Lucas Oil Stadium - Indianapolis, IN
| Denver Broncos at Indianapolis Colts | |||||
| Sep 8, 2016 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| Denver Broncos (1-0, 1-0 Away) | 0 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 34 |
| Indianapolis Colts (0-1, 0-1 Home) | 0 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
Top Performers
Passing : A. Luck (IND) - 427YDS, TD
Rushing : M. Ball (DEN) - 16CAR, 90YDS
Receiving : C. Shorts III (IND) - 11REC, 161YDS
INDIANAPOLIS - Well, the 1972 Miami Dolphins don't have to worry about the 2016 Colts anymore, and they didn't even have to wait until Sunday. The NFL's first Thursday Night game of the year didn't disappoint, unless you are a Colts fan, but the rest of the league might feel better knowing they aren't invincible.
The Broncos strolled into Indianapolis without Peyton Manning, and did to the Colts what the Colts did to other teams all last year. Perhaps learning behind Manning helped Zach Dysert get ready to take over, and his debut couldn't have gone any better.
Nothing went well for Indianapolis, starting with a strip sack of Andrew Luck during the 1st quarter. The Colts just couldn't get going on offense, especially on the ground, and everything broke Denver's way. Neither team scored until the 2nd quarter when each team scored 14, but the Colts went into the half bruised and battered. Cecil Shorts III was taken out for about half a quarter with a shoulder injury, and D'Qwell Jackson left for good after breaking his collarbone.
Ramsey was almost on lockdown all game.
The Broncos' approach really paid off in the second half, and the Colts' inexperienced secondary was exposed by Demaryius Thomas. Thomas opened the scoring with a 69 yard TD catch after Kian Sampson blew his coverage and LaRon Landry forgot how to tackle. Shayn Ramsey finally broke a long run for a TD, finding the endzone from 14 yards out, but that was the last time he would gain that many yards.
With the run game under Denver's control, the Colts did the only thing they could; throw. Luck finished the game 44/61, but his single TD pass to T.Y. Hilton in the 2nd quarter was all they could manage. Without being able to run the Colts couldn't use their deadly play action passing plays and Luck struggled to get the offense going. Ramsey finished with a disappointing 52 yards on 14 carries and Indianapolis never came close to scoring in the 4th.
Denver added two field goals in the 4th quarter to seal the deal and the Superbowl Champions had to walk off the field 0-1 to start 2016. The Colts aren't really in a panic, even with Ricky Jean-Francois breaking his collarbone as well, but another game like this will make a repeat title an issue.
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