Peyton Manning threw just five incomplete passes in racking up 374 yards and three touchdowns against the Oakland Raiders as the Denver Broncos cruised to a 37-21 victory on Monday night.
Manning set an NFL record for touchdown passes in the first three games of a season. Manning threw touchdown passes to Eric Decker, Wes Welker and Julius Thomas in the first half to give him 12 touchdown passes already this season.
The Broncos posted 534 yards of total offense on the night as the Raiders just couldn’t slow down Denver’s offense. Denver punted just once all night. The Broncos scored points on seven of their first 10 drives of the game with two lost fumbles and a lone punt being the only non-scoring possessions.
Matt Prater kicked three field goals and Ronnie Hillman added a 1-yard touchdown run for the Broncos.
Terrelle Pryor played well for the Raiders but Oakland couldn’t get any running game going to support him. Pryor finished as the team’s leading rusher with 36 yards on four carries. Darren McFadden carried 12 times for nine yards and Jacoby Ford had one carry for four yards.
That put the game on Pryor to move the Oakland offense through the air and he was fairly successful in the process. Pryor finished with 281 yards and a touchdown on 19 of 28 attempts. A 73-yard touchdown pass from Pryor to Denarius Moore was the only points of the first half. McFadden also tossed a 16-yard touchdown on a halfback pass in the fourth quarter and scored on a 1-yard touchdown run late.
Pryor left for the locker room with four minutes left to play and was replaced by Matt Flynn.
The Broncos join the Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks as the only teams to start the season 3-0. They will host the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. The Raiders will see Robert Griffin III and the 0-3 Washington Redskins next week.