Peyton’s pickoffs bury Broncos

ATLANTA - Matt Ryan made sure he threw the ball to his teammates. That was more than Peyton Manning could say.

During a stunning first quarter, Manning was intercepted once, then twice, then a third time.

Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons seized on all the mistakes, building a big lead before halftime and holding off the Denver Broncos for a 27-21 victory Monday night.

"(Ryan) is an excellent player. He played well," Manning said. "I think he's going to have a great season and a long and great career."

Manning has already had a great career. But this was one game he'd prefer to forget.

"Each turnover has its own story that no one really wants to hear," he said. "I've just got to take care of the ball better."

Ryan threw the 100th touchdown pass of his career, Roddy White had 102 yards receiving, and the Falcons (2-0) made a 20-0 lead stand up, if just barely.

Willis McGahee scored on two 2-yard runs in the fourth quarter to give the Broncos (1-1) hope. But on third down, Ryan connected with Julio Jones for 6 yards to give Atlanta a crucial first down with less than two minutes to go. They managed to run out the clock from there.

"It's the way you want to close out the game," Ryan said. "We had some more opportunities to do it. But fortunately, we got it done when we needed to."

He didn't even realize he had reached 100 touchdowns until told by a member of the media relations staff.

"I guess I'm getting old," the 27-year-old Ryan quipped. "It's special to throw many touchdown passes. It's pretty cool."

For Manning and the Broncos, it's back to the drawing board.

Even though his velocity is supposed to be nearly the same as it was before he had four neck surgeries and missed his entire final season in Indianapolis, Manning threw a number of wobbly passes that seemed to hang in the air long enough for the Falcons to step in front of them. Other times, it looked as though Manning had to put everything he had on the ball to get it where he wanted, even if it wasn't necessarily a deep route.

He finished 24 of 37 for 241 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas just before halftime.

The only other time Manning was picked off three times in the first quarter was with the Colts in a 2007 game at San Diego.

Ryan was much more efficient than the four-time Most Valuable Player, completing 24 of 36 for 219 yards. He hooked up with Tony Gonzalez for a 1-yard touchdown in the second quarter, then went to White on a 4-yard score in the third.

Michael Turner scored Atlanta's first TD on a 1-yard run, the play set up by the first of Manning's picks. Matt Bryant kicked two field goals for the Falcons.

McGahee finished with 113 yards on 22 carries.

The Falcons appeared to be solidly in control heading to the fourth quarter, up 27-7 after Ryan hooked up with White on consecutive passes of 21 and 20 yards, then went to him again for the touchdown.

The Broncos at least made a game of it. Manning completed 7 of 11 for 89 yards in the final period, but two sacks helped stifle the comeback.

"I thought we could find a little momentum there, find some rhythm, which we did," he said. "We had a chance to win that game. I think we will learn from it and we'll be better for it."

A week after Manning won his Denver debut with a home victory over Pittsburgh, the Broncos had turnovers on four of their first five possessions. It was an uncharacteristic prime-time start for Manning, who began the night with an 11-3 career record on Mondays.