DENVER -- For three years, the Denver Broncos drafted and signed defenders to stop the Peyton Manning-led Colts offense.
And Denver's maneuvers still weren't enough to produce the desired result Sunday.
The Broncos, sticking with a basic defensive strategy that had allowed just two touchdown drives in 65 possessions entering the game, simply couldn't stop Manning and the Colts. Against a defense that blitzed only seven times in 60 plays, Manning, with time to spare, picked Denver apart in a 34-31 classic that might go down as the best-played game of the regular season.
"Obviously, you can always second-guess yourself on what you should have done," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "We went in playing our base defense, which is what got us here. We put a little more pressure rushing the quarterback first and reacting to the run. I thought that we would get the pressure needed. We just didn't quite do it."
Manning was simply superb directing a Colts offense that totaled 437 yards, but this was expected. He's put 41 and 49 points on the Broncos when they didn't have this kind of defensive talent, and those were playoff games. A year ago, the Broncos might have blitzed him. Blitzing was their persona in 2005, and it took them to the AFC title game.
But on Sunday, Shanahan and defensive coordinator Larry Coyer had the Broncos hanging back in two-, three- and four-man zones. Manning simply picked them apart, engineering seven scoring drives in eight possessions. He worked like a surgeon as he carved the heart out of the Broncos' defense. Yet, to some degree, the Broncos allowed it to happen. They stayed so much in their base defense that Manning was able to gain momentum as the game progressed.
"The Broncos make you execute," Manning said. "If you have a first-and-10 and you miss a blitz, it's second-and-14. If you miss a guy on third-and-6, you have to kick."
Here's how the Broncos tried to match up against the Colts: Cornerback Champ Bailey played on the left side of the field against Marvin Harrison. In many of the Cover 2 situations, Bailey played Harrison man-to-man and ran with him, limiting Harrison to five catches for 38 yards. Advantage, Broncos.
The Colts countered by putting tight end Dallas Clark in the slot, usually to the right side. This exposed a crack in the Broncos' defense in that the safeties, particularly John Lynch, played back and deep. Clark worked underneath the deep zone coverages and caught six passes for 68 yards. Lynch played so far behind the line of scrimmage, he wasn't a factor, recording three tackles and three assists but no big plays. Advantage, Colts.
The clincher is what the Broncos' safe defensive strategy opened up for Reggie Wayne, who was covered by Darrent Williams. Wayne had the entire left side of the field to work over Williams and caught 10 passes for 138 yards, three touchdowns and a two-point conversion. Game, set and match, Colts.
"We worked on what they were going to do all week, so I brought out my hard hat today and worked," Wayne said. "I was open because I worked. Our offense came to work together. We've been doing this for years. This is my seventh year. This isn't new to us. It's the same every year with Peyton. He's a worker, too."
Manning completed 32 of 39 passes for 345 yards and three touchdowns. He was unstoppable, but Denver might have to go back to its blitzing ways against him. The Broncos may have had better players who could stop him, but Manning simply beat them.
"That's why you work in April, May and June," Manning said. "You pretend you are going against Champ Bailey. You have to make the perfect throw and run the perfect route. That's why we work out."
Colts minicamps and training camps sometimes don't look like football camps. They look more like baseball spring training. Manning plays pitch and catch with his receivers until it seems redundant. Games like the one on Sunday show why they do that: because those perfect throws and perfect routes have allowed the Colts to get off to consecutive 7-0 starts in each of the past two seasons.
"You can't overemphasize how good the quarterback is," Colts coach Tony Dungy said. "People try to do different things against him, and he just follows his reads. We've been running the same plays for the last seven years and Peyton just knows where the ball is going."
Still, the game went back and forth for the full 60 minutes. Despite starting slow, Jake Plummer played an excellent game. In the first half, he used his feet on option runs and in moving pockets. He scored on a 1-yard touchdown and took the Broncos into halftime with a 14-6 lead after connecting with Javon Walker on a 14-yard touchdown strike with 22 seconds left in the first half.
But that final 22 seconds proved to be valuable for the Colts as Manning used the time to work on the second-half game plan.
"I had a chance to get the core group of the offense together on the field and had a pep talk," Manning said. "I told them, 'Let's come out in the second half and finish our drives and take them one play at a time.'"
In some ways the Colts have a better offense than they did the previous two seasons. Joseph Addai can make runs that Edgerrin James couldn't. Adam Vinatieri makes the clutch field goals that Mike Vanderjagt missed. But Manning is Manning. He's been through so many close ones and appears totally calm in high-scoring affairs and last-second thrillers.
In the first half, the Broncos' red zone defense got the better of Manning, limiting the Colts to two field goals. In the second half, Manning destroyed it. On the opening drive, Manning called the perfect skinny post to Wayne that was designed to beat the Broncos' Cover 3 defense. Wayne's 12-yard touchdown brought the Colts to within one, 14-13. Plummer fumbled on the next possession, and Manning caught the Broncos in a rare blitz.
Two defenders followed Clark, and Bailey had Harrison in man coverage, leaving Wayne wide open for a 5-yard touchdown. The Colts led 20-14.
Credit Shanahan with making the right offensive adjustments. The Colts' defense held up well against the run in the first half, limiting the Broncos, who tried to run more to the outside, to 47 yards on 15 carries. In the second half, Shanahan used more power runs to the inside with undrafted rookie Mike Bell, and Denver gained 180 rushing yards, including 136 by Bell.
"It was a track meet out there," Broncos wide receiver Rod Smith said.
And Manning was the anchor of the winning relay team. After the Broncos went ahead 28-23 with 6:54 left, Manning worked an 80-yard drive, finishing with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Wayne. Then, Wayne caught the two-point conversion to make it a three-point lead.
Bell broke a 48-yard run to set up the tying field goal, but the drive, which concluded with 1:49 left, didn't eat up enough clock. Manning and the Colts have been through this drill too many times. He had plenty of time to get the team within field-goal range.
"Coach Dungy is so great in these situations," Manning said. "He reminds you of the little things. He said, 'Hey, you got 1:50 left and you have three timeouts. You've got plenty of time. And you don't have to go very far for Vinatieri.'"
Manning was calm, as usual. He threw a check-down pass to Addai for 9 yards. That ate up eight seconds. Then, he handed off to Addai for a 5-yard gain and a first down. The next two passes came against blitzes and Manning found Clark for 11 yards and Addai for 5 before calling his first timeout.
The Colts were at midfield. They had 52 seconds left. They needed only a couple of completions to set up a field goal. Manning fired two more completions to Wayne -- who was still matched up against Williams -- for 22 yards and then let Addai gain 10 more.
Vinatieri did the rest with his 37-yard field goal with two seconds to go.
"Darrent Williams will bounce back," Wayne said. "I have seen him on film and he makes plays all the time. I am not going to apologize to him. I am going to work just like he is going to work. When I am out there, I just refuse to lose no matter who is on the other side of me. Like I said, my number was called today and he was on me."
Next time, Shanahan and Coyer may have to work in more blitzes. Being patient and safe didn't win. It just gave Manning time to beat Denver.
"When you make a mistake, Peyton will expose it," Lynch said.
John Clayton is a senior writer at ESPN.com.