Peyton Manning's TD streak comes to an end in Broncos' 24-17 win over Buffalo
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Peyton Manning's touchdown streak is over, and he couldn't care less.
"I don't need to break or set another record," the five-time MVP said after watching his streak of 51 games with a touchdown throw end Sunday three shy of Drew Brees' NFL record. "It was important to get a win."
The Broncos beat Buffalo 24-17 behind C.J. Anderson's three touchdown runs and a swarming defense that made up for Denver's three turnovers with three takeaways of its own.
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Manning hadn't been held without a TD toss since Nov. 14, 2010, for Indy against Cincinnati.
That's 1,485 days.
"C.J. did a good job down there in the red zone, getting in there on those runs," Manning said of Anderson's scores of 6, 1 and 3 yards. "Those are hard-earned runs down there. It was good to improve our red zone (efficiency)" after settling for five short field goals in a win at Kansas City.
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"We didn't score many touchdowns last week and that was the difference tonight, being able to score touchdowns in the red zone as opposed to settling for field goals."
The Broncos (10-3) won their third straight game since downshifting their high-octane offense from a pass-oriented attack to a run-heavy approach.
"I hope fans will still keep coming to the games," deadpanned Manning, who finished 14 of 20 for 173 yards with two interceptions.
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With Julius Thomas out again, Demaryius Thomas hobbled and Emmanuel Sanders pin-balling through the secondary all afternoon, Wes Welker awakened from a season-long slumber to lead the Broncos with six catches for 82 yards.
"This was not the game for the receivers to have a lot of big numbers," Manning said, "but Wes' play helped us get this victory."
Former Broncos QB Kyle Orton had a day like Manning usually does: 38 of 57 for 355 yards. He led the Bills (7-6) on two long desperation TD drives in the fourth quarter after they'd fallen behind 21-3. His 38 completions tied a team record and his 58 attempts is a franchise high.
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"Not good enough to beat a good football team," said Orton, who was sacked four times.
Other takeaways from Denver's grind-it-out win:
UNDERHANDED FIST BUMP? After Anderson bulled in for his second TD, the Broncos celebrated. So did the refs. Moments after Anderson's 1-yard score, line judge John Hussey and umpire Carl Paganelli fist bumped after making what turned out to be the correct call.
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Bills safety Aaron Williams wasn't amused. After the game, he linked the video of the officials' reaction to a tweet critical of the officials.
The NFL had no problem with the gesture: "It was an acknowledgment of good mechanics between the two officials involved in making the call," NFL spokesman Michael Signora said.
SACKLESS BILLS: The Bills still lead the league with 48 sacks but they didn't add to that total Sunday as they went without a sack for the first time since Sept. 22, 2013, against the Jets.
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"You have to give it to the big boys up front," said Anderson, praising his O-line that was pilloried last month.
WONDERFUL WATKINS: With 127 yards on seven catches, Sammy Watkins became the first Bills rookie with four 100-yard games in a season.
"Every week I try to be that guy to change the game and make plays," Watkins said. "I had great catches. But ultimately we didn't win the game and that's the ultimate goal."
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MAGNIFICENT MARSHALL: When last year's top tackler, Danny Trevathan, returns from IR this week, he'll join a linebacker corps that's done just fine without him.
His sub, Brandon Marshall, leads the team with 107 tackles and on Sunday had a team-high nine stops to go with three pass breakups and his first career interception.
MCMANUS BACK: One week after replacing him with veteran Connor Barth, the Broncos brought back kicker Brandon McManus as a kickoff specialist and he had four touchbacks in five kickoffs. Marcus Thigpen brought the other one out from 8 yards deep in the end zone and only reached the 19.
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"It's good to still be in the locker room, continue to learn," McManus said. "In practice, I'll still be working on my field goals. I've got such a strong leg I kind of have some variables in my field goal steps that I know I can change. And obviously I didn't want to do that in the middle of the season. So, now I can work on it and still help the team however I can."
For now, that's by kicking the ball out of the back of the end zone.
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