Sunday Night Football was billed as another duel between quarterbacks Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos and Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. It didn’t exactly turn out that way. In a game that featured 11 total fumbles (5 of which were turnovers), the Broncos took a 17-0 lead in the 1st quarter from 3 Patriot fumbles lost, and then added another touchdown in the 2nd quarter to lead 24-0 at halftime. It looked like it had the makings of a blowout, especially with the top scoring offense with that big lead.
The second half was a whole different ballgame. New England scored on their next 5 possessions, including 4 touchdowns, to take a 31-24 lead in the middle of the 4th quarter. Two of those scores were after Denver turnovers (1 fumble, 1 interception). Manning who had an off night, did drive the Broncos 80 yards for the tying touchdown, which was the last points in regulation, and forced overtime.
As time was dwindling down in the overtime period, it looked as if this might be the second tie of the game. More on that later. However, the Patriots punted the ball, and the ball bounced and hit Bronco Tony Carter, which makes it a live ball. The Patriots recovered the football. They ran 3 plays, then Stephen Gostkowski kicked the 31-yard winning field goal to end this crazy game.
Brady threw for 344 yards and 3 touchdowns, compared to only 150 yards for Manning, who had 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. The Bronocos’ Knowshon Moreno rushed for a career high 224 yards, on 37 carries, and a touchdown. The Patriots’ seemed to concede the rushing yards, so that Manning wouldn’t carve them up through the air. That strategy eventually worked. This was the 14th time that Brady’s team went up against Manning’s team, all but the last 2 times with Manning playing for the Indianapolis Colts. Brady has now won 10 of those 14 games.
Denver is still ahead of New England in the American Football Conference (AFC) playoff standings and has the top seed, with a 9-2 record. They are tied with the Kansas City Chiefs, but have the tie-breaker since they beat them last week, and have the better division record. New England has the #2 seed in the AFC, with an 8-3 record. The Chiefs are presently the #5 seed, as the top wild card, even though they have the second best record in the AFC. Division winners hold seeds #1-4. The Chiefs can move up to be the division leader, and #1 seed this weekend, by beating the Broncos at home, and push Denver down to the #5 seed.
It remains to be seen what effect this game will have on the Denver Broncos. It’s devastating to lose a game, when you lead by 24 at halftime. Manning must have nightmares about Brady, losing to his Patriots 10 different times. The Broncos need to pull themselves together fast, or they could end up losing the AFC West division, if they lose against the Chiefs, who were undefeated 2 weeks ago. The San Diego Chargers upset them in Kansas City on Sunday 41-38. So they have problems of their own. For the 3rd straight week, the focus of the National Football League (NFL) will be on the game featuring the Broncos.
Now back to the tie game on Sunday. The Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings played to a tie, after one overtime period. This needs to be changed. Under the old rules, the Packers would have won the game because they scored first. But now, if the first drive results in only a field goal, then the other team gets a chance to score points. The Vikings scored a field goal also, so the game continued. Neither team scored again before the overtime period ended. No game should ever end in a tie. Teams should keep playing until someone wins. Even though the Packers play again on Thanksgiving, 4 days later, games should never end in a tie, even in the regular season. As Herm Edwards said many years ago in a press conference in 2002, “You play to win the game.” Call me crazy, but I think the game should continue until someone wins.
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Sports With Frank Thomas
