this get any worse?! LMAO!!
The NFL is hurting the integrity of the game. They need to step up to the plate! Their always preaching about safety and holding high standards. Put your money where your mouth is, literally. LMAO!!
What did U see last night? what others told you U saw? or did you see Broncos rise up from 7 to 24 in the LAST QUARTER? Did U see Broncos as losers..or showing off just what a 4th quarter threat they will be all season..did you see Ryan and Falcons Fumble and play bad- get turnovers and fail to score??? U think Falcons better than Broncos? If Broncos your team try 2 see the facts- don’t listen to grudy & grueden and espn or costas- gee all that is yada yada and doesn’t mean a thing. Bad refs new thing to NFL???? important vision last night was broncos are capable of deep winning like not seen in Denver since Elway.
I’m ready for Sunday I got tickets and I’m ready to go
Horrible start to the game. Not even going to comment on the officiating. That crap speaks for itself.
Funny how Atl could have blown that game wide open, instead it came down to a 3rd & 5 with two min left.
Defense did a good job to help keep us in that game. However, I’m very close to putting Elvis on the back of some milk cartons… Though I have noticed marked improvement in his run stopping.
Tackling was better and we improved in 3rd down from last week.
Demaryius keeps impressing. Funny too because Gruden started talking smack about his ‘inconsistencies’…. Only to have replay prove how amazing of a catch that TD actually was!
And Willis M… So glad to have that guy. His hard nosed running kept our offense from being completely one dimensional.
SI curse is alive and well… Ugh. Buckle down. Get to work and get to it. We have a huge matchup on Sunday afternoon!
Broncos Country Strong 2012!
One major problem for our D last night was we had little pass rush. We gotta get that fixed and fast. Give kudos to Atlanta as a whole, they are hard to beat at home. Peyton put the team in a mess in the 1st quarter alone and that’s hard to overcome 3 INT’s and come away with a win. The refs stunk up the joint and don’t even deserve to ref pee wee league games. LOL
Here’s an article on that McCoy comment:
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/eye-on-football/20220992
I’m totally baffled that Knowshon Moreno is still a RB on this team. I just don’t get why he’s still in Denver, cut him please! The agony of him still here is stunning. Bring in JJ ASAP!!
I agree about our pass rush strand, I’ve been pounding my fist about it all along. We need to draft another pass rusher early in the draft next year. It should also be a bigger sized bull rusher IMO.
After that rant, there’s still a lot of football to be played. We’ve just got started really. Houston will be a tough match up. GO ORANGE N BLUE!!!
I think our Pass rush will get it figured out. This was in Atlanta and the crowd noise and Match ups were to much. We’ll play a lot better at home this week. Our pass rush has got to be more consistent home and away. It’s too far off, but in my opinion, we need a big bruising RB with our first round pick next draft to spell McGahee as he gets older. That’s just me though.
Holy Shnikys, if Bay was still doing the blog contest, I would as of this week be placed on the WOS, wall of shame. Land sakes alive! LOL
Our local ABC affiliate decided to show the “country music awards” instead of “Monday Night Football” so I did not get to see the game. “Centurylink” has not worked out a deal with ESPN yet so I was unable to watch it on the web or with my “xbox” subscription. I couldn’t find a radio that I could figure out how to operate until there was only 5 minutes left in the first quarter. Imagine my dismay when I finally get the game on and find out PM had thrown 3 picks! Shortly after I get the game tuned in Moreno fumbles and that fiasco takes place. I had just as bad a start to the game as the Broncos did! LOL
Dave Logan and Eddie Mac where a hoot to listen to calling the game by the way. I was snoozing shortly after the start of the second half and missed all of the call with the exception of a couple of plays when I briefly awoke only to slip back into slumberland. The continuous smoke from the wild fires here is taking a toll on my health and the fatigue it causes kept me from listening in to the valiant attempt by the Broncos to come back and snatch victory from defeat. Thank God the fires are all but out , I sure hate missing anything concerning our Denver Broncos. I’m really looking forward to the match against the Texans. Hopefully, the horrible officiating of this past weekend will prompt the parties involved to move forward in getting the professional officials back on the field. NFL football needs to get back to the high standard we fans have come to appreciate in the past. Enough has been lost these last two weeks, time to put their egos away and restore the integrity of the game.
The best thing about the NFL (IMO) is how things change so drastically from week to week. Win one week, and you’re on your way to the Super Bowl, lose the next week, and the alarm bells start ringing.. It’s all about staying level headed, can’t overreact one way or the other. I think we will play better next week, and in particular hold on to the ball better. Our turnover ratio thus far is -4 through 2 games, not what you want. We also need to try and control the clock better, as the Texans have had their way with the time of possession battle, and it’s hard to win if you don’t get the ball…
This game against the Texans will be a close one.
I think the defensive scheme drawn up by Nolan had our team on its heels the first half. That caused Peyton to throw into spots normally open. A good team makes adjustments and I think you saw that in the second half. We played well enough to win that game but many things got in our way. I have been saying that Moreno should be gone. I don’t see the value of him taking up a spot on the roster. Even if we do have to pay him he needs to be gone. The pass rush was held off by a better than expected O line of Atlanta. And I mean held. The refs were terrible and stop the flow of the game, breaking momentum. Steve Young said that it was a business and the bottom line was that the dollar outweighed the safety of the game. I agree. Just one loss and we will bounce back, didn’t expect a perfect season.
I don’t think we are in bad shape. How many times has Peyton said he is not where he wants to be and no one listens to him? Exactly. smh Boo to the analysts crucifying him right now. He all but said our offense needed time to get clicking and nobody listened to him. He is still my football hero. After all that he didn’t shove, push or scream at anybody. He lead the team and almost came back to win despite his mistakes. Proud Bronco fan!