Peyton Manning on undefeated Broncos, ‘One week at a Time’

Peyton Manning and the Broncos defeated the Raiders 37-21 in week 3. Peyton Manning seems to be having no trouble getting the ball into the end zone with Eric Decker, Wes Welker, Julius Thomas, and Demaryius Thomas making big plays. The Denver Broncos offense is a bullet train the Raiders couldn’t slow, let alone stop. Quarterback Peyton Manning dissected a Raiders defense that started the season on a high. After the most accurate night in his storied career, Manning brought that unit back to Earth.

Manning completed 32-of-37 passes for 374 yards and three touchdowns, and broke an NFL record in the process. He’s the first player to throw 12 touchdown passes in his first three games, and he did so without throwing an interception. He dominated because he had ample time to throw, a kiss of death when playing one of the best ever. He was sacked once – surprise, surprise, it forced a turnover – and was hit two other times.

You have to get to No. 18. If you can’t, you’re going to have a long night,” Raiders free safety Charles Woodson said. “We certainly did. That’s the focal point when you play Peyton Manning. Offensively, you’ve got to sustain drives to keep the ball out of his hands. When you don’t do that, you end up with a result like this one.” The Broncos punted just once. They scored 17 unanswered points to start the game, and negated Raiders touchdowns when the game was relatively competitive. The Raiders hoped to disrupt Manning with ornate, unpredictable blitzes that worked so well in previous weeks. They had to dial back a bit, because Manning continually exposed points of weakness.