Peyton had been in these kinds of shootouts before in January, and he quickly responded leading the Broncos on an 11-play, methodical, no huddle, shotgun drive capped by 15-yard TD catch by Brandon Stokley in the corner of the end zone over a sprawling Graham.
For any true Baltimore Ravens fan, Stokley is a household name and will always hold a special place in local sports lore. He caught the first touchdown pass in Super Bowl XXXV off the right hand of Trent Dilfer on an unforgettable night. He also shared a Super Bowl ring with Manning as well as Jim Caldwell. Stokley knew Manning from his home state of Louisiana and was initially recruited to Indianapolis in 2003 and left for Denver, Seattle and the New York Giants before returning as Peyton’s favorite slot receiver with the Broncos in 2012. Stokley is the only player to win a Super Bowl ring with Peyton Manning and Ray Lewis. At the age of 36, he was in his 14th year in the NFL since Ozzie Newsome drafted him with the 105th pick in the fourth round of the 1999 draft.
It had been pointed out that Newsome has quite an eye for talent. Now, he was watching more evidence of his own success as the talented, rug rat route runner that he drafted in the previous century tied the 14-14 game at Mile High Stadium.
Punch. Counterpunch. This would go on all day. But at 14-14 with 4:02 still remaining in the first quarter there’s no way the scoring could continue like this. After a pair of punts, Flacco took another shot at Torrey Smith, again down the middle of the field over Bailey. Smith had three steps on Bailey and the ball missed his outstretched arms by inches on what would have been a 65-yard touchdown. Instead, Manning engineered an eight play, 86-yard drive highlighted by a 32-yard strike to Decker, who was running wild in the middle of the Ravens defense and ended with Knowshon Moreno catching a 14-yard TD pass over his old Georgia Bulldogs teammate Dannell Ellerbe to give Denver a 21-14 lead.
Flacco and the Ravens went three-and-out and again Manning put the Broncos on the move starting from his 19. Using the running game more with Moreno, Jacob Hester, and Ronnie Hillman, the Broncos ate up the clock and drove to the 34, where Matt Prater was brought on for a 52-yard field goal. Not only did he miss the field goal, but replays showed that his foot bounced onto the football from the dirt. Prater’s foot looked like an errant golf swing that took on turf before striking the ball and the kick went low and right. The Ravens avoided a 10-point deficit and it remained a one-score game.
The missed field goal allowed Flacco to go to work at his 42 with 1:16 left before the half, but he wouldn’t need all of that time. Working out of the shotgun, Flacco hit Boldin on an 11-yard pass and then dropped the ball once again into the arms of Torrey Smith, who got acrobatic and snatched the ball out of the air over Bailey, who overran the play. Smith’s momentum carried him into the end zone for a 32-yard TD strike, and the Ravens went into the locker to thaw out in a 21-21 game.
“I was just beating him,” Smith said after the game of his dominance of Bailey in the first half. “I can’t really say there was any science to it. He’s a great player. He’s actually one of my favorite players I liked watching growing up. He’s just like anyone else. I’m a competitor. He’s a competitor. You win some, you lose some.”
With 42 points on the board and three leads changes, the nerves and the first chill were long gone. The Ravens were in this one for the long haul and knew the second half would be even colder and the defense would need to show even more resistance to Manning, who had executed some of his patented long, plodding drives that wear down defenses who can’t substitute against the pace of the no huddle.
On the other sideline, Flacco watched this style of play and knew that’s what he always wanted the Ravens’ best offensive weapon to be – pressure, pressure, pressure. Don’t let the defense dictate personnel or pace and don’t let them get set up, organized, or rested.
On the kickoff to begin the half, the stands were still empty, but Holliday gave those few who were in their seats another impromptu thrill with a 104-yard scamper, this time straight through the middle of the field. Chykie Brown dove and missed the tackle and Holliday celebrated his second return of the game for a touchdown.
For Harbaugh, these breakdowns were particularly disturbing because the Ravens believed it was Manning they needed to contain. Instead they’d need to remedy 14 points on the scoreboard from two lousy special teams covers -– one on each unit.
After the game, Harbaugh described the agony as only a special teams coach could. “It was painful,” Harbaugh said. “The first one, the punt, was like a perfect storm. We were punting the ball right, it gets caught in a bad rotation and pushes all the way to the left away from our coverage, he catches it on the run and he’s a human jet, and he was gone. Just like that. It was shocking because we didn’t expect the ball to be there and then it was gone. The second one [kickoff return for a touchdown] was the same thing. It wasn’t the kick we were looking for. It’s tough to kick in these conditions on that ground, but we just didn’t cover very well, and they just blocked it really well, and this guy [Broncos WR] Trindon Holliday, he’s a really great player. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
