Biggest Takeaways from Denver Broncos' Week 9 Loss

The Denver Broncos are undefeated no more. They traveled to play the Indianapolis Colts in Week 9 and suffered their first loss of the season by a score of 27-24.

The Broncos offense struggled to get on track, and quarterback Peyton Manning made more than a few mistakes in the loss. There was no commitment to the rushing attack, first when falling behind, but later when the score was close, the Broncos did not run as much as they perhaps should have. Veteran tight end Owen Daniels seemed to have found the fountain of youth. He had the best game of his 2015 season. Manning did seem to get on track (a bit) in the second half.

Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak talked about the difference in Manning between the two halves.

“In the first half, he did some good things too. We dropped some balls on him, and they could have been big plays. He kept his composure. Made a mistake with the ball in the first half but he kept his composure. Then we come out and make a big play the first third down of the second half. He had his team in position to win.”

Kubiak continued, “He got us back into position to win, and we were battling. Like I said, we just weren’t able to finish the deal.”

The Broncos defense lacked discipline all night. Colts running back Frank Gore gashed them on the ground, and that forced them to put more men in the box to help stuff the run. That shift then caused more one-on-one situations on the outside—situations the Colts were able to take advantage of by isolating a linebacker or safety in coverage.

Here are the five biggest takeaways from the Broncos’ Week 9 loss to the Colts.

Peyton Manning Falls Short of Two Major Records

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

Peyton Manning entered the game on the verge of breaking two major records—and he fell short in his pursuit of both on Sunday. He could have passed Brett Favre (186) for all-time wins by a quarterback, and he could have also passed Favre (71,838) for the all-time passing-yardage record. He didn’t get the win, and Manning fell three yards short of the passing-yardage record on Sunday.    

Manning didn’t feel the pursuit of these records distracted him against the Colts.

“No, I guess I’ve been in enough situations like that in my career where I’ve been able to focus on the task at hand. Trying to win a football game, and if anything happens along the way, it’s a part of it, and you kind of accept it. I guess I’ve had enough experience dealing with some of those during my time here or in my time in Denver.”

The veteran quarterback continued, “I feel like I’m able to focus on the task at hand, just try to win the football game. So, that’s what I was trying to do today. We had some chances; we just came up short.”

He’s most certainly going to break the passing record in Week 10 at home against the Kansas City Chiefs. With a good game from Manning and the offense, the Broncos could get back on the winning track next week. That would give Manning the two records in front of the home crowd.

Not Enough Commitment to the Ground Game

AJ Mast/Associated Press

The Broncos had seemingly figured out their rushing attack over the last two games, but they failed to show proper commitment to the ground game against the Colts. In Week 6 against the Cleveland Browns, Ronnie Hillman had 111 rushing yards. In Week 8 against the Green Bay Packers, C.J. Anderson finished the contest with 101 yards on the ground.

As a team, the Broncos combined for only 35 yards. Anderson had seven carries for 34 yards, good for 4.9 yards per carry. Hillman struggled and only gained one yard on his seven carries. While Manning attempted 36 passes, the Broncos only ran the ball 14 times on Sunday.

Kubiak talked about how the balance offensively got out of whack.

“Yeah we got really out of whack there in the first half. We were aggressive; the plays were there for us to make, so we stayed aggressive, and then all of the sudden we look up, and we've thrown it 20, 21 times or something and running six times. You don’t want to do that. We did have some plays to make; we just didn’t make them.” Kubiak concluded, “Our run game was not much of a factor today.”

Sure, the Broncos were down 17-0 at one point, and that caused them to go away from the rushing attack. However, when they pulled the team close—and even tied the game—we should have seen more commitment to the rushing attack. Anderson was running well, but he didn’t get enough carries on Sunday.

Owen Daniels Still Involved

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

Trading for tight end Vernon Davis seemed to cast a shadow of doubt on veteran Owen Daniels' role. While Davis made his debut for the Broncos in this game, it was Daniels who stole the show. Green had one target deep, but the pass failed to connect, and he finished the game with zero catches. Daniels was targeted nine times, and he caught six passes for 102 yards and one touchdown.

