TotalBroncos

By Rich Kurtzman   The Denver Broncos came into Sunday’s game only one contest away from winning the AFC West, with the strong Tampa Bay Buccaneers entering the Mile High City as a fearsome foe. (Credit, Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) Tampa Bay started the game on fire, scoring a quick touchdown and taking the 10-7 lead into halftime. But the Broncos fought back, scoring 21 unanswered points in second half to win their seventh straight game Sunday in Denver. Peyton Manning caught fire, throwing two straight touchdowns while Von Miller took his first pick-six of the season to secure the win. Offense Overall: B The Denver offense started strong, but went into a coma soon afterwards. Their first drive was dynamic, as Peyton Manning passed short to a litany of receivers. He hit Jacob Tame, Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker and even defensive tackle Mitch Unrein for the touchdown. For most of the first and second quarter, they went to sleep, but the offense woke up in the second half. Manning went wild, taking four plays to score a touchdown to Tamme, then he hit Thomas in the end zone for the 21-10 lead. The veteran quarterback moved his team downfield for a field goal in the third quarter, cementing the 31-23 win. Manning went 28-37 for 242 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Defense Overall: B+ The Denver defense started slowly, as with nearly every other week, allowing Tampa Bay to grab the 10-7 lead before the half. The orange and blue went on a 21-point run to start the second half, which included a pick-six by star linebacker Von Miller. Overall, they limited Doug Martin to only 56 yards on the ground, while holding the entire team to a mere 71 yards rushing on the day. Miller also forced a fumble, as he continued to enjoy a stellar second season. Chris Harris played very well too, recording a game-high six tackles, tied with Miller. Special Teams Overall: C Trindon Holliday did very well again Sunday, returning four punts for 95 yards while also taking a kickoff 25 yards to give the Broncos great field possession all Sunday long. Also, Matt Prater went 4-4 on his extra points, though he missed one of his two field goals on the day. It wasn’t a great day for Denver’s special teams, but it was good enough. Coaching Overall: C Jack Del Rio did another superb job drawing up defense Sunday afternoon, as he has many times during Denver’s current NFL-high seven-game winning streak. The defense basically stopped Doug Martin, and held the Buccaneers amazing rush offense to a low of 71 yards total on the ground. Offensive coordinator Mike McCoy did well himself, passing almost all the time with the Broncos’ O against Tampa’s league-worst pass defense and league-best rushing defense. For more Local Football Bloggers and the latest Broncos news, see  CBS Sports Denver . Rich Kurtzman is a Denver native, Colorado State University alumnus, sports nerd, athletics enthusiast, and competition junkie. Currently writing for a multitude of websites while working on books, one on the history of the Denver Broncos and Mile High Stadium. Find more of Rich’s Denver Broncos pieces on Examiner.com .

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Denver Broncos Outlast Tampa Bay Buccaneers To Win 31-23

DENVER (AP) – What Mitch Unrein lacks in dance moves he more than makes up for in shock value. The second-year defensive lineman out of Wyoming helped the Denver Broncos wrap up their second straight AFC West title Sunday with their seventh straight win, a less-than-perfect but oh-so-pretty 31-23 win over the feisty Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Unrein caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Peyton Manning to open the scoring, then came free for the big hit on Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman that forced a bad throw that ended up in Von Miller ‘s hands for the game’s biggest play. Miller’s pick-6 marked the first career interception and the first career touchdown for last year’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, who is making a stronger case by the week for Defensive Player of the Year honors. And it put this game out of reach at 28-10. Miller did a hip-swaying jig in the end zone, unlike Unrein, who became the first defensive lineman to catch a touchdown pass in Broncos history and celebrated with a big-time spike – followed by a mad scramble to retrieve the football. “After I spiked it, I was, like, `Uh, oh, where’d it go?” Unrein said. “Luckily, I got it back.” He left the dancing to Miller, though. “I have two left feet as they say. I can two-step a little bit, country dance,” Unrein said. “It all happened so fast I didn’t know what to do.” Unrein trotted onto the field on first-and-goal from the 1 and lined up at fullback. “Certainly when you put a big D-lineman in there, a lot of times the defense is thinking run,” Manning said. Unrein, though, slipped into the left flat and hauled in Manning’s floater in stride. “It was a Willie Mays catch,” marveled teammate Kevin Vickerson . “It was over the shoulder just like Mays.” And it seemed the hang in the air for just as long as Vic Wertz’s drive to the warning track in the 1954 World Series, too. “It felt like a really long time when that ball was floating toward me,” Unrein said. “I was like, `Don’t drop it. Don’t drop it.’ Luckily, it hit my hands and I caught it. That’s why I wrapped it up with both hands and stood there for a second and was like, `I just scored a touchdown. That’s pretty cool.’ “Then, afterward, I had no dance, no skills like Von Miller .” Although the Broncos had put in the trick play at practice several weeks ago – and Unrein said he caught it every time – the play surprised teammate Champ Bailey . “Not that they threw to him, but that he caught it,” Bailey noted. “Too many times you see a defensive player run a route, be wide open and he drops it. He got his hands up and caught it.” It sure stunned the Buccaneers. “You never prepare for that play,” safety Ronde Barber said. “It happens. There isn’t much you can do about it. It never had shown up on film.” About 90 minutes later, Unrein helped Miller get into the end zone for his first career TD, coming through the line unblocked and hitting Freeman just as he threw toward Vincent Jackson . The ball floated into Miller’s hands at the 26 and he ran untouched into the end zone. “I only had some O-linemen in front of me,” Miller said. “I felt like my odds were pretty good.” Miller’s touchdown came just after Demaryius Thomas ‘ second straight TD catch from Manning, whose 29 touchdown throws this season surpassed Jake Plummer and John Elway for the most scoring tosses in a single season for the Broncos. “You look at that type of swing that a pick-6 is from a mental standpoint, from a point standpoint, it’s tough to overcome,” said Freeman, who completed 18 of 39 passes for 242 yards. The Broncos (9-3) won their seventh straight and wrapped up a date in January in the playoffs, though there were no whoops and hollers in the locker room. “It’s one step,” Bailey said. “It’s not like we’ve done everything we want to do.” The Bucs (6-6), surprising contenders under first-year coach Greg Schiano, fell a game behind Seattle for the second NFC wild-card spot and their loss clinched the NFC South for Atlanta. The Broncos held Tampa Bay rookie Doug Martin to 56 yards on 18 carries. Manning went 27 for 38 for 242 yards, as the Broncos scored 30-plus points for the sixth time over their seven-game win streak. Despite Denver’s big numbers, which included eight catches for 99 yards for Thomas and nine receptions for 89 yards from tight end Jacob Tamme , this was another far-from-perfect effort from the Broncos’ offense. Manning was frustrated in the first half as a series of penalties, off-target throws and missed protections kept him biding his time on the bench. The only real highlight came at the end of his first drive – the 1-yard touchdown pass to Unrein. Freeman countered with an 11-yard scoring strike to Manning’s friend and former top target in Indianapolis, Dallas Clark . After that early touchdown drive, Freeman never got comfortable again, although he led the Bucs on a 47-yard TD drive that made it 31-23 with 2:33 left. Eric Decker recovered the onside kick and Denver lined up in victory formation twice. Schiano, as is his wont, had his players fire off the ball. “After the game he came up and told me on the end-of-game play he didn’t mean any harm,” Manning said. “And I appreciated that comment.” NOTES: Broncos K Matt Prater missed from 47 yards, making him 2 for 5 from 40 to 49 yards this season and 15 for 17 from everywhere else, including 3 for 4 from 50-plus. … Bucs CB LeQuan Lewis appeared to sustain a serious leg injury in the closing minutes on special teams. By ARNIE STAPLETON, AP Pro Football Writer (© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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D Lineman Mitch Unrein Plays A Big Role In Broncos Win Over The Bucs

