Reaction to the Starters in the First Half

Manning: He looks fine. There have been some rough spots, but there have been some crucial mistakes to end drives. (Two drops and a holding). Did not score on four drives. I am not worried because he still looked poised. CJ had a nice run for 14 yards when the Broncos were deep in their own territory. He finished with 6 carries for 24 yards and had a couple of good runs called back because of penalties. He does not seem to have any lingering effects from his injured ankle. James Casey is unfortunately notable because had a drop late in the first quarter on third and one, which is disappointing because it was is an integral play on this offense for third and one situations. Hopefully that is not a problems that continues into the regular season.

Demaryius had a drop on what would have been a first down on the first drive. Had two nice catches the drive after. He finished with three catches for 24 yards, but it was his first game back and should be much better by the regular season. Virgil Green had a holding penalty with 6:18 in the first when Broncos were on Houston's 40. He only had one catch for 14 yards in the first half, but he said that he wanted to improve from his performance run blocking in Seattle. That penalty does not help, but he blocked better afterwards. Owen Daniels had four catches and Manning made it a point to get him the ball quickly and often.

The starting offensive line played much better than they did against Seattle. However, they have been called for a lot of penalties. The starters stayed in even when Manning, Demaryius and CJ all came out because they need the work still. They protected Brock well on his long TD pass to Caldwell with 7:21 left in the second quarter.

The defensive line played well as a unit as a unit. Good push on a third and one with around 11:14 left on the third. Vance Walker also made some nice plays in the first half. Sylvester Williams had a quick sack on a great spin move for the teams first sack of the game with 17 seconds left in the half.

Brandon Marshall only played the first quarter since it was his first game back. He still finished with three tackles and was very good in pass coverage. He had nice coverage on Blue on third down to force a punt with 9:11 left in the first. Almost had a pick late in the first quarter. He reads the pass well and always seems to be right with his man. Todd Davis played much better than he did against Seattle. He was better in coverage and made some nice tackles in the run game.Von Miller did not have a sack in the game, but he still played well and had a nice tackle at the line of scrimmage. Ware jumped offsides early in the game to make a third and 10 into a third and 5, which hurt, but they still ended up getting the stop.

Harris Aqib and Roby all played very well. Roby has shown good growth and he has been on top of his man for most of the game. The entire secondary played well as they held Houston scoreless in the first half. They did not give up any big plays and came up with stops when needed.