Colts at Broncos
The battle of Peyton Manning's former teams will take place on Sunday, when the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos host the Indianapolis Colts. Both teams feature quarterbacks that replaced Manning, though the Colts' Andrew Luck has had a little more time to escape the long shadow of the future Hall-of-Famer.
Luck never seemed to have trouble getting over the mental hurdle of replacing Manning and will need to just-as-smoothly overcome the idea of facing a Broncos' pass rush that hit him so hard in a Week 9 loss last season, it resulted in a lacerated kidney. Denver's pass rush was in the spotlight again after a 21-20 win over Carolina on opening night that left Cam Newton on the ground after several hard hits and caused the NFL to hand out fines to safety Darian Stewart and linebacker Brandon Marshall. "I'd say they play hard and like any good defense, any good offense," Luck told reporters of the Broncos. "Like any good football team, you want to toe that line of aggression. They are certainly a tough, physical defense. Sometimes you get hit in the head, a flag comes out or it doesn't come out. I don't worry too much about it." Luck was sacked twice by Detroit on Sunday but threw four touchdown passes in the 39-35 loss.
TV: 4:25 p.m. ET, CBS. LINE: Broncos -6. O/U: 46
ABOUT THE COLTS (0-1): Indianapolis suffered a crushing defeat in Week 1, grabbing a 35-34 lead on Luck's TD pass to Jack Doyle with 37 seconds left, only to watch the Lions march down the field and kick a go-ahead field goal with four seconds to play before closing it out with a safety. The Colts have a lengthy list of injuries on defense but are not using that as an excuse. "We always talk about how this is an offensive team," safety Mike Adams told ESPN.com. "As a defense, we were saying, 'Let's take that out of their hands. Let us be a defensive team.' We failed. There's no panic, believe it."
ABOUT THE BRONCOS (1-0): Trevor Siemian beat out Mark Sanchez in training camp for the right to replace Manning and was solid in Week 1 with 178 passing yards and a touchdown while guiding the team back from a 10-point halftime deficit. "The thing I think I'm most impressed with is just watching him operate the group, first time out, first start in the NFL,’’ Broncos coach Gary Kubiak told reporters. “We didn't have to waste a timeout; we didn't get a call wrong. He handled the operation really well. ... So, I think his poise was a big step in the right direction." Siemian got plenty of help from running back C.J. Anderson, who rushed for a TD and hauled in a scoring pass.
EXTRA POINTS
1. Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas is questionable due to a hip injury.
2. Colts CB Vontae Davis (ankle), S T.J. Green (knee) and CB Patrick Robinson (concussion) did not participate in practice on Wednesday and are week-to-week.
3. Indianapolis CB Darius Butler (ankle) and DT Henry Anderson (knee), both of whom sat out Week 1, practiced on Wednesday.