Third-and-2 from the Baltimore 38, 12:32 to play in first quarter: The Broncos defense stuffed Ravens running back Ray Rice on a third-down carry, forcing Baltimore to punt on the first possession of the game. Returner Trindon Holliday capitalized on the opportunity, returning the 52-yard punt 90 yards for a touchdown to mark the longest postseason punt return in NFL history.
Third-and-8 from the Baltimore 8, 11:26 to play in first quarter: Facing a third down deep in his own territory, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco lofted a pass down the right sideline for receiver Tandon Doss. Cornerback Tony Carter was there in tight coverage, but it was deemed to be a little too tight and drew a pass interference flag. Two plays later, Flacco connected on a 59-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Torrey Smith to tie the game at 7-7.
Third-and-7 from the Denver 29, 8:24 to play in first quarter: Needing a first down to avoid a three-and-out on the Broncos’ first drive after the Ravens took a 14-7 lead on a pick-six, quarterback Peyton Manning connected with tight end Jacob Tamme for a 21-yard pickup. The drive ended with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Stokley that knotted the score at 14-14.
Fourth-and-8 from the Baltimore 34, 1:21 to play in second quarter: After Manning’s third-down pass fell incomplete, kicker Matt Prater came on to attempt a 52-yard field goal. His kick was no good, turning the ball back to the Ravens at their 42-yard line. Baltimore needed just three plays and 40 seconds to turn that field position into points as Flacco hit Smith for a 32-yard touchdown that tied the score 21-21 heading into halftime.
Third-and-10 from the Denver 37, 2:55 to play in third quarter: Baltimore’s pass rush got to Manning as he dropped back on third down, strip-sacking the quarterback and recovering the loose ball. The Ravens converted that turnover into points with a 1-yard Ray Rice rushing touchdown that capped a five-play, 37-yard drive.
Third-and-3 from the Baltimore 33, 8:46 to play in fourth quarter: Manning’s third-down pass to Demaryius Thomas fell incomplete, but also falling to the ground was a yellow flag that signified defensive holding. The penalty extended the Broncos’ drive and three plays later Denver took a 35-28 lead on a 17-yard touchdown pass to Thomas.
Fourth-and-5 from the Denver 31, 3:16 to play in fourth quarter: With time winding down and the Broncos ahead by a touchdown, Baltimore had reached Denver territory but needed a fourth down conversion to keep their drive going. Safety Mike Adams, who was playing in his first career postseason contest, broke up Flacco’s pass intended for tight end Dennis Pitta, giving the ball back to the Broncos offense.
Third-and-7 from the Denver 47, 2:00 to play in fourth quarter: With Baltimore out of timeouts, a Broncos first down could have sealed the game. However, the Ravens defense came up with the stop, giving its offense one last chance. With time winding down, Flacco hit wideout Jacoby Jones on a 70-yard touchdown heave that sent the game into overtime.
Second-and-6 from the Denver 38, 1:01 to play in the first overtime: Looking for Stokley over the middle, Manning’s pass instead was intercepted by cornerback Corey Graham. That set up kicker Justin Tucker’s 47-yard game-winning field goal that send the Ravens on to the AFC Championship game.
My answer to you is, we were winning and had them no time outs under a minute. I seen manning go down and stop a player from scoring after an interception. Maybe he should have been out there to preserve the win.
Doom, Bruton was on the field for the last play… he had the other deep third
Rushing 3 players in the circumstance was Assinign in that situation,… Flacco had to load up and hop step two yards just to even throw a pass that far… Complete Fail by the defense
I get the Ass part, haha.
you don’t blitz in that situation. our 4 man waasn’t gettign anywhere all night… i don’t know why. Might as well cover the edges and deep and try and hold them in bounds and make them make a play.. wait.. what was that? oh.. it was the ball through buckners legs.
