ARLINGTON, Texas — Hey, Dallas. Hate to break this to you. But the Broncos don’t need a star on their helmet to know they’re the real America’s Team.
There’s a new sheriff in town. And no matter what city he visits, Peyton Manning is the law, the truth and the marquee attraction.
“It’s a good thing we have the Terminator at quarterback,” Denver nose tackle Terrance Knighton said Sunday after Manning and his back-up band squeaked out a 51-48 victory against Dallas to remain undefeated.
“America’s Team? That might be switching over. Wherever we go, it’s going to be sold out. Everybody wants to see us. It’s like LeBron James and the Miami Heat. Everybody wants to see it in person.”
This is the hottest traveling show in the United States. Yep, bigger, more made-you-look outrageous than the “The Book of Mormon” and Miley Cyrus. Combined.
Back in the day, Elvis Presley had the Jordanaires.
Manning has the Little Orange Ponies.
Meaning no disrespect to men who work hard for a living in Denver uniforms, but Manning is putting on a show that is beyond anything HD or 3D can capture. Dallas was awash in orange-clad fans.
“On the sideline, if you were sitting on the bench and couldn’t see the play, it was hard to tell if Dallas was making the play or we were making the play, from the noise in the crowd,” Knighton said.
Denver 51, Dallas 48.
Let that score sink in for a second. This was a game that will change how we keep score in the NFL. All the rules of pro football are broken. Manning has put them in the shredder and is re-writing them.
Here is all you need to know about how crazy stupid the NFL has become in 2013: On a sunny October afternoon ablaze with a dozen touchdowns and 1,039 yards of total offense, the game came down to an argument in the backfield between Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and an incredulous Knowshon Moreno as 92,758 spectators screamed.
Get this: Manning and Knowshon
were arguing about 36 inches of artificial turf.
The scene: With the score tied at 48, Dallas quarterback Tony Romo did what Romo does best. He took a jaw-dropping performance and turned it into a head-scratching moment of infinite recklessness, throwing an interception grabbed by Broncos linebacker Danny Trevathan at the Dallas 24-yard line.
The Broncos lone concern at that point was: Don’t score too quickly and give the ball back to Dallas. “It was heavy on our minds … We communicated that we did not want to score with time remaining,” Broncos coach John Fox said.
Welcome to the NFL’s brave new world of clockwork orange management.
After advancing to within 2 yards of the end zone with 1:40 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Broncos needed 1 yard to get a first down. But they didn’t want to gain 2 yards to score a touchdown.
So, before the snap, Manning turned to Moreno in the backfield and, swear to goodness, I could not make up what the Denver quarterback said to his running back.
“Go down. Don’t score. Go down at the 1-yard line,” Moreno told me in the Broncos locker room.
Say what? Gain 36 inches for first down, but not 72 inches for a touchdown? That went against every running back’s instinct to fight for the touchdown.
“I was like: ‘How?’ ” said Moreno, who waved his hands in frustration at his quarterback. “I was confused how to do it.”
Manning barked back: “Just do it!”
When Manning speaks, the Broncos ask questions later.
Following orders to perfection, Moreno gained 1 yard, but fell short of the goal line.
The deed was done. Manning stumbled out the clock, setting up an easy 28-yard field goal by Matt Prater for the victory as the scoreboard clock ticked down to all zeroes
At age 37, Manning saw something new: “I’ve never been in a situation quite like that at the end,” Manning confirmed.
In the house that Jerry Jones built, an over-the-top, $1.3 billion-dollar monument to wretched excess, Manning and Cowboys quarterback Romo went out and played a game that belonged in your backyard. One, Mississippi … And nobody stops scoring until Mom calls everybody home for dinner.
Romo passed for 506 yards. Manning threw for 414 yards. Video-game football? That’s an understatement, kind of like suggesting “Grand Theft Auto” contains gratuitous violence.
But, at the end of the day, a shootout was won by Manning kneeling down three times to set up the winning field goal.
The real significance of this victory?
It is finally possible to say “Take a knee” in Colorado without causing grown men to chew furniture and weep with regret.
New rules: America’s Team wears a horse on its helmet.
Does anybody in the NFL have the horses to keep up?
Mark Kiszla: mkiszla@denverpost.com or twitter.com/markkiszla
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