The 1st score of the game has been made by Broncos CB Aquib Talib who intercepted an awful Dalton's pass directed to AJ Green who was running a slant route but deflected in the air and then caught by Talib who took it for 33 yards right in the endzone. The Bengals reations has be more then immediately because they score an 85 rushing TD with the rookie HB Jeremy Hills on a sweep run out of the shotgun where he shown all his vision and patience, on the other sie i can't say that the Denver's defense made good tackles. There weren't any other scoring chances in the 1st quarter due to a very good defensive effort by both teams. This scoreless period ended at the beginning of the 2nd quarter due to a Nugent's FG arrived after a ground and pound kind of drive with the patience and powerful Hill who took his team in FG range, they didn't scoredue to inability of Dalton to pass the ball effectively. On the very next possession FS Reggie Nelson made a very important play intecepting a very bad pass thrown behind by Manning to TE Julius Thomas on a flat route, this mistake opened up another scoring drive for the Bengals who took avantage of the very short field scoring a play action receiving TD by TE Graham on a post route, this play has been so effective due to the very good running game estabilished by Hill & Co.
Manning continued to struggle even due to ba protection and the only Anderson has been able to leadd his offense alone to a score so the Bengals got the ball back an marched down the field with read options, insie runs and screens that litrally killed the Broncos defense but once again when they needed Dalton to pass the ball he failed badly an they came out just with 3 points. Manning hadled well the last rive of the 1st half with his typicall no hudddle offense and he took his team right in FG but K Connor Barth missed a 48 yarder to end the 1st half.
The Broncos ST began the 2nd half with the boom on a 77 yards kick off return by Omar Bolden who along with a WR D.Thomas reception opened up the easy Anderson's inside run on a heavy formation.
Pacman Jones answered Bolden to a 80 yars kick off return who lead the RB Geovani Bernard receiving TD on a flat route out of the slot position that re-estabilished the precedent gap between the 2 teams. On the following drive Manning finally got on rhythm and pput togheter a very good drive using more passes than runs, exactly the opposite that happened all game long thus far, Sanders made the last 2 receptions of the drive the 1st one a spectacular 1 handed hrab despite the Hall pass inteference and the 2nd one on a quick slant that resulted in his 1st TD of the game. The Bengals tried to answer the Broncos again and it seemed they could do it even due to the good accurancy shown on this drive by Dalton vut RB Hill fumbled the ball that has been recovered by the Denver's defense. Denver took advantage of it marching down field in a very fast way relying on Demaryius Thomas for 2 bigreceptions who took them inside Bengals' 10 yards where Manning found Sanders again in the endzone for his 2nd TD of the game beating 1 on 1 Reggie Nelson in the back of the endzone starting from the slot. With the offense unable to move the ball CB Pacman Jones made another big play picking off Manning on Broncos 22 yards on a pass intended to WR Demaryius Thomas who was running an out route. Taunting penalty by Nelson and predictable offense (run on 1st 2 plays) wasted this very good chance to regain the lead. Again the Bengals' ST gave Daton a great field position on the Broncos' 12 yards but again he and his very predictable offense has been stopped shy of the endzone so Nugent kick the FG that gave them a 2 points lead. Bengals CB Kirkpatrick extended his team lead to 9 point with 2:30 left in the game with a pick 6 on a missed short pass by Manning returned for TD. Broncos wasted their last chance to try to get back into the game with the 4th Manning interception of the game again piccked off by CB Kirkpatrick near the Bengals end zone.
Another disappointing performance by Manning who doesn't seem the unstoppable machine he has been especially in last 2 years, i think the problem is not him or his arm strength but the protection that his rebuild o-line provided him, because they changed too many roles in moving for example former RG Vasquez to the RT position and so on, those have been an huge mistake in my opinion that will have a big impact on their SB chances. Even the running game didn't work well in this game due to the same o-line problems that afflicted their QB. On defense they suffered on the running game that is a department where they are 2nd ranked in the NFL, this lack of defense against the runs made Dalton's job a way easier and this let him play a better game than he usually does against playoffs teams, in fact the Bengals turnovered the ball just 2 times, HB Jeremy Hill has been so impressive for his team but he needs to improve to keep the ball safely in his hands avoiding bad fumble like the 1 he made against Pittsburgh 2 weeks ago,Dalton has been great not to pass the ball but to manage read options, screens and play actions not risking so much but being sharp. Their defense did exactly what they needed creating turnovers (taking out Manning fro the field), make a more than decent coverage to all Broncos' receivers and they put up a very good pressure on Manning with their 4 d-line men winning the battle all game long against the struggling Denver's o-line.
The MVP of this game in my opinion is CB Dre Kirkpatrick who made 2 key picks in 4th quarter 1 returned to TD but also the Bengals coaching stuffs made an huge job finding the right ways to have success on both offense and defense bringing then to the postseason.
Another disappointing performance by Manning who doesn't seem the unstoppable machine he has been especially in last 2 years, i think the problem is not him or his arm strength but the protection that his rebuild o-line provided him, because they changed too many roles in moving for example former RG Vasquez to the RT position and so on, those have been an huge mistake in my opinion that will have a big impact on their SB chances. Even the running game didn't work well in this game due to the same o-line problems that afflicted their QB. On defense they suffered on the running game that is a department where they are 2nd ranked in the NFL, this lack of defense against the runs made Dalton's job a way easier and this let him play a better game than he usually does against playoffs teams, in fact the Bengals turnovered the ball just 2 times, HB Jeremy Hill has been so impressive for his team but he needs to improve to keep the ball safely in his hands avoiding bad fumble like the 1 he made against Pittsburgh 2 weeks ago,Dalton has been great not to pass the ball but to manage read options, screens and play actions not risking so much but being sharp. Their defense did exactly what they needed creating turnovers (taking out Manning fro the field), make a more than decent coverage to all Broncos' receivers and they put up a very good pressure on Manning with their 4 d-line men winning the battle all game long against the struggling Denver's o-line.
The MVP of this game in my opinion is CB Dre Kirkpatrick who made 2 key picks in 4th quarter 1 returned to TD but also the Bengals coaching stuffs made an huge job finding the right ways to have success on both offense and defense bringing then to the postseason.
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