Colts hand Broncos first loss of season

You may remember Pat McAfee from LAYING WASTE TO THE NFL ON SUNDAY NIGHT. Or from being the Colts’ kicker. Whichever. The point is, on Sunday, McAfee did this:

And then on Monday, this happened:

In his career, Wayne has proven to be very durable. In 13 seasons up to this point, Wayne only missed three games, all of which came in his rookie season of 2001. Wayne has 1,006 receptions and 13,566 receiving yards, ranking him 11th all-time.

• Peyton can’t stay perfect, Colts stay lucky

After the game, Luck was contrite speaking with Peter King at Monday Morning Quarterback.

Luck’s pass was most certainly underthrown, as you can see from the GIF below. Whether he deserves the blame he is apparently heaping upon himself is another question. Bad throws and knee injuries off awkward foot plants are a regular occurrence in football. Luck doesn’t have a history of being an erratic passer either. Sometimes freak injuries occur.

You see, Irsay made the following comment about his old, soon-to-be Hall of Fame quarterback, per Sports Illustrated:

Shockingly, this created controversy in the 24/7 media blitz that we live in these days. Of course, Irsay tried to blame everybody short of his mother for the firestorm, but the comment was made and men from Broncos head coach John Fox and former Colts head coach Tony Dungy to ex-Colts general manager Bill Polian all voiced their displeasure with Irsay.

Bailey missed the first five games of the season and was limited in the sixth with a left foot issue that has bothered him since the preseason and cropped up once again in the second quarter versus Indianapolis as he attempted to make a tackle.

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Colts blog Stampede Blue is bracing for bad news:

Wayne will have the benefit of a bye week next week, so he could return in Week 9 to keep alive his streak of 189 straight games played. On the season, he has 38 receptions for 503 yards and two touchdowns. He had five receptions for 50 yards before leaving Sunday’s game.

It was hard to be an NFL fan without hearing about Peyton Manning’s return to Indianapolis. But at least one Colts player may not have known it was even happening.

Cornerback Vontae Davis, after playing a large role in knocking off the previously undefeated Broncos, admitted that he’d spent the entire week preparing for a completely different passing attack -- that of Tom Brady:

Moments before kickoff, the Colts fans at Lucas Oil Stadium were on their feet, welcoming back the quarterback that led Indianapolis to more than a decade of success. By the end of the night, the same fans were cheering the quarterback that will lead the Colts to another decade of success.

Luck lead the Colts to a 12-point lead in the first half, throwing two touchdowns. He added two more touchdowns in the second half, one on the ground. But Manning and the Broncos made a bit of a comeback in the second half. The comeback came up short in the end, due to penalties and a Manning interception in the fourth quarter.

Wayne planted his foot on a routine route and reached back across his body to catch a wide pass, causing his knee to twist. He remained on the field for a short period of time before walking off with the assistance of the Colts’ training staff:

• NFL Week 7 updates, highlights and GIFs | Live NFL scoreboard

The ovation for Manning was touching, but Luck have the Colts fans even more to cheer about, rising to the occasion of the marquee matchup in the first 30 minutes of play.

• NFL Week 7 updates, highlights and GIFs | Live NFL scoreboard

While trying to make a tackle, Bailey appeared to tweak his foot and immediately came up gimpy. The training staff came out and attended to him, and he is now receiving treatment on the sidelines.

Against Andrew Luck and the Colts, Bailey’s absence could prove to be big on Sunday night. Despite their perfect 6-0 record, the Broncos came into Week 7 ranking dead last in the NFL in pass defense. Granted some of that may be attributed to teams throwing the football against them while trying to catch up, but it’s still an issue nonetheless.

Holliday was running toward the sideline when he was stripped of the football on the punt return. Officials initially ruled Holliday out of bounds, but the Colts challenged the call and the play was reversed.

The Colts scored on the ensuing possession. Did the refs get the call right?:

Hey, look, it’s Pat McAfee auditioning for the next edition of Crunch Course, coming soon to a pirate VHS tape.

That’s the Colts punter and kickoff man smacking into Trindon Holiday, the Broncos kick return man. Leading with the helmet is a little questionable, but, hey, what do those “stupid kickers” know.

Here were some of the highlights of the pregame ceremony.

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Jim Irsay was right?

Stephen White [12:13 AM]:

Game Date/Time and Location: Sunday, Oct. 20, 8:30 p.m. ET at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Ind.

TV schedule and distribution map: NBC, Sunday Night Football; The506.com

No team in the NFL scares opponents more than Denver. The Broncos have been an unstoppable juggernaut on offense, rolling up 265 points before any other team has even hit 190. Denver has yet to score less than 35 points in a game, with Manning leading that epic charge. In six games, Manning has thrown 22 touchdowns and only two interceptions.

The offense has been good this season, albeit with a different look under new offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton. Hamilton loves to run the ball and play a conservative style, something that Bruce Arians did not do last year. As a result, the Colts are 8th in rushing and only 23rd in passing yardage. Luck has thrown for 1,346 yards and seven touchdowns, compared to three interceptions.

The Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts take the main stage with the most talked about game of the week. Andrew Luck was doing a solid Peyton Manning impersonation for a few weeks, but the Colts fell disappointingly stagnant against the Chargers in Week 6. As for the Broncos, it is increasingly harder to bet against them with each victory. Denver is 6-0 and has showed no signs of slowing down.

Despite the game being in Indianapolis, the experts are heavily favoring the Broncos for the win. Over at CBS Sports, Denver is the unanimous pick. At ESPN, the Broncos are the near unanimous pick, with only Chris Mortensen and Mike Ditka breaking rank. The panel at SB Nation is also convinced of a Broncos victory, with Denver garnering four of five predictions.

Strictly from a statistical standpoint, Luck is no comparison for Manning. As good as he’s been early in his career, Luck’s career numbers through 22 regular season games fall short of what Manning is on pace to do in 16 games this season. Manning is playing at a historic level while Luck has simply been very good.

“Circumstances created this decision,” Colts’ owner Jim Irsay said, via USA Today. “You have to understand there’s no way this occurs if he’s in Indy. It’s just impossible, where our salary cap was. Having him stay at the type of number that he expected and deserved to earn and all those things.”

The game is set for 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

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