Broncos 26 Giants 6
DENVER — Josh McDaniels is an emotional coach who stocked his roster with passionate players.
All of them were on full display on U.S. Thanksgiving night in the Denver Broncos’ R-rated 26-6 victory over the New York Giants.
Brian Dawkins’ inspired play led a Denver defensive revival and the offence did its part by controlling the clock and in a slump-busting win.
The NFL Network joined the fray by accidentally airing a clip of McDaniels cursing at his players after they committed three false starts and dropped a pass in a five-play sequence that really got his blood boiling.
“No — not our coach!” tight end Tony Scheffler retorted in mock surprise.
While the Broncos (7-4) still aren’t effective enough in the red zone and draw too many yellow flags for McDaniels’ taste, their month of misery is over.
Kyle Orton drove them on six scoring drives, Matt Prater kicked four field goals and Dawkins led a ferocious defence 48 hours after calling a players-only meeting that obviously struck a chord.
Elvis Dumervil dumped Eli Manning twice, extending his NFL-leading sack total to 14, and his second one resulted in a fourth-quarter fumble that sealed Denver’s first win since Oct. 19.
Hosting their first Thanksgiving game since 1963 in the AFL, the Broncos returned to the physical style of play that marked their 6-0 start and ditched the sieve that was their defence during their four-game skid.
Behind three takeaways, the Broncos halted their freefall and pulled within a half game of AFC West leader San Diego. New York (6-5), which snapped its four-game losing streak on Sunday, fell two games behind Dallas, which beat Oakland earlier Thursday, in the NFC East.
“We didn’t have any tempo and we didn’t make any plays,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “We keep talking about winning the physical battle and controlling the line of scrimmage. We thought this would be the night and it wasn’t.”
The Giants have lost five of six since their 5-0 start.
“We can deal with being 6-5, but we need to play better football,” said Manning, who was sacked three times and threw an interception while failing to reach the end zone in 11 drives.
“We’re a good football team,” Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora said. “We just played bad today. ... From here on our, every game is a must-win.”
The Broncos outgained the Giants 213-38 in the first half but settled for field goals on three drives, including their first two trips inside the Giants 10-yard line as they continued their monthlong red zone struggles.
That led to the NFL Network’s embarrassing mistake.
After reaching the seven, the Broncos settled for Prater’s 22-yarder and a 3-0 lead.
Their second trip inside the Giants 10-yard line turned into a game of flag football as tight end Daniel Graham, left tackle Ryan Clady and centre Casey Wiegmann all were whistled for false starts, and the Broncos sent out Prater for a 32-yarder that made it 6-0.
Coming out of a commercial break, the NFL Network showed a clip of McDaniels yelling at his players on the sideline saying, “All we’re trying to do is win a (expletive) game!”
The vulgarity was clearly audible to viewers, and announcer Bob Papa immediately apologized on air.
In an interview with The Associated Press and the Denver Post, Eric Weinberger, executive producer of the NFL Network, apologized to viewers and McDaniels for the “terrible mistake.”
“It was on delay. We wish we would have caught it and bleeped it,” Weinberger said.
“We apologize for ever airing anything like that, absolutely, especially on Thanksgiving.”
“It’s the NFL Network,” McDaniels said with a shrug and a smile. “Doesn’t surprise me.”
What was his message, edited for family entertainment?
“We can’t false-start in the red zone,” McDaniels said. “We went over there and tried to have a little bit of an eye-to-eye, that’s what that was.”
McDaniels has shown emotion on the sideline before. He often tells his players and assistants to listen to the message and not the way it’s delivered. He’ll fist-up like Tiger Woods one game and curse to his guys the next.
Weinberger said it’s not up to McDaniels to have to watch what he says, either.
“We’re not in this business to do that,” Weinberger said of the network’s blunder.
“We’re in this business to show sports and to show the most emotion that we can show. And the guy is an incredibly emotional, passionate guy.”
McDaniels doesn’t try to keep his emotions bottled up. Nor does he want his players to, even though they lost their cool in a 32-3 beatdown by the Chargers on Sunday.
“I think when you get it channelled in the right direction it can be a positive,” McDaniels said.
“It sometimes can go in a wrong direction.”
Green Bay 34 Detroit 12
DETROIT — Aaron Rodgers matched a career high with three touchdown passes and Green Bay beat the Detroit Lions 34-12 on Thursday, giving the Packers three straight wins and improving their playoff prospects.
The Lions lost their sixth straight game on Thanksgiving, setting a franchise record, and had an emotional setback after their biggest comeback win since 1957.
Cowboys 24 Raiders 7
At Arlington, Texas, Tony Romo snapped the Dallas Cowboys from their offensive slumber by leading them to a season-high 494 yards, with Miles Austin delivering 145 yards and a touchdown.
