Peyton Manning tops Eli as Broncos thump Giants, 41-23
Photo credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke | Eli Manning throws a pass during the first half of a game against the Denver Broncos. (Sept. 15, 2013)
The Broncos put a beating on the Giants like only a big brother can.
Peyton Manning beat his little sibling Eli for the third time in his career, this time teasing him by keeping it close before blowing the game open midway through the second half in a 41-23 win at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
Peyton Manning finished the game completing 30 of 43 attempts for 307 yards and two touchdowns. Eli Manning was 28 of 49 for 362 yards and a touchdown but also threw four interceptions.
The Giants fell to 0-2 for the first time since 2007 -- a season in which they won the Super Bowl. The Broncos, meanwhile, improved to 2-0 and looked very much like a team that has not played its last game at MetLife Stadium, the home of Super Bowl XLVIII, this season.
As the fans filed for the exits after Eli Manning's third interception of the game, a fourth-and-10 heave into the end zone with about eight minutes remaining, it was hard to believe that only 10 minutes of play earlier the Giants were within a point of the lead.
Two changes of possession at roughly the same part of the field allowed the Broncos to pull away in the second half. Peyton Manning hit Julius Thomas for a quick pass and Prince Amukamara poked the ball out for a fumble. The ball was bouncing towards Ryan Mundy, who had recovered an earlier fumble, but linebacker Mark Herzlich tried to cut it off. He wound up juggling it and fumbling it back to the Broncos. Knowshon Moreno recovered it for Denver, and seven plays later ran around an unprotected left flank of the Giants' defense for a 25-yard touchdown to make it 24-16. He had scored on the same play in the first half from 20 yards out.
The Giants were still within a score. But an Eli Manning pass to Rueben Randle over the middle was broken up by Tony Carter. The ball clipped Carter's heel and bounced in the air, where Chris Harris was able to catch it for an interception, the second against Eli Manning on the day. That gave the Broncos the ball at the Giants' 36, and on third-and-8 from the 11 Peyton Manning hit tight end Julius Thomas for a touchdown pass and a 31-16 lead with 12:19 left in the game.
After a three-and-out by the Giants' offense, Trindon Holliday returned a punt 81 yards for a touchdown that broke the game open, 38-16, with 10:13 remaining.
Da'Rel Scott caught a short pass from Eli Manning and went in for a 23-yard touchdown with 3:59 remaining in the game to make it 38-23, but an offsides call on the ensuing onside kick gave Denver the ball back, leading to Matt Prater's 47-yard field goal to make it 41-23.
Several missed opportunities prevented the Giants from taking a lead through the first three quarters. Brandon Myers simply fell down on his way toward the end zone in the second quarter for what would have been a touchdown, and later on the drive, on third down, the ball went through Myers' hands for an incompletion. The Giants were driving late in the second quarter when a pass interference penalty put them in easy field-goal position, but Eli Manning was picked off by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on an attempt at the end zone with nine seconds remaining. Instead of a fourth first-half field goal for a 12-10 lead, the Giants went into the half trailing 10-9.
Peyton Manning opened the second half with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Wes Welker to make it 17-9, but the Giants countered with a 1-yard touchdown run by Brandon Jacobs to close within a point at 17-16 with 3:08 left in the third quarter.
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