everybody else was

DENVER - Instead of revving their high-octane offence like they did a year ago, Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos pumped the brakes heading into these playoffs.Theyre no longer the air-it-out team that piled up 606 points last season. Now, theyre built as much on a dominant, star-studded defence and good ground game as they are on Mannings mind and passing prowess.While taking on a new identity, the Broncos still managed to tie for the leagues best record for the third consecutive season under Manning. And their 30.1-point scoring average trailed only Green Bays 30.4.Still, Mannings stretch run — three touchdowns, six interceptions in December — is cause for concern among many an uneasy Broncos fan.C.J. Anderson, the first undrafted running back to score seven touchdowns in a month since Priest Holmes a decade ago, laughs at the notion.He offered this observation as the Broncos (12-4) got some much-needed R&R with a first-round bye:Ill just ask the fans this: Do you want Peyton to throw 70 million touchdowns and break 80 million records or do you all want a parade downtown?Andersons emergence since midseason has given the Broncos the kind of balance they had back in the late 1990s when John Elway had Terrell Davis to take share the load and help hoist two championship trophies.Anderson began the season buried on the depth chart, and only got his chance because of injuries to Montee Ball and Ronnie Hillman. He quickly proved as adept at picking up the blitz as the first down, a prerequisite to joining Manning in the Broncos backfield.He finished with 1,173 yards from scrimmage and 10 TDs despite not starting until Week 11.C.J.s picked up this offence quickly, Manning said. He studied during the time that he wasnt playing, which has paid off for him.And the Broncos.I feel good that our run game has developed, that weve got a couple guys we really trust back there, and the fact that we are a little more balanced, said offensive co-ordinator Adam Gase. To have that effective balance going into (the playoffs) is going to be key for us.Even with the Broncos downshifting their offence, Demaryius Thomas posted a club-record 1,619 yards receiving. He became the seventh wide receiver in NFL history to post 10 100-yard games in a season.Emmanuel Sanders set career highs with 101 catches for 1,404 yards and nine touchdowns after four seasons in Pittsburgh where he never came close to those kinds of numbers.Sanders, who famously called Denver wide receiver heaven when he arrived as part of Elways splashy free agency class last spring, said this was the kind of year he envisioned.I remember last year I was sitting around getting ready to be a free agent, and I said that I feel like me and Antonio Brown have the same type of game. I just need somebody to give me an opportunity, Sanders said. What I meant was the yards hes putting up, the balls that hes catching, I can do those things.A year ago, the Broncos suffered through an injury epidemic. And four players who had to watch the Super Bowl from the sideline have led Denvers defensive resurgence: pass rusher Von Miller (14 sacks), cornerback Chris Harris Jr. (zero touchdowns), safety Rahim Moore and lineman Derek Wolfe.They combined with newcomers T.J. Ward, Aqib Talib and DeMarcus Ware to post the leagues third-rated defence that was second against the run.But the fulcrum of co-ordinator Jack Del Rios unit was a major surprise: linebacker Brandon Marshall, who led the team with 110 tackles despite missing the last two games with a sprained foot.Marshall, cut several times by the Jaguars before ending up as a practice squad player in Denver last year, is both a tale of perseverance and overnight success. He couldnt even carve out a job for himself on one of the worst teams in the NFL and now hes an every-down linebacker and arguably the defensive MVP on one of the leagues best teams.Hes had a Pro Bowl kind of year, Del Rio said.Marshall wasnt among the Broncos league-high nine Pro Bowl selections, however.Another snub was nose tackle Terrance Knighton, who has guaranteed a return trip to the Super Bowl even if that means having to beat the Patriots on the road for the first time since 2006.Teams that win right now and end up winning Super Bowls are teams that can play good defence and have offences that can run the ball, Knighton reasoned. Right now, were fulfilling that blueprint.Given that, youd think Knighton had a little voice telling him last years joyride would end in bitter disappointment, as it did.No, no, because we were on the same high horse that everybody else was on. We didnt feel like our offence could be stopped, Knighton said, and we felt like as a defence we only had to do enough to win.This time theres no riding Supermans cape.No, it didnt work, said Knighton, whos confident the refurbished Broncos can get it done this way.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL Venta De Zapatillas Air Max . He managed to save par, and went on to put together his best opening round of the year. Calcavecchia and Wes Short Jr. Zapatillas Air Max Rebajas .S. routed Sweden 7-0 Sunday to win its fourth straight title and seventh overall under-18 world championship. Olson earned his third shutout of the tournament and the Americans allowed only four goals in six games to set an International Ice Hockey Federation under-18 record. http://www.baratasairmaxoutlet.es/ . Louis and Ryan Kesler have demanded to be traded. Comprar Zapatillas Air Max Baratas . Ilonen birdied five of his closing seven holes in superb scoring conditions to end the day with a two-shot lead on the Fota Island course. Ilonen had just 26 putts on the occasion of his 300th European Tour event. Air Max Baratas Outlet . - After three days of light, make that very light, workouts, Team Irvin and Team Carter are ready for tonights Pro Bowl.ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Chris Kirk was at his best when the wind was at its worst Friday in the McGladrey Classic. Kirk rolled in a 40-foot birdie putt from off the green, chipped in from nearly 60 feet for birdie on another hole and wound up with another 4-under 66 at Sea Island to take a one-shot lead going into the weekend. "Definitely shot my score on that back nine," said Kirk, who started the second round on the back. "I made a pretty easy bogey on No. 10 and it was just kind of like, Yeah, this is going to be a pretty tough day. But I didnt let it bug me." He followed with five birdies to get into the lead, and stayed there with a pair of saves -- one for bogey on No. 4, another from a plugged lie in the bunker on No. 8. Kirk was at 8-under 132, one shot ahead of Kevin Chappell (6 Cool

