With 31 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Peyton Manning kneeled to run out the clock. At virtually the same time in the same stadium in a postseason game exactly a year earlier, Manning went down to one knee too.
When Peyton and I stood at his locker far from the maddening crowd Sunday evening, I pointed out the parallel universe of quantum events.
“Rather ironic,” the Broncos quarterback said. “Different circumstances, though.”
On Jan. 12, 2013, the Baltimore Ravens had just tied the score on a miracle heave with about a half minute to go, and coach John Fox ordered Manning to shut down the offense at the Broncos’ 20 to get to overtime. The Broncos would lose by three in double overtime.
On Jan. 12, 2014, the Broncos had just made a first down at the Chargers’ 32. Fox didn’t have to issue a directive. Manning took a knee, and the game was over. The Broncos won by seven.
Hearts in Denver were not wounded by bended knee this game.
The Broncos play on. The Broncos won a postseason game for the first time since Jan. 8, 2012, when Tim Tebow sent the Pittsburgh Steelers home in a wild-card game. Manning his own self won a playoff game for the first time since 2009.
First down. Two to go.
It was third down, though, late in the game against the charging Chargers that made the difference in the two outcomes.
Last year the Broncos couldn’t covert a third-and-7, going conservative with a running play. Baltimore was allowed to get the ball again. This year the Broncos converted a third-and-17 and a third-and-6, both times with pass plays, and San Diego couldn’t get the ball back.
“I felt like that game last year forced us to address those types of situations all season long,” Manning said. Both throws from Manning went to tight end Julius Thomas, who didn’t even play in the Ravens’ playoff game. They were “certainly two huge third-down conversions, which were the difference in the ball game,” Manning said.
The first in particular.
With 3:06 remaining, a 5-yard penalty, a 2-yard loss on a rush and an incomplete pass put the Chargers in position to get the ball back.
In a position to tie.
Oh, no, here they go again.
Manning was surrounded in the pocket, stepped up and just as he was about to be swamped, lofted the ball to Thomas for a 21-yard gain. “It was a great call by Adam (Gase, offensive coordinator), a great catch by Julius,” Manning said.
With 2:12 to go, Manning leaned on Thomas once more for 9 yards and another first down on third down.
The 76,969 Bronco backers, who were anxious and nervous, erupted.
Last year — when, oddly enough, current Chargers coach Mike McCoy was the offensive coordinator — the Broncos went uber-conservative against the Ravens, trying to run the football to seal the game with the best passer in the history of the NFL.
This time, McCoy was on the other side, and he could only watch and suffer as Gase, his former subordinate, did what he hadn’t.
Of the critical third-and-17 failure by the Chargers to stop Manning, McCoy relied on an old movie line. “It was a lack of communication on our part.”
Fox was asked if he was more aggressive than a year ago with the game on the line.
“I’m not going to bite on that, other than I think you kind of adjust to your football team as you go,” Fox said. “Our guys have proven to be pretty efficient.”
He praised Manning, who has taken a ton of bites from the world of football about his playoff record (now 10-11) and his eight one-and-done postseasons.
The single-season NFL passing record holder didn’t put up awesome statistics because the Broncos used the Chargers’ time-consuming plan and rushed 34 times for 133 yards. He completed 25-of-36 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns. Another pass should have been caught, but bounced off Eric Decker’s chest and was intercepted at the end of the first half. “If we had scored there and at the beginning of the third quarter (missed field goal), it might have been easier,” Manning said.
But, unlike a year ago at the same time and place, Manning’s knee on grass signaled the start of a celebration that echoed across the Rockies.
Woody Paige: woody@woodypaige.com or twitter.com/woodypaige
