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Topic Started: Apr 17 2014, 11:09 AM (7 Views)
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DENVER -- The dinged-up thumb. The New Orleans defence. Neither came close to slowing down Peyton Manning on Sunday night. Despite banging his throwing thumb on an opponents helmet in the second quarter, Manning passed for 305 yards and three scores, led a pair of 90-plus-yard touchdown drives and easily outplayed Drew Brees to lead the Denver Broncos to a 34-14 victory over the Saints. Manning surpassed the 300-yard mark for the fifth straight time to match his personal best and set a franchise record for Denver (4-3). He completed 22 of 30 throws for a passer rating of 138.9. Willis McGahee ran for 122 yards and a score for the Broncos, who won two in a row for the first time this season and took sole possession of first place in the AFC West. "Its fine," Manning said about his thumb. "As a quarterback, your biggest fear is hitting your hand on the helmet of a defensive lineman. Its mostly the nail. Might be sore tomorrow." The Broncos gained 530 yards -- a season high -- against the NFLs worst defence. The Saints are the first team to allow 400 yards in seven straight games since 1950, which is as far back as STATS LLC can search its NFL database. Coming in on a two-game winning streak of its own, New Orleans (2-5) was hoping to get a boost from the return of linebackers-turned-interim head coach Joe Vitt from his six-game suspension for the teams bounty scandal. All he can do is stand on the sidelines, though, and linebacker Jonathan Vilma -- another Saint implicated in the scandal -- returned to the starting lineup, but he couldnt plug the holes, either. "Ive got to do a better job of preparing our football team," Vitt said. "Ive got to do a better job of getting the team ready physically, mentally and emotionally to play in a game like this. And quite frankly, theres things I need to do better." The Broncos held Brees and the leagues top passing offence to 213 yards and two scores, the second marking the first points Denver has allowed in the fourth quarter since opening week. Brees extended his record to 50 straight games with at least one touchdown pass. He also reached 301 career touchdown passes to climb past John Elway for sixth on the career list. Small consolation on a night in which the Broncos defence looked almost as good as the offence. "That was a very poor performance on our part," Brees said. "We were not able to sustain drives and we left our defence out there entirely too long. That was just very stale." The Saints converted only 1 of 12 third downs. "This football team has been through a lot," Vitt said. "But its not an excuse for the way we played tonight. Its not an excuse for dropped balls, missed tackles." Broncos linebacker Wesley Woodyard did extensive damage, finishing with 13 tackles, two pass breakups, one sack, one forced fumble and one interception, when Vitt chose to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the Denver 47 early in the second quarter with the game tied at 7. "They told me before the game they would keep me free to make plays," Woodyard said. Manning capitalized on Woodyards pick by leading Denver on a 56-yard drive for the go-ahead touchdown, capped on a 13-yard pass to Eric Decker, who was all alone when Jabari Greer slipped. Decker celebrated by spiking the ball a good 10 rows into the stands. A bit later, Manning followed through into a New Orleans players helmet while completing a 23-yard pass to Decker, leaving a trace of blood across the quarterbacks thumb. Manning handed off the next four plays and the Broncos settled for a field goal before halftime. But when Manning returned for the third quarter, he warmed up with no trouble and showed no signs of injury. He then answered any questions by going 4 for 4 to start the third quarter, moving the Broncos 93 yards and capping it with a 1-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas for a 24-7 lead. "I was really nervous at first but then I realized what a tough guy he is," Broncos receiver Brandon Stokley said about Mannings injury. Thomas finished with seven catches for 137 yards. Decker also caught a 2-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter for a 31-7 lead. He finished with 43 yards receiving. Denvers first scoring drive opened at the 2 and began with four straight runs by McGahee for gains of 4, 12, 7 and 3. That set up play action and Manning hit Thomas for 41 yards. Five plays later, Manning dropped back, peaked through the crowded line and somehow picked out McGahee among all the big men clogging things up. That little flip screen was good for 14 yards and set up McGahees 1-yard touchdown run to open the scoring. After getting through the toughest part of their schedule and reaching the bye week at 3-3, the Broncos have only one opponent on the rest of the schedule that currently has a winning record (Baltimore). Too early to call them front-runners, though they certainly played like it against one of the leagues most beleaguered teams. "Im sure the coaches will find some mistakes on the film," Manning said. "But it was what we were looking for." Notes: The Broncos lost a fumble in their 12th straight game, the longest streak in the NFL since the Cardinals lost 18 straight in 1996-97. ... Saints S Roman Harper left in the third quarter with a concussion. ... Manning threw for 300 yards, three touchdowns and completed 70 per cent of his passes for a