Peyton Manning, QB, Denver Broncos: When Peyton Manning signed a five-year, $96 million deal with the Denver Broncos in March, it was thought that the best-case scenario would be that Manning could take a team that sort of won an AFC West that nobody else wanted in 2011, and push things forward a bit. The actual result has exceeded most expectations — most likely, even Manning’s. After four shoulder surgeries in the last two years, and overcoming a nerve impingement that would have ended the careers of lesser men, Manning has come back to enjoy perhaps his most amazing season. When he finished his day against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with 27 completions in 38 attempts for 242 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception, Manning had also amassed the Broncos’ single-season record for touchdowns with 29. That put him ahead of John Elway, the guy who signed him, and who was a pretty decent quarterback himself. Manning is also running the ninth winning streak of seven games or more in his estimable career, and only Tom Brady ranks ahead of Manning in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted metrics . What Manning’s done this season would be impressive if he simply switched teams without the injury narrative. Given the full story, it’s easy to argue that Manning is enjoying his best and most special season in a career that already had people wondering if he was the greatest quarterback of all time. Brady Quinn, QB, Kansas City Chiefs: Quinn’s stat line was pretty decent and nothing more, for a quarterback who really hasn’t done much in his NFL career — 19 of 23 for 201 yards, two touchdowns, and no picks. It was what Quinn did and said before and after Kansas City’s 27-21 win over the Carolina Panthers that made him an MVP. Not to get all Tom Rinaldi here, but Quinn’s inner strength in the wake of the Jovan Belcher incident showed that when things were really tragic, he could be a leader of men. Quinn was the one who faced the media when other players could not yet do so before the game, and he was the one who most eloquently summarized the pain and confusion his teammates were feeling after Belcher shot and killed his girlfriend, 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins, and then took his own life. “When it happened, I was thinking, ‘What could I have done differently?’” Quinn said after the game. “When you ask someone how they’re doing, do you really mean it? When you answer someone back, are you really telling the truth? We live in a society of social networks, and Twitter pages and Facebooks, and that’s fine. But we have contact with our work associates, our families and friends, and it seems sometimes that we’re more preoccupied with our phones than the relationships going on in front of us. Hopefully, people can learn from this and try to figure out that somebody’s battling something deeper on the inside than maybe they’re revealing on a day-to-day basis.” Belcher’s actions left a lot of questions unanswered — and perhaps unanswerable. But Quinn showed all the strength, heart, and courage you could ever expect from a marquee quarterback on this day. Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle Seahawks: What did the third-round rookie from Wisconsin have to do to beat the Chicago Bears in overtime and move the Seahawks to 7-5 on the season? Oh, not much. At Soldier Field, and against one of the best defenses in the NFL, Wilson had to lead a drive of 97 yards to put the Seahawks up, 17-14, late in the fourth quarter with a touchdown pass to Golden Tate. When the Bears countered with a tying field goal, Wilson then led the Seahawks on an 80-yard drive, concluding with a touchdown pass to Sidney Rice, to take the game home with him. In his last four games, Wilson has completed 72 passes on 107 attempts (67.2 percent) for 878 yards (8.2 YPA), nine touchdowns, and no interceptions. Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin have justifiably taken the Offensive Rookie of the Year award and made it their own personal volleyball, but when it comes to sheer bang for the buck, Wilson might be the NFL’s best rookie value this season. Morgan Burnett, S, Green Bay Packers:

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Week 13 MVPs: Peyton Manning guides Broncos to AFC West title (Shutdown Corner)

DENVER — Here’s a scary thought for NFL quarterbacks, running backs and defensive coordinators: Von Miller remains a work in progress.

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Miller boosts his reputation