Chapter III of the Manning Bowl takes center stage on Sunday when Eli Manning and the New York Giants host older brother Peyton and the Denver Broncos. That the game will be played at MetLife Stadium - the venue for this season's Super Bowl - only adds to the hype for the sibling rivalry that has seen Peyton win the previous two matchups when he was a member of the Indianapolis Colts. Denver is coming off a 49-27 dismantling of the reigning Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens. The Broncos were already among the prohibitive favorites to come out of the AFC this season and did little to quell such lofty expectations behind Peyton Manning's record-tying seven-touchdown performance. The Giants, meanwhile, stumbled through a mistake-filled 36-31 loss at Dallas that featured six turnovers, including three interceptions by Eli Manning. Still, he passed for 450 yards and four TDs and had New York in position for the victory until he was picked off with under two minutes to play. TV: 4:25 p.m. ET, CBS. LINE: Broncos -4.5. O/U 55. ABOUT THE BRONCOS (1-0): Denver erased a three-point deficit with a spectacular second-half performance as Peyton Manning threw for five of his seven scoring passes and finished with 462 yards overall. Free-agent signee Wes Welker had nine catches for 67 yards and two TDs in his Broncos debut and athletic tight end Julius Thomas added another electrifying dimension to an already high-powered attack with five receptions for 110 yards and two scores. The run game remains in flux but the defense had four sacks and two interceptions despite the absences of Pro Bowlers Von Miller (suspension) and Champ Bailey (foot). ABOUT THE GIANTS (0-1): New York has serious concerns about its running game after starter David Wilson lost two fumbles and was benched and backup Da'Rel Scott was injured, necessitating the signing of former Giants back Brandon Jacobs. New York's receiving corps showed it has the requisite firepower to keep up with the Broncos, getting three touchdown receptions from Victor Cruz and five catches and over 100 yards each from Cruz (118), Hakeem Nicks (114) and Rueben Randle (101) despite the slew of turnovers. The Giants could be shorthanded in the defensive backfield after cornerback Prince Amukamara suffered a concussion versus Dallas. EXTRA POINTS 1. The Broncos are riding a 12-game regular-season winning streak, the longest in the NFL. 2. Eli Manning has thrown for 12 TDs and the Giants have averaged 44 points in winning their last three home games. 3. Welker has 20 catches in his last two regular-season games versus New York. PREDICTION: Broncos 37, Giants 34
Much has been said and written about the two talented Manning brothers. Older brother Peyton Manning started this season with an electrifying 49-27 victory against the Baltimore Ravens. He managed to score a jaw dropping 7 touchdowns and silence all the critics that have speculated his age would hinder his abilities this season. Little brother Eli Manning had a contrastingly different first game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. The Cowboys forced 6 turnovers against the young Manning. The first of which came with an interception by DeMarcus Ware in the very first seconds of the game. The game ended with the Cowboys beating the Giants 36-31. Cowboys force six turnovers to ride into a 36-31 Victory over Eli Manning and Giants Brandon Carr and the Dallas Cowboys are serious about forcing turnovers. They needed six to put away Eli Manning and the New York Giants. Carr returned an interception 49 yards for the clinching touchdown, and the Cowboys overcame a big night from Manning to beat him for the first time at their fancy $1.2 billion stadium in a 36-31 victory Sunday night. Tony Romo shook off hits to the ribs that knocked him out for the final Dallas play of the first half and threw a pair of touchdown passes to Jason Witten. Manning threw three touchdown passes to Victor Cruz and four overall, and he had New York in position for a comeback victory despite the flurry of mistakes. But with the Giants trailing 30-24, Manning's pass went off the hand of running back De'Rel Scott into Carr's arms. The cornerback beat Manning down the sideline with 1:50 left for Dallas' second defensive touchdown. Barry Church returned a fumble 27 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. ''It's infectious. It's contagious,'' Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. ''We challenged them at halftime. We had three, let's get three more.'' The Cowboys had only 16 turnovers all last year, switched to a four-man front with new defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and swore all preseason that taking the ball away was the foremost thing on their minds. They proved it from the first snap of the season. DeMarcus Ware intercepted Manning's first pass, and the Giants turned it over on their first three possessions. The Cowboys didn't take advantage of the early gifts, but built a big enough lead to hold off a New York comeback once the Giants finally stopped turning it over. It matched the most turnovers for the Giants since 1987, when they had seven against New Orleans. And it was the most Dallas has forced since 2003. ''Just tells you our system is so much built on attitude,'' said defensive line coach Rod Marinelli, who was defensive coordinator for Chicago last year when the Bears led the NFL with 44 turnovers. ''We had a lot of guys play tonight who jumped in and helped us. It's just team defense.'' Church scored on the fourth New York turnover - the second fumble from new starting running back David Wilson, who lost control of the ball on a strip by Nick Hayden just before hitting the ground. Church scooped up the ball and ran it in. The Cowboys went up 27-10 in the third quarter after the fifth miscue - a punt that bounced and hit Trumaine McBride while he was trying to block for the return. Rookie Devonte Holloman won a scramble for the loose ball, and Romo threw a 4-yard scoring pass to Witten. ''I just think it's pretty exciting to see what our team defensively has been able to do here, in training camp, preseason and into the season,'' Romo said. When the mistakes stopped, the Giants made it a game again. New York went 80 yards, capped by Cruz's second score on an 18-yard pass, and Cruz scored again from the 10 to pull the Giants to 30-24 midway through the fourth quarter. New York got the ball back, but the