Broncos at Colts second quarter recap

Brandon McManus booted through a 46-yard field goal, but an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Indianapolis Colts gave the ball back to the Denver Broncos with a first down at the Colts 14-yard line.

A toss to Diontae Spencer gained five yards on first down, then Royce Freeman bulled his way up the gut for a hard fought two yards. On third and three, Joe Flacco was predictably sacked. However, a holding penalty on the defense gave the Broncos another first down.

On first and goal from the four yard line, Flacco with the play action was immediately rushed from behind as Garett Bolles whiffed on his block. Flacco was again rushed from behind as Bolles appeared to whiff on his block for the second straight play.

Flacco, hurried through his throw on third down, despite Bolles actually blocking someone on that third down, to Noah Fant who caught it out of bounds.

McManus comes back out and boots it through for the early lead.

Broncos 3, Colts 0.

Jacoby Brisset ran for seven on first down, but Von Miller burst through for the tackle for loss on Marlon Mack. On third and 5, Justin Simmons was all over Eric Ebron to break up the pass to force the three and out.

On the first play on the next drive, Ja’Wuan James went down with a left knee injury on the same knee he injured in Week 1. He was able to double the 10 snaps he played in Week 1, but his day was done after the 20th snap in Week 8.

Courtland Sutton snagged a first down reception on the very next play. Andy Janovich bobbled a pass, but got it down in time to secure a seven yard gain. Phillip Lindsay got to the corner on the next carry for four yards and another Broncos first down.

A penalty and a stuffed run created a second and 16 for Denver on the next set of downs. On second and 16, Flacco hit Sutton on a deep crosser that he capped with a mega stiff arm for a 33-yard gain.

Three plays later, Flacco was faced with a third and eight and he somehow ran his way through the muck to get a first down inside the Colts red zone.

The drive would stall after that to bring out the field goal unit.

Broncos 6, Colts 0.

With just over five minutes remaining in the half, the Colts offense woke up with some big runs through the Broncos defense. Up until then, the Broncos defense had been stout against the run.

The Colts quickly moved to the Broncos 40 yard line. From there Shelby Harris blew things up with a tackle for loss to force the Colts into a third and 11. Jacoby Brissett threw his first pass on the drive from there and had it batted down by rookie Dre’Mont Jones to force the punt.

The Broncos with just over two minutes to play, ran two straight times with Phillip Lindsay who got the Broncos out to their own 35 yard line. Dalton Risner was seen abusing people on those runs.

Oddly enough, Denver began throwing short passes and running it up the gut which prompted the Colts to call a timeout on third and four where Joe Flacco took the sack and the punt to give the Colts another shot to score before half time.

Predictably, the Colts quickly found themselves at the Broncos 42 yard line with 10 seconds left. With one play left, Brissett looked for Eric Ebron outside for a five yard gain to setup Adam Vinatieri for a 55-yard field goal.

Broncos 6, Colts 3.