Peyton Manning is ‘The Greatest Choke Artist of all Time’… and it sucks that this time it happened to the Orange and Blue. We argued about this fact last year before the season and everyone said
‘Turtle, you’re a hater, wait and see… he has a defense this year, he will be better. Wait and See’…
Well, the wait is over and you all got to see exactly what some of us were saying from the very beginning…
Congrats on another stellar regular Season PM, hope you get the MVP so at least your supporters have something to come back and argue with this time… I’m sure it will sound like this
‘Turtle, you’re a hater, PFM won the MVP what esle do you want from him, his team let him blah blah blah’
Also.. someone said this, it feels like 96 when we lost to jacksonville and we came back out the next 2 years and won. Well, I’ll tell you thiis, the loss feels exactly like tha jacksonville one. Stunning, but the difference guys is this. John Elway restructured his contract to play for league minimum after that year so he could win those superbowls. I don’t see Super Manning playing for league minimum even though he bought tons of pizza places and has buick tattooed to his forhead.
Elway’s legacy is alive and well, no threats to him from Tebow nor from Manning, LOL.
Indeed.
I truly feel bad for Peyton… He is our QB and it breaks my heart as a fan to see his face as he walked off the field.
I feel for all the fans who watched, both live and on TV… the feeling in indescribable as you all know cause you feel it the same as me….
it was crushing. i was at a play off party with a whole bunch of packer fans.. and when that ball landed.. they were all upset.
Just read the SD is going to interview McCoy for HC…
good. maybe get a coordinator with some nuts. Mr. conservative can go away now.
I don’t understand, 31 seconds left, 2 time outs, an 18,000,000 dollar quarterback, and we kneel down with the ball instead of going for it. Can someone please explain to me the logic of this. Who in the H*ll made this decision.
We got outplayed and out coached.
Maybe next season.
I will say I don’t approved of Fox’s decision to kneel with two timeouts and 31 sec left. We have PFM and it was a chicken $#!+ call on Fox’s part in my opinion.
Turtle… You can’t put this loss on Manning. We all saw the same defensive collapse
yea.. the kneel down when they were gonna be in prevent …. did you see FLaccos face when we kneeled down? totally releived that we had no stones.
I will say that this hurts worse than 96 cuz we had the lead & the ball. In 96 we could not stop Means or Brunelle. We were behind from the 2nd quarter on. We had the lead most of this game. Moore it is on you Always keep the play in front of you. High school kids know that. Manning had 3 TDs against a full strength , inspired D. we had no running game but we keep running on 3 down?? The pic 6 was pass int like the other 6 that they did not call. The final 4 of football & the NFL brings in the replacements. They were clueless on the rules. i never saw the head guy in any games i ve watched. Manning’s 1 fumble his knees were down. they missed that while they were talking forever about the 2 penalties. So only Brady gets the tuck rule. Instead of doing interviews Mcoy should of been watching the ravens game. i saw Facco throw some deep balls right on the money. A 50 yrd to Boildin, but yet we seemed shocked like he had never done it before. Arm strength is always talked about with Facco. You let a team score right b/4 high time & at the end of the game. We kneel on the ball with 2 TOs and 30 seconds instead of driving 45-50 yrds for the win. I will say this hurts the most cuz we had the ball & the lead. I was worried all week abouthis game i compared it to 96 many of times. Both games had terrible refs both played on a sat., both out D looked terrible & could not stop a QB who was lesser than ours. here our my 5 worse playoff losses.
1. 2012 Baltimore
2.1996 Jags
3. 1986 Giants ( We had the lead & Elway was having his way over 300 yrds against that D, Karlis missed 4 fgs)
4. 1984 Steelers (had the lead & got too conservative)
5.1987 Skins (had the lead and missed two redskin fumbles early in the game could of went up by 20)
It was funny they we’re saying how a Hillman turnover would be devastating, and the game ends on a Manning INT. The loss was from a number of things not just Manning’s INT. But the two HOFmers really did let us down though…Manning’s INT and Champ’s inability to cover Smith.