Cowboys forced a quick punt. After Dallas again failed to move the ball, Carr came through with the clinching interception. ''You're not going to win the game turning the ball over five times and muffing a punt,'' Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. ''I'm totally, totally disappointed, embarrassed about that football. That's sloppy, sloppy football.'' The Giants scored with 11 seconds left on Manning's fourth touchdown, a 4-yarder to Brandon Myers. But Dallas recovered an onside kick. Manning was 27 of 42 for 450 yards and had three 100-yard receivers in Cruz (five catches, 118 yards), Hakeem Nicks (five for 114) and Rueben Randle (five for 101) Romo was 36 of 49 for 263 yards, and Miles Austin had 10 catches for 72 yards. Witten, who had only three touchdowns last year, had eight grabs for 70 and became the third tight end in NFL history with 9,000 yards receiving. DeMarco Murray had 86 yards rushing for Dallas. Romo threw a 15-yard TD pass to Witten before halftime, and Dan Bailey also had two field goals (30 and 38 yards) by then for a 13-10 lead. In the final minute of the first half, Romo was hit in the ribs and had the wind knocked out after being crushed between Mathias Kiwanuka and Justin Trattou after throwing an incompletion. Kyle Orton came on to finish the half, but Romo was back after halftime. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Romo didn't receive any treatment, and that the medical staff cleared him to play. ''One tough player, one tough man,'' Jones said. ''He will go out and play in pain and play hurt.'' After Manning's second interception, this one by new Cowboys safety Will Allen, Dallas had third-and-11 at the Giants 14. Romo threw a pass toward rookie Terrance Williams that instead deflected off the Giants' Prince Amukamara into the arms of New York teammate Ryan Mundy, who raced 91 yards. He was caught from behind by Murray at the 1. GAME NOTES: The crowd of 85,348 was significantly smaller than the NFL regular-season record crowd of 105,121 that watched the first Giants game at the stadium in its 2009 debut. ... Giants CB Prince Amukamara was knocked out of the game with a concussion after a helmet-on-helmet collision with S Ryan Mundy, who was cleared to return.
Peyton Manning had electricity in his arm. Was it the lightning? Peyton Manning ties record with 7 touchdown passes in season opener over Ravens Manning and the Denver Broncos waited eight long months, then another 33 minutes to get the season started because of a lightning storm. It seems like the electricity in the lightning went straight into Manning's arm. After three punts to start things off, Manning threw a record-tying seven touchdown passes, something no one had done in 44 years, in directing Denver to a 49-27 victory over Super Bowl champion Baltimore on Thursday night in a much-anticipated rematch against the team that ended the Broncos' playoff run in January. Manning connected with his most prized addition, Wes Welker, and former college basketball player Julius Thomas and Demaryius Thomas for two TDs each in piling up the most points scored on the Ravens in their 18-year history. ''I don't like excuses but I do think that lightning delay did slow us down,'' Manning said. ''You guys have seen teams break it down: you come up for the team prayer, you put your hands in and you say, `Broncos on 3,' and you go out to the field. ''We did it three times tonight,'' Manning said. ''We did it, went back and sat down for 10 minutes and came back up again. `Broncos on 3,' now sit down for another 10 minutes. I know they had to deal with it, too, but it took us a while to get started.'' Wearing an orange-and-gray glove like the one he wore on that icy January night the last time these teams met, Manning took a while to get warmed up against a defense that had to replace seven Super Bowl starters. He ditched the glove when the rain stopped -- and then was unstoppable. ''Peyton had an amazing night,'' Broncos coach John Fox said. ''Peyton's had a lot of amazing nights.'' Not like this, though. Manning is the sixth QB in NFL history to throw seven TD passes in a game and the first since Joe Kapp for Minnesota against Baltimore on Sept. 28, 1969. Tom Brady never did it. Nor Brett Favre, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Steve Young or Terry Bradshaw. Or, for that matter, No. 7 himself, John Elway, who had his binoculars trained on the action from his perch in the luxury seats. "I felt like we had to keep scoring because Baltimore can score at any time,'' said Manning, who was 27 of 42 for 462 yards with no interceptions for an off-the-charts quarterback rating of 141.1. ''He's phenomenal. To continue to come out every year and put that kind of performance on for us, it's amazing,'' Julius Thomas said. All part of a thorough thrashing of the team that put a harsh end to what had looked like a Super Bowl-bound 2012 in Denver. The rematch came nearly eight months after Baltimore beat Denver 38-35 in double overtime on an icy January night in the same stadium. The hero on that night was Jacoby Jones, who caught a 70-yard TD pass over Rahim Moore with 31 seconds left to tie it in regulation. This time, his night was cut short when he went back to field a punt in the first half and teammate Brynden Trawick plowed into him, sending him to the sideline with a sprained right knee. ''That's an experience problem, he's an inexperienced guy,'' Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. When the teams finally took the field after the long delay, it was clear how much had changed. This night was certainly a masterpiece for Manning. Notes: Broncos injuries: KR Trindon Holliday (lower left leg), Eric Decker (right shoulder) and S Omar Bolden (left shoulder). ... Ravens RT Michael Oher left with a sprained ankle. ... Shaun Phillips, who played in Miller's place, had 2 1/2 sacks in his Denver debut. ... The Broncos were without CB Champ Bailey (foot), who's expected back in Week 2 when the Manning travels to New York to face his little brother, Eli.
Reggie Wayne recently made headlines when he said the way Andrew Luck approaches practice is a lot like Peyton Manning. Practice does make perfect but what really counts is how a QB performs come game time. Who better to put Andrew Luck to the test than Peyton's brother Eli Manning. Bet on the New York Giants vs Indianapolis Colts.
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