Even on a day when he had two consecutive passes intercepted, Peyton Manning simply was too good to be denied. Having Von Miller on his side doesn't hurt.
The Denver Broncos won 31-23 in Cincinnati after Manning led back-to-back touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. He threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, with his best work happening after Bengals cornerback Terence Newman picked him off twice in quick succession.
"My dad (Archie) always talked about, 'You got to get back to zero. Get back to level zero,' " Manning said. "You got to erase the play from your mind, a good play or a bad play, and move on to the next one."
The interceptions partly were a sign of an increasingly aggressive Broncos offense, and Manning did put those miscues out of his mind. He threw a laser up the sideline for a 45-yard vertical pass to Demaryius Thomas. Even on third-and-long, Denver is staying very aggressive.
The Bengals did a laudable job coming back from a 17-3 deficit to briefly take the lead, but their offense simply isn't explosive enough. Andy Dalton doesn't see much separation from his receivers other than A.J. Green, and on Sunday, he too often was indecisive and took sacks. The Bengals are 3-5 and looking increasingly irrelevant in the AFC playoff picture.
Von Miller was the MVP of this game with three sacks and four quarterback hits. The Bengals had no answer for him. Trindon Holliday returned a kickoff 105 yards for a Broncos touchdown to open the second half.
This is an increasingly well-rounded Denver team. With a forgiving schedule the rest of the way, Manning should grow accustomed to playing with the lead.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
