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The Denver Broncos did not allow the Cardinals to make their statement game this week, and hand the team their first loss of the season.
Arizona started the game off as well as you could have hoped. Driving the ball from the 20 yard line into the redzone, before a Rob Housler drop and a John Carlson penalty forced them into three points. Peyton Manning marched his team down the field and put up seven, and the Broncos never let go of the lead.
Despite interceptions from Calais Campbell and Jerraud Powers, Manning still finished the day with a career high in passing yards (479) and four touchdowns.
Defensively the team managed to hold together until the fourth quarter, where injuries to both starting corners, Calais Campbell, (out 3-4 weeks) and several others caused the defensive melt down.
Drew Stanton left in the third quarter with a concussion, and the offense could not catch anything. Logan Thomas did connect with Andre Ellington to cut the Bronco lead to four, but Denver put their foot on the teams throat and did not let if off until the end.
The offense could not seem to hold onto anything. John Brown dropped a pair of catches, including a crucial third down, Larry Fitzgerald dropped one, and Ted Ginn had his fair share of drops. In all, Arizona recorded eight drops.
On a side note, the hit by Julius Thomas was incredibly dirty. Some think the flag should not have been thrown (beyond me), but it should have resulted in more. It will result in a fine, but a play that dirty deserves a suspension.
We will see who starts at Quarterback next week, but with Drew Stanton ailing, and Carson Palmer staying in Denver until Monday night, all signs point to Logan Thomas, and a new quarterback next weekend.