Manning was clear about the team taking chances downfield against the Colts.

“Well, we hit one obviously; I mean we hit a few—I guess three of them it seems like down the field and that was kind of part of the plan. Calling plays so you’re going to hit some, but you’re not going to hit all of them. I think we try and do that every week, not just throw underneath the whole time and take some shots down the field.” Manning concluded, “Hit the big one to Emmanuel [Sanders] on third down and hit a couple good ones to Owen [Daniels] and obviously had one earlier to Emmanuel that we just didn’t connect on.”

This was Daniels first 100-yard game since a 2011 game when he was a member of the Houston Texans (Week 14 versus Cincinnati Bengals). Daniels hasn’t looked quite like himself this year, but coming out of the bye, he’s looked fresher and more like his old self.

Perhaps this big game is a sign of more things to come. At least it might be a sign the team is more willing and able to use their tight ends going forward.

Omar Bolden Jump-Started the Broncos

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

The momentum was clearly against the Broncos as they were heading into halftime with a 17-0 deficit. That all changed when Omar Bolden returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown. That was the seventh-longest punt return in team history, and it was the Broncos' first punt return since Trindon Holliday had one in 2013 (Week 2 at the New York Giants).

Manning talked about Bolden's big play after the game.

“That was obviously a huge play by Omar [Bolden] and David [Bruton Jr.] got a great block there at the end and all 11 guys on there. We knew if we could get a stop and score and make it a one score game. We did that and hit the big play to Emmanuel. Then had a good drive going on the second series of the second half. Hit the big play to Owen to get down there on 3rd-and-2.”

Manning continued, “They got a good rush and had good coverage on that play, so it ended up being a pivotal stop. We would have loved to get a touchdown on that particular series.”

The Broncos defense has given the team some field-flipping plays this season. In fact, the Broncos had come to expect the defense to make a game-changing scoring play each week.

The Denver defense had an off day against the Colts, but the special teams came through to help spark the team.

Defense Lacks Discipline

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

The Denver defense melted down as the game went on. As the Colts were driving late in the game, there was some extra shoving going on between linebacker Von Miller and Colts tight end Dwayne Allen. That’s when cornerback Aqib Talib came over to defend his teammate, and he ended up poking Allen in the eye.

Talib was obviously flagged for that transgression, but he wasn’t done. After that play, Talib got another flag for running into the ref. He insists that he never touched the ref, but instead he got a flag for clapping too loud.

“No they didn’t say I touched him (claps hands repeatedly). I guess just [a] hard clap. I guess something in the rule book; it’s like a too hard of a clap, too-hard-of-a-clap flag. That’s the one I got. Yeah, that’s the one I got.”

Kubiak answered whether or not the team lost their cool in Week 9.

“Did we lose our cool? I thought we kept our composure in the second half. We did do a great job at getting ourselves into position to win. Did we do some not very smart things at the end of the game to get the ball back? I agree with that, but we dug ourselves a hole as a team the first half.”

Kubiak continued, “We showed a lot of character getting out of the hole and getting ourselves into position, but we didn’t close the deal. You have to give them credit. They were tremendous on third downs. Then we had one more possession there and obviously got into a tough situation. Just weren’t able to close the deal after battling our way back.”

The Colts humbled the Broncos. The defense in particular seemed powerless at times to slow down or stop the Colts offense. When the game was out of hand, the Broncos defense got out of hand.

The defense needs to play with more discipline. Getting too many penalties has been a problem for the defense this entire season. That all boiled over against the Colts. The team needs to play with aggression and an edge, but the defense needs to make sure it stays within the rules as much as possible.

All quotes and injury/practice observations obtained firsthand. Record/statistical information provided via the Broncos' media department unless otherwise noted. Advanced stats via ESPN's employees-only database.

Contract and salary-cap information provided by Spotrac. Transaction history provided by Pro Sports Transactions.