DENVER — Peter Tebow couldn’t help himself or hide his glee. As soon as Tim’s brother watched Peyton Manning throw the interception that handed Saturday’s divisional playoff game to the Ravens, his true feelings hit the Twitter world.
“Am I the only one in Denver who’s happy right now?” he gloated.
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Peter Tebow would probably like to point out that his brother now has won more playoff games for the Broncos than Manning has. It was quite the opposite scene at Sports Authority Field last year, when Tebow’s 80-yard bullet to Demaryius Thomas beat the Steelers on the first play of overtime.
Tebow’s ride on the white charger ended the next week in Foxborough, where the Patriots sent him on his way. It’s just that Manning’s comeback ride wasn’t supposed to end at all, not against Tom Brady in what everyone anticipated to be the AFC Championship Game next week and certainly not against a Ravens team that had lost to the Broncos by 17 points a month ago.
So start the criticism again, with Manning now 9-11 in the postseason, 0-4 in playoff games played in sub-40 degree temps. Not a big- game player? Manning made no persuasive arguments to the contrary in this game.
There were three turnovers, and there could have been four had not a hands-to-the-face penalty negated what would have been a second lost fumble. Both interceptions were counter to what he’s supposed to do best — decipher a defense and be smart.
On his first-quarter pick six (his second pass of the game), he thought he had Eric Decker underneath with nickel back Chykie Brown in good position behind him. Brown got an arm in to deflect the ball, and Corey Graham came up with the deflection. The Broncos thought it was interference, but the ball never should have been thrown.
The killer came when Manning tried to throw back across his body as he was being flushed out of the pocket. It was a great play by Graham to undercut the route and beat Brandon Stokley out of his break, but even Manning admitted, “Bad throw. Probably the decision wasn’t great, either.”
While Joe Flacco was airing it out for the Ravens, Manning had to settle for shorter passes with the Ravens playing a lot of man under coverage with two deep safeties. The Broncos were in hurry-up mode for much of the game but they never wore out the Ravens. Manning didn’t get much rhythm going in the second half.
Had his 17-yard TD pass with 7:11 left stood up as the game-winner, Manning would have been saying he had a lot of work to do before next week.
But there is no next week now.
“As of right now, it’s hard to think about anything else besides the loss tonight,” he said. “Very disappointed because of how much hard work this team put into this season. Certainly we had plans of playing next week. Guys were excited, and to get beat in overtime by a field goal at the end, it’s certainly disappointing.”
The season started with curiosity in the opener against the Steelers. Would it be the same Manning after a year off due to the neck surgery? He was good that night and he kept getting better. Then the Broncos ended the regular season on an 11-game winning streak. The expectations were as high as they ever were when he played for the Colts — and won just one Super Bowl.
Manning is the same Manning. And Tebow? He’s not even the same Tebow, much to his brother’s dismay. He’s got the Jets to thank for that. But that’s another story.