There’s lots of “blame” to go around, that’s for sure … truth is, they didn’t look like a winner, all day … I certainly never felt comfortable … I think it was the pass rush … we never had one … after watching during the regular season, I was sure that we’d at least pressure Flacco … but the Raven’s OL was superb … one sack, and that was a time when the DBs took everything away … other than that, Flacco effectively had all day … and you’ve got to admit, not many QBs, even in the NFL, could have thrown that 70 yard pass … it went almost 70 yards in the air … imagine how much time Flacco had to be able to execute that play … when I was at Iowa, in the late 50s, they had a QB named Gary Snook, who I saw throw a pass 83 yards for a TD … you didn’t have instant replay, or field TV, in those days – I remember just sitting there wondering if I’d really seen what I’d seen … but everyone knows that if there’s one thing Flacco can do, it’s throw the long ball … even so, there were so many other plays that the Broncos did or didn’t make, it was just a sickening game … the Raven’s DBs were hitting Decker early all day, and it wasn’t called, then they call interference on Champ on third down, and replay showed nothing of the sort … boy – what a sickening feeling … it’ll be a long time going away … and if those who keep harping on 1996 are any indication, it’ll NEVER go away …
I felt like we had replacement refs for this game.
No pass rush whatsoever! Championship teams finish in the 4 quarter with a relentless pass rush. We’re not a championship team.
Well.. now many Broncos don’t come back next year now? Thats the scary part. Offense
First Team
LT Ryan Clady – UFA
FB Chris Gronkowski – RFA
Second Team
WR Matt Willis – UFA
WR Brandon Stokley – UFA
C Dan Koppen – UFA
Other
RB Lance Ball – RFA
Defense
First Team
LDT Kevin Vickerson – UFA
NT Justin Bannan – UFA
MLB Keith Brooking – UFA
Second Team
LDT Ty Warren – UFA
RDE Jason Hunter – UFA
LCB Tracy Porter – UFA
SS David Bruton – UFA
Special Teams
Jim Leonhard – UFA
The problem with our pass rush is we depend on getting them behind in down and distance. We never really did that and when we did we committed penalties or gave up the big play. We never rushed more than 4 until later in the game.
The Raven’s DBs took a play from the Raider’s playbook – just beat the crap out of the receivers, all day long … if they call it, they call it … but in the end you get away with a lot of them, and it can mean the ball game … it sure did yesterday …
sndvl… I’m not putting this loss on anyone. Many facets of failure on display. My point is that PM is still the same PM he was when he got here, and that is a great Regular Season QB that can’t find a way to get it done when the going really gets tough..
It is just a team loss that adds to PM’s legacy as the Master Choke Artist…
This loss is not on Mannings shoulders. It was our D that stunk. Its 3rd and 13 and Flacco is in his own endzone and completes a 1st down. If we stop them there, we get the football around the 50 yard line and we’re already ahead by 7 points with just a few minutes left in regulation. And we couldn’t stop a stinking 3rd and 13 to literally end the game with a victory. NO, we deserve to lose. TISK, TISK!
Must be a thing for older QBs…Favre did the same thing for the Vikings…his career ended on an INT didn’t it? Not saying Manning is done, but two great QBs who should know to throw it away and they a throw INTs in key situations. Makes you wonder….
Manning had the int in OT but he had 3 Tds and he gave us the lead on 3 different occasions . The worse playoff cullaps of all times . The Oilers were on the road against an unknown QB and a super bowl team. Manning will get ripped but think his kickers failed, Def failed, coaches failed , no running game. I will still take Manning over most Qbs
So schottenheimer was a choke artist? the fumble? the drive? when he had new england beaten in his 14-2 season in the playoffs and intercepted brady and the guy didn’t go down and fumbled the ball back to him and brady went down the feild and scored to knock them out?
Sometimes everything isn’t your fault. you put your team in the posistion they need to be to win, and if they don’t execute there is nothing more to be done. Manning did his job.. Moore didnt execute.
I also think losing Moreno hurt us too.
So we’ll have our 1st round pick around #26-28. I’m wanting RB Eddie Lacy from Bama. Thats were I stand at seasons end.
E M B A R R A S S I N G…..Champ was on ESPN Chris Carter’s segment “WHERE YOU AT”……
Brian you are absolutely right. We were conservative early and used a base 4-3 really rushing only 4. I didn’t see alot of the alignments we used all year. Like a 30 look or 3-3-5 that was really effective. Turtle I do not hang this loss on Manning. The defense and defensive scheme lost us this game plus the Ravens played quite well…and alot of mistakes.