By winning for the sixth time in seven games, Dallas (8-3) is guaranteed of going into the final month of the season atop the NFC East.
All of them were on full display on U.S. Thanksgiving night in the Denver Broncos’ R-rated 26-6 victory over the New York Giants.
Brian Dawkins’ inspired play led a Denver defensive revival and the offence did its part by controlling the clock and in a slump-busting win.
The NFL Network joined the fray by accidentally airing a clip of McDaniels cursing at his players after they committed three false starts and dropped a pass in a five-play sequence that really got his blood boiling.
“No — not our coach!” tight end Tony Scheffler retorted in mock surprise.
While the Broncos (7-4) still aren’t effective enough in the red zone and draw too many yellow flags for McDaniels’ taste, their month of misery is over.
Kyle Orton drove them on six scoring drives, Matt Prater kicked four field goals and Dawkins led a ferocious defence 48 hours after calling a players-only meeting that obviously struck a chord.
Elvis Dumervil dumped Eli Manning twice, extending his NFL-leading sack total to 14, and his second one resulted in a fourth-quarter fumble that sealed Denver’s first win since Oct. 19.
Hosting their first Thanksgiving game since 1963 in the AFL, the Broncos returned to the physical style of play that marked their 6-0 start and ditched the sieve that was their defence during their four-game skid.
Behind three takeaways, the Broncos halted their freefall and pulled within a half game of AFC West leader San Diego. New York (6-5), which snapped its four-game losing streak on Sunday, fell two games behind Dallas, which beat Oakland earlier Thursday, in the NFC East.
“We didn’t have any tempo and we didn’t make any plays,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “We keep talking about winning the physical battle and controlling the line of scrimmage. We thought this would be the night and it wasn’t.”
The Giants have lost five of six since their 5-0 start.
“We can deal with being 6-5, but we need to play better football,” said Manning, who was sacked three times and threw an interception while failing to reach the end zone in 11 drives.
“We’re a good football team,” Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora said. “We just played bad today. ... From here on our, every game is a must-win.”
The Broncos outgained the Giants 213-38 in the first half but settled for field goals on three drives, including their first two trips inside the Giants 10-yard line as they continued their monthlong red zone struggles.
That led to the NFL Network’s embarrassing mistake.
After reaching the seven, the Broncos settled for Prater’s 22-yarder and a 3-0 lead.
Their second trip inside the Giants 10-yard line turned into a game of flag football as tight end Daniel Graham, left tackle Ryan Clady and centre Casey Wiegmann all were whistled for false starts, and the Broncos sent out Prater for a 32-yarder that made it 6-0.
Coming out of a commercial break, the NFL Network showed a clip of McDaniels yelling at his players on the sideline saying, “All we’re trying to do is win a (expletive) game!”
The vulgarity was clearly audible to viewers, and announcer Bob Papa immediately apologized on air.
In an interview with The Associated Press and the Denver Post, Eric Weinberger, executive producer of the NFL Network, apologized to viewers and McDaniels for the “terrible mistake.”
“It was on delay. We wish we would have caught it and bleeped it,” Weinberger said.
“We apologize for ever airing anything like that, absolutely, especially on Thanksgiving.”
“It’s the NFL Network,” McDaniels said with a shrug and a smile. “Doesn’t surprise me.”
What was his message, edited for family entertainment?
“We can’t false-start in the red zone,” McDaniels said. “We went over there and tried to have a little bit of an eye-to-eye, that’s what that was.”
McDaniels has shown emotion on the sideline before. He often tells his players and assistants to listen to the message and not the way it’s delivered. He’ll fist-up like Tiger Woods one game and curse to his guys the next.
Weinberger said it’s not up to McDaniels to have to watch what he says, either.
“We’re not in this business to do that,” Weinberger said of the network’s blunder.
“We’re in this business to show sports and to show the most emotion that we can show. And the guy is an incredibly emotional, passionate guy.”
McDaniels doesn’t try to keep his emotions bottled up. Nor does he want his players to, even though they lost their cool in a 32-3 beatdown by the Chargers on Sunday.
“I think when you get it channelled in the right direction it can be a positive,” McDaniels said.
“It sometimes can go in a wrong direction.”
Green Bay 34 Detroit 12
DETROIT — Aaron Rodgers matched a career high with three touchdown passes and Green Bay beat the Detroit Lions 34-12 on Thursday, giving the Packers three straight wins and improving their playoff prospects.
The Lions lost their sixth straight game on Thanksgiving, setting a franchise record, and had an emotional setback after their biggest comeback win since 1957.
Cowboys 24 Raiders 7
At Arlington, Texas, Tony Romo snapped the Dallas Cowboys from their offensive slumber by leading them to a season-high 494 yards, with Miles Austin delivering 145 yards and a touchdown.
By winning for the sixth time in seven games, Dallas (8-3) is guaranteed of going into the final month of the season atop the NFC East.