, Webb Simpson (6 Cool

, John Senden (67) and Briny Baird (70). Eighteen players had to return Saturday morning to finish the round, none closer than three shot of Kirk. Even though he recently moved back to the Atlanta area, Kirk was one of the early PGA Tour pros to settle at Sea Island. This was one time where it paid off. The conditions were cold and blustery, with gusts up to 35 mph, and Kirk was ready for just about anything. "Ive played this course hundreds of times," he said. "Ive seen every wind direction, every wind strength. Ive seen it blow way harder than that before. You still know how well youve got to play to shoot a good score, but at least theres no surprises." He missed his 3-wood ever so slightly into the wind at the start of his round and had to hit hybrid for his second shot. Its normally a 3-wood and a wedge. "I guess that is a little bit of an advantage, just not being shocked by it all," he said. Chappell had a few surprises, good and bad. He reached the par-5 15th hole in two and felt a gust helped blow his eagle putt into the hole. That was good. But on the par-3 third, aiming at a small tent well right of the green to cope with a strong right-to-left wind, he came up so short of the green that his ball disappeared into a hazard that Chappell didnt even know existed. That led to a double bogey. "You hit some not-so-perfect shots and get some bad breaks with the wind gusting and you get exposed really quickly," Chappell said. "I think I was fortunate to come to that realization that theres some luck involved today and that maybe for a period of time I was one of the luckier guys out here. But that tough stretch in the middle of the round I wasnt so lucky, and the law of averages, it averaged out." The law of averages was reflected in thee scoring.dddddddddddd George McNeill finished off the fog-delayed first round Friday morning with an 8-under 62, when the course was soft and benign. It only made sense to Kirk that the lead going into the weekend was 8 under. Simpson, who lost in a playoff at Sea Island in 2011, had a flawless round spoiled with a bogey from the bunker on the 17th hole. Even so, he was poised to go after his second win since this wraparound season began a month ago. Simpson already has won in Las Vegas. The group at 6-under 134 included Jason Kokrak, who had the low score of the second round at 65. That included a birdie on the par-4 fifth hole, which wraps around a marsh. With the wind helping, the big-hitting Kokrak took a short cut toward the green and came up just short, setting up a chip-and-putt for birdie. That was two shots worse than how he played the hole in a pro-am round. With a similar wind, he smashed his driver over the marsh, onto the green and into the hole for an albatross ace. Too bad it was only practice. "I think it will play into my favour to play a little bit windy," Kokrak said. "Maybe not quite as gusty and windy as it is today for the putting aspect, but 15 to 20 mph wind would be fine with me. I think its an easier golf course for me to climb closer to the leaders with a little bit of wind as opposed to shooting 7-, 8-under par like the first round." McNeill struggled in the wind, making five straight bogeys on his way to a 76. He was six shots behind. Kirk moved to Sea Island in 2007, among the early settlers of PGA Tour players, and he still keeps a place here. Its not a big problem being a local and having to deal with ticket requests. "Im probably the seventh- or eighth-best player on the island," he said with a laugh. But he has been the best over two days, thanks to mixture of solid shots and long birdies. Perhaps his best shot of the day came at the par-5 15th, when Kirk had a tree blocking his second shot to the green. He had to play a hook around the green, not easy considering the wind was hard from left-to right. "I had to effectively hit a 30-, 35-yard hook just to get it around the tee and fight the wind," Kirk said. He would have taken the left bunker, but instead hit the shot into about 10 feet and two-putted for birdie. DIVOTS: Tournament host Davis Love III, who shared the 54-hole lead a year ago at Sea Island, went 75-74 and missed the cut. ... Will MacKenzie was 7 under in his first 13 holes and 11 over on his next 13 holes. He went 66-79 to miss the cut. ... Matt Kuchar opened with rounds of 68-68 and was four shots behind. ' ' '