NFL: FINAL STRETCH, ANALYSIS; BRONCOS QB PEYTON MANNING, BRONCOS OVER TEXANS, 37-13

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team---milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed., Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . // . . . NFL: FINAL STRETCH, ANALYSIS; BRONCOS QB PEYTON MANNING, BRONCOS OVER TEXANS, 37-13 //(Note to all of our readers: Best wishes for a happy holiday period and a great 2014. Our next posting, January 3, 2014)--- //. . . NFL---Well, it’s here, dispirited moments for 11 of the 32 NFL franchises that won’t be finishing NFL-2013 as winners, that is, not being above .500, not even at the margin of eight wins and eight losses. To date, only one of these teams has accrued more than four wins, the American Conference East’s 6-9 Buffalo Bills. At the very bottom of the 11 are the 2-13 Houston Texans. . . Top of NFL-entire, that’s the National Conference West’s 12-3 Seattle Seahawks and the AC West’s 12-3 Denver Broncos, both post-season billeted even if the Seahawks lose on Sunday to the 7-8 St. Louis Rams, which is unlikely, and the Broncos fall to the 4-11 Oakland Raiders, just as unlikely. Also playoff-headed are the AC West’s 11-4 Kansas City Chiefs (probable Wild Card) and the AC East’s leading team, the 11-4 New England Patriots, plus the AC North’s 10-5 Cincinnati Bengals and the AC South’s 10-5 Indianapolis Colts, each capable of ending NFL-2013 as division leaders. Last’s year’s Super Bowl winner, the now 8-7 Baltimore Ravens, they could finish second to the Bengals if they defeat the latter on Sunday. . . IT’s inside the NC where much more is undecided. Yes, the Seahawks now own a post-season doorway and are likely to turn the key further by pulverizing the NC West’s last place 7-8 St. Louis Rams on Sunday, yet should the Seahawks lose and the now NC West second place team, the 10-4 San Francisco 49ers, win the two games that they have left to play, the Seahawks and the 49ers will then be tied at the NC West’s first position and will be leading the NC. This won’t be easy for the 49ers, in that of the two challenges that they have left, one is against the NC East’s now third place franchise, the 10-5 Arizona Cardinals, which isn't a marshmallow crew. Too, the NC South’s numero uno, the 11-4 Carolina Panthers, they are as close as any team could get to a playoff spot, set to face and probably defeat the NC South’s third position team during Week 16, the 4-10 Atlanta Falcons. That said, the NC South’s 10-5 New Orleans Saints are directly behind the 11-4 Panthers and could land at first position by defeating the NC South’s 4-11 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (likely), providing that the Panthers lose on Sunday to the 4-10 Falcons (not likely). Meanwhile, the NC East’s 8-7 Dallas Cowboys could tie at division first place by prevailing against current first position team on Sunday, the 9-6 Philadelphia Eagles, and the NC North’s 7-7 Green Bay Packers could also get to first by kayoing the 8-7 Chicago Bears. But after Monday night, when the 49ers and Falcons will experience the second of back-to-back matches, all will be static until that distillation/elimination road toward February’s Super Bowl XLVIII. . . // BRONCOS---FROM a distance and certainly on TV, he doesn’t look any different than most quarterbacks. It’s that more times than most, Broncos quarterback, Peyton Manning, gets the job done. He spots weaknesses in the opposing defense and exploits them as quickly as gun radar, which seems to speak to his arm as fast as the speed of light. He then delivers a timely and accurate pass to a wide receiver or tight end, who usually makes the catch. Or, Manning hands the football to a running back like Knowshon Moreno or to RB Monte Ball, both rushing for first downs just short of Usain Bolt-speed. When this happens, and it has happened a lot for the Broncos throughout NFL-2013, we are seeing classic football, enactment of Football 101, the very game that we are taught as kids---basic, hardly any frills. And, when Manning has the pass protection that would make a U.S. President’s Secret Service protectors envious, it’s still nearly impossible to tell if he has followed a sequence of steps from flip to the football’s lift-off or transfer, or if Manning has trained himself to make everything happen at once. On Sunday, Manning threw for a 51st season touchdown, an NFL record, one up on New England Patriots QB, Tom Brady, and the offense that Manning led to win versus the Houston Texans, 37-13, it accrued 21 first downs inside 28 minutes of ball possession time, a first down within less than two minutes per, the read: economy of force, making every second count for something. Also, the Broncos attained 510 yards vs. the Texans 240, which included 114 rushing yards vs. the Texans 87. Manning passed for 400 yards, Texans QB Matt Schaub for 176. Okay, when it comes to number of games won, the NFL-2013 Texans have leased the basement, more to do with a weak defense than its offense, which has managed to accrue more than 20 points in seven of its 15 games played, two of those with higher than 30. Only two of the Texans losses have been with fewer than double-digit points. It’s against that still credible Texans offense that the Broncos defense finally managed to allow fewer than the 20+ points that it has given away during 11 of 14 of 15 NFL-2013 games that the Broncos have played, the lowest Broncos defense giveaway of the season---13. Surely a steadily improving Broncos defense is among keys to an easier Broncos ride toward a Super Bowl appearance. . . AGAIN, A VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY PERIOD TO ALL OF OUR READERS. NEXT POSTING AT THIS PAGE WILL BE JANUARY 3, 2014. . . END/ml.