Broncos regroup after getting the "Dirty Bird" from Atlanta

Hold up everybody, the offense will be fine.

The Broncos went into Atlanta riding a high after beating the Steelers as we watched and thought we were watching the rebirth of QB Peyton Manning.  Denver struggled in the matchup with Atlanta, leaving the Georgia Down with the Falcons giving the Broncos the "Dirty Bird".  Denver saw some signs of what this team is all about on Monday night, particularly on defense. 

In the first quarter of the game against Atlanta, the defense was put into some tough spots.  Following Mannings first three inceptions, the Falcons started at the Denver goal line, Denver's 43 and Atlanta's 47.  The Falcons were able to put up ten points from those three drives.  But given the fact the defense had short fields to work with, they held their ground.  The longest play was a 15 yard pass to TE Tony Gonzalez down the middle, which was accompanied with a 15 yard facemasking penalty to help Atlanta get in position for a field goal.  QB Matt Ryan struggled to get the passing game going and the defense held RB Michael Turner run for eight yards on four carries.

Credit is due to the Atlanta offensive line for giving Matt Ryan time to get the passing game into gear.  The Broncos defense tried their hardest to get to Ryan, getting six QB hits on the day, and for the most part, keeping most completed passes short and in front of them.  They also did a good job of stopping the running game as well.  28 carries for 67 yards.  Two games into the season against some decent offenses, Denver is ranked 9th in pass defense and 7th in rush defense.

What most people are worried about is Manning.  When was the last time that you can say that Manning may have been a problem for a team in their growing process.  The two games played thus far are two different stories. The game against the Steelers, Manning almost boasted a perfect passer rating.  The game against the Falcons, Manning was picked off three times in eight passes; first time since 2007 that he has had a three interception game, and the fewest amount of passes needed to get to three interceptions.

Relax...this offense is still a work in progress.  Manning has had only several months to get back into football shape and several months to work out the new offense.  The entire offense is in a learning process, Manning is learning Offensive Coordinator Mike McCoy's offense and the rest of the offense is still learning to play with Manning and vise versa.  It was evident that the offense is still learning, particularly the no huddle.  Some players looked out of position or ran the wrong play.  Center J.D. Walton has even admitted to still trying to remember calls for audibles just before the snap.

While the offense is still learning how to work with each other and learn the system, Manning is trying to learn more about himself and his play.  Some columists are saying that Manning is done for already after two weeks.  Manning himself is still a work in progress, he says he's 100%, but what if he isn't.  Should we take it away from him, doubt his ability to play the position.  The answer is no.  The Denver Post reports that backup and rookie QB Brock Osweiler was going to come into the game to replace Manning for a "Hail Mary" pass.  Media outlets have started to then question whether Manning has "it" or not anymore.Manning at this point of his career is better than a vast majority of the QB's playing right now.  There is much that is happening right now on the offensive side of the ball...the offense is very fluid to say the least.  They are working out the "kinks" in the offense and once they get things together, this should be a potent offense...not to say that they already aren't.

-Joshua Reising
Twitter: @Josh_Reising