Indianapolis – As teams go about constructing their defense, they ordinarily begin by building a proverbial stone wall upfront.
Not the Broncos. They’ve placed a revolving door smack dab in the middle of their defensive line.
Where’s the beef? In the Broncos’ 38-20 loss to the Indianapolis Colts here Sunday in the din and dim of the RCA Dome, the beef was wearing sweatpants and tops on the sidelines. With starting defensive tackles Sam Adams and Amon Gordon looking on along with injured stars John Lynch and Javon Walker, the Broncos competed, but ultimately were no match for league’s brightest wizard, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.
If only the game could stop with the Shanahan script. The Broncos jumped to a 10-0 lead thanks to a brilliantly devised running game and a defensive-front alignment that was just wacky enough to force Manning to pause.
The game’s first five plays were handoffs to Broncos running back Travis Henry. Ten yards, 5 yards, 14 yards, 15 and 3. It added up to a short Jason Elam field goal.
When Manning took his turn, he walked up to the line and surely did a double take. The Broncos have not stopped the run since their first preseason series so what did they do for this game? Benched their two starting defensive tackles, Sam Adams and Amon Gordon, and replaced them with rookie defensive ends, Tim Crowder and Jarvis Moss.
Baffling. A staple to Jim Bates’ new defensive scheme was beefy tackles. Against the Colts, they used four defensive ends – Elvis Dumervil and Simeon Rice out wide, with Crowder and a standing Moss in the middle.
Manning seemed caught off guard initially and the Broncos force a punt. With their second possession, the Broncos again relied on their offensive line to open holes, only this time for backup running back Selvin Young as well as Henry.
A 32-yard reverse run by Young moved the Broncos to a first-and-goal. The drive finished with quarterback Jay Cutler squeezing a 7-yard pass to Brandon Marshall for a touchdown.
But just as it appeared the Broncos would join the University of Colorado Buffaloes and baseball Rockies in a near perfect sports weekend, Manning got it figured out. He was aided by good starting field position as the Broncos’ kickoff coverage continued its poor play. And then Manning gave the Broncos’ light front a steady diet of Joseph Addai runs and short passes that weren’t too short when it came to getting the first down.
Addai finished off one drive by breaking tackle after tackle on his way to a 14-yard touchdown run and tight end Dallas Clark made a nice catch in the right corner of the end zone for another score.
By halftime, the Colts were up 14-13 but had all momentum. A mere 6 minutes and a tick into the second half, the Colts were up 28-13. Addai started the half with runs of 17, 12 and 10 yards before Manning finished off the march with a sneak.
Two plays later, Manning had the ball back. Colts cornerback Marlin Jackson jumped a slant route intended for Marshall and intercepted the Cutler pass at the Denver 24-yard line. From there, Manning could have scored anyway he wanted and he decided to give Clark another TD on a 3-yard flip to the right corner of the end zone.
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
