The ending couldn’t have been scripted better if it were a blockbuster Hollywood movie. Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning stood inside Lucas Oil Stadium, the house that he “built,” the Broncos trailing by three points with 6 minutes, 6 seconds left.
Manning planted his feet on the Broncos’ 28-yard line in the pistol formation, with a three-wide receiver set and running back C.J. Anderson three yards behind him.
The number three was significant. It marked the number of yards Manning needed to break Brett Favre’s career passing yards record and the number of points Denver needed to tie the game.
But Manning was thinking seven, not three. A touchdown probably would have won the game and allowed Manning to become the NFL’s all-time winningest quarterback in the same drive. Broncos fans expected that from the player who owns the most game-winning drives in NFL history.
A crowd full of blue and white awaited anxiously, not sure whether to cheer or boo when Manning completed that pass. Suddenly, that choice was taken away.
Manning dropped back, faked a handoff to Anderson, on which none of the Colts bit, and fired a pass directly into the hands of Indianapolis cornerback Darius Butler as Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas was falling down.
Just like that, the storybook ended because of an interception.
“I think that 20 (Butler) made a heck of a play, to tell you the truth. He kind of beat our guy to the ball,” Manning said. “(I) had to throw it probably a little earlier than I wanted to. So obviously, a throw that I would like to have back, for sure.”
Manning couldn’t take it back, and he didn’t get the ball back Sunday. It was his NFL-worst 13th interception.
Manning is on pace to throw 26 interceptions, which would be the most since he threw 28 as a rookie. He is on pace to throw nine touchdown passes, which would be the lowest mark of his storied career.
The 17-year veteran has said every interception has a story. At the Broncos’ midway point, the main story is how Manning’s interceptions are preventing the offense from taking the next step.
“As coaches, you have to look and say: ‘OK, why did we turn the ball over here? Was it the call that I made?” Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said. “You have to look at it from your standpoint. Peyton has to look at it from his standpoint. And sometimes when bad decisions are made with the ball, receivers have to break it up.”
The fourth-quarter interception was Manning’s second of the game. That one was a mixture, as Manning noted, of a great play by Butler, a missed block by center Matt Paradis that allowed Colts defensive tackle David Parry to get to Manning quickly and Thomas falling to the ground as the ball arrived.
On his first interception, Manning overthrew tight end Owen Daniels into a group of three Colts defenders.
Manning has thrown interceptions on 4.3 percent of his passes, or one out of every 23. That’s his highest rate since his rookie season. His 62.3 percent completion rating also is the third lowest of his career.
“You can get hot not turning the ball over and go a long period time, too,” Kubiak said. “We need to do that.”
On three of Manning’s four worst statistical seasons before 2015, he cut down on his interceptions dramatically in the second half of the season. If Manning can chop his interceptions in half over the final eight games, the Broncos’ offense will be in much better shape.
The Broncos don’t need Manning to carry them deep into January, but they probably also can’t win in the playoffs if he continues to throw the ball to the other team.
Cameron Wolfe: 303-954-1891, cwolfe@denverpost.com or @CameronWolfe
