Lucas Oil Stadium - Indianapolis, IN
| Denver Broncos at Indianapolis Colts | |||||
| Jan 10, 2016 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| Denver Broncos (#2 13-3, 6-2 Away) | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Indianapolis Colts (#1 15-1, 8-0 Home) | 14 | 21 | 0 | 10 | 45 |
Top Performers
Passing : A. Luck (IND) - 278YDS, 2TD
Rushing : T. Richardson (IND) - 30CAR, 198YDS, 2TD
Receiving : T.Y. Hilton (IND) - 11REC, 124YDS, TD
INDIANAPOLIS - The build up for the AFC Title game was just too much. The story lines and talking points were too perfect, they basically wrote themselves. NFL fans might have gone into this week thinking this was the Superbowl, but they would have been wrong and very disappointed with the result.
The return of Peyton Manning to Indianapolis could have fueled an entire month of speculation, add in the fact that this could be Manning's final season and the excitement hit a fever pitch. The Broncos, coming into this game at 13-3, were also an excellent team with the tools to take down Indianapolis. Unfortunately for the Broncos and Manning, they found themselves on the wrong end of a Colts beat down.
Manning had serious issues staying upright in the pocket.
The game opened up looking like the Broncos had the magic. They were very aggressive on their first drive and went for it on a 4th and 2 which resulted in a huge 45 yard gain thanks to an equally aggressive Colts defense. Nothing came of it, and Indianapolis went up 7-0 on a Trent Richardson rushing TD.
Things only got worse from there for Denver. Prince Amukamara picked off Manning one play after a big pass to Cody Latimer put the Broncos back on the offensive. Andrew Luck made it 14-0 with a short TD pass to Richardson, and the blowout was on. Luck hit Dwayne Allen and T.Y. Hilton in the 2nd quarter to make it 28-0 before a short TD run by Ronnie Hillman put Denver on the board. Vick Ballard ran it in from a yard out after an 11 play 83 yard drive to make it 35-7 and close out the 1st half.
Richardson carried the Colts into the Superbowl.
The Colts came out after halftime and put their running game and defense to work. The Broncos had no hope against the Indianapolis secondary, they knew Denver had to throw and lived out of a Dime/Quarters formation to shut them out. Ballard and Richardson combined to eat up the clock and keep the ball out of Manning's hand. A second Ballard TD run and a FG would be the only scoring, completing the victory.
Ballard and Richardson split 48 carries between them for 290 yards and 4TD on the ground. Whoever faces Indianapolis in the Superbowl is going to have to find a way to at least slow down their punishing run game. Thanks to their ability to run, Luck barely had to throw the ball. Luck went 23/25, the fear of a run game made it all too easy to complete passes.
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