record fourth straight game. ... The lead blocker on McGahees 1-yard touchdown was DT Mitch Unrein. ... The Saints fell to 2-8 lifetime against the Broncos. wholesale jerseys . The Calgary Stampeders running back set a new single-season rushing record by a Canadian in a 30-27 win over the Edmonton Eskimos on Friday, a record that was 56 years old. cheap nfl jerseys china .C. -- The NFL has announced that Carolina Panthers backup defensive tackle Andre Neblett has been suspended without pay for the first four games of the regular season for violating the leagues policy on performance enhancing substances. http://www.chinawholesalejerseysnfl.com/ . Just as Peterson pushed for all summer, the 27-year-old star running back was among the 46 players suited up for Minnesota on Sunday to face the Jaguars. cheap jerseys nfl . Frank Francisco walked a pair of batters with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning, then gave up a two-run double to Martin Prado that put the potential tying run on third and the go-ahead run on second. cheap nfl jerseys . -- Calvin Pickard frustrated the Hamilton Bulldogs for more than 56 minutes on Tuesday night, but Steve Quailer finally found a way through. CHICAGO -- David DeJesus has been haunted all season by unfavourable winds at Wrigley Field. He got the best of the Friendly Confines on Wednesday. DeJesus hit two home runs, Justin Germano breezed through six innings and the Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros 7-2 to win the three-game series. Asked how many home runs he thinks hes missed out on this year, DeJesus, who now has four on the season, couldnt help but grin. "The other day when I hit one against Bronson (Arroyo) and it was caught at the wall, I came running in and (manager Dale Sveum) was like You should have at least 10 right now," DeJesus said. "So when your managers saying that, Ill take 10." Starlin Castro also homered among his three hits for Chicago, which won for just the third time in 15 games. The Cubs avoided falling to a season-worst 26 games under .500. Astros starter Bud Norris left the game after being hit in the left foot with a line drive in the fourth inning. DeJesus third-inning homer was his first in 54 career games at Wrigley Field. And he didnt waste any time notching his second career Wrigley homer, blasting the first pitch of his next at-bat out to centre field. "He finally hit those kind of balls when the wind was blowing out a little bit," Sveum said. "Hes been snakebit on balls like that when the wind is blowing in. Its nice to finally see him get a couple." He tied a career best with four hits and drove in three runs, reaching base five times. Astros reliever Chuckie Fick was booed in the sixth for intentionally walking DeJesus with runners on second and third. Castro hit a two-run shot in the third, his 12th of the season, as Norris failed to win for a 13th consecutive start. Norris (5-10) allowed six runs on eight hits over 3 1-3 innings and hasnt won since May 21. Following DeJesus second homer, Josh Vitters hit a liner up the middle that deflected off Norris foot toward the third base bag. After two warm-up pitches, Norris bent over, shook his head toward the team trainer and exited the game. He was diagnosed with a left foot contusion. "I knew with my landing foot it wasnt going to be pretty," Norris said. &"Im glad I came out because I didnt want to hurt it any worse than it was.dddddddddddd" Germano (2-2) cruised through six innings before getting into trouble in the seventh. He was removed after giving up a single and a walk. James Russell entered in relief and loaded the bases, but escaped the jam giving up just one run. Germano was charged with two runs on five hits over 6 1-3 innings. He walked one and struck out six, including the side in the fourth. He adjusted to the conditions quickly after Scott Moores home run leading off the second inning. "I wasnt really aware of it until that ball went out, I thought it was a fly ball off the bat," Germano said. "It was a reminder that I had to be more aggressive down in the zone. The wind, you dont really know whats gonna happen." Moores homer was his second in as many days. He had three extra-base hits in Tuesdays 10-1 win. Jose Altuve had three singles for Houston, but Marwin Gonzalez followed by hitting into a double play all three times. The Astros, owners of the worst record in baseball, have dropped 26 of their last 29 road games and are 12-48 away from home this season. Chicagos Brett Jackson tied the game at 1 with a two-out triple in the second inning. The low liner skipped past centre fielder Brandon Barnes and Castro trotted home from third. It was Jacksons first career RBI. He also doubled in the sixth. The 24-year-old has struggled since being called up from Triple-A Iowa on Aug. 5. He was just 4 for 28 with 16 strikeouts before the triple. Notes: The Cubs fired vice-president of player personnel Oneri Fleita. Fleita had been with the organization since 1995. . Astros RHP Francisco Cordero flew to Miami to complete his U.S. Citizenship. Cordero has been on the 15-day disabled list since Aug. 3 with a sprained toe ligament. He was acquired from Toronto on July 20. . After an off-day Thursday, Travis Wood (4-8, 4.52 ERA) pitches the series opener for the Cubs in Cincinnati against the Reds Bronson Arroyo (8-7, 3.95). . Dallas Keuchel (1-4, 5.29) will start for Houston at home on Friday against Arizonas Wade Miley (12-8, 3.02). ' ' '
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