Manning had 3 Turnovers… Ball control/security is his primary job as the leader of the team… He failed as bad as anyone else yesterday…
Manning is the supposed ‘Coach on the Field’ and allowed to call plays as per the defenses he sees, or at least that was all the rage when we were winning… ‘PFM offensive Coordinator on the field etc etc’… at what point does the blame actually fall on the leader? why so many excuses? Peyton pulled a Peyton and Choked it in the Playoffs, shouldn’t surprise or anger anyone…
Should just make you sick like it does me
Um.. well if you had actually watched the game buddy, the first int for a td wasnt one.. his knee was down on the second.. so in 6 quarters of football agains thte ravens D he threw a pick.. yea.. it could happen,.
i hope McCoy goes cuz he was so focused on his interviews & not our game. Kubiak never did that. I used to feel bad for Champ cuz he played so good & we lost , but now he played bad & we lost. He needs to move to safety cut moore, resign Porter. We did not draft very well so i would not expect it this year. Should of been Martin , Wolf , Russell.
Doom… I watched the game… at the Stadium
You can make excuses but the pass that was tipped for a pick 6 was behind… The fumble was definitely a fumble, and when they showed the replay on the big screen you could tell plain as day he tucked the ball but as he was tucking the defenders arm never left his… he had the ball back to his stomach and it was ripped away
Those plays are on Manning, same as Champ giving up two 40+ yard TDs being on Champ… many many failures yesterday, plain and simple
Manning does not play D. Manning only had 1 TO in my books. He gave us the lead 3 times and we did nothing to add to it.
the pick six was behind cuz the other cb hit Decker b/4 the ball got there
With out Manning we win 5 games this year.
We need to have a Rb who can break big runs, we have not had that in years. Safety , Mlb, DT . wait we have needed this for years and don’t draft the needs
Well.. with watching any game at the stadium, you don’t get as many looks or slow mo like we did at home. that first pick six decker got raped before the ball got there.
That play was pass interference HandofDoom. The refs didn’t see it. That or in their eyes it was to close to call. And that tuck rule only counts for certain teams LMAO!!
Doom, they play each play about 6 times at the Stadium when it comes to turnovers etc… we get all the angles you do on TV, plus we get to see it live… so while you are at commercial we are watching replays, so I’m sure I saw the play more times than you…
Have you ever been to Sports Authority… Great place to watch the game if you get a chance
ive been there and it is the best place to watch a game. but i saw yesterdays game on tv and decker did get contacted before the ball got there. i had raider, charger, 9er, cowboy fans and many more talk about that play and other bad calls by the wannabe replacement refs. it wasnt the only reason we lost but did participate in it. sp teams was great, manning played good and made mistakes however our d did not play good and made many mistakes. big difference.
I appreciate how everybody is saying we need this or that to get better but I fail to see the major issue being discussed at all:
As long as Fox is here, and specially when the chips are down, we are going to play Fox ball. This game was a typical Fox ball orchestrated game, just ask any Carolina fan.
We got deep rooted issues no matter who we draft, what FA we bring in and how many assistant coaches we fire/hire.
Seems to me Elway has got work to do….
I remember late this season when a blogger mentioned Fox should be coach of the year, LMAO!!!!!!
i agree bay, since he started a job he should finish it. we will have to see what the future holds. other than that it was a good season. a winning season and hopefully many more to come.
bay, just wondering who was your pick for hc.
Here is why Broncos lost:
Too much $$$$$ on Broncos(Bettings)
Broncos advanced to superbowl=lost
Broncos win superbowl=lost
Broncos favored 1st quarter=lost
Broncos favored 2rd quarter=lost
Broncos favored 1st half=lost
Broncos favored 3rd quarter=lost
Broncos favored 4th quarter=lost
Broncos favored 10 pts whole game(what a bait by VEGAS)=lost
I hope this will answer to many questions why so many non-pass interf. called, why we kneel B4 the half and the end of regulation, etc……………..oh, BTW, same faith with GREENBAY. And don’t be surprise if seattles and NE lose today too.