Manning’s four picks means Patriots, not Broncos, earn top seed

A trip to the Super Bowl goes through Foxborough on the AFC side.

The New England Patriots earned the top seed in the AFC playoffs and home-field advantage throughout by virtue of the Denver Broncos losing to the Cincinnati Bengals, 37-28.

The Bengals clinched a playoff spot with the win. A win over the Pittsburgh Steelers would earn the Bengals the AFC North crown, and they could rise as high as the No. 2 seed. The Broncos can earn a first-round bye with a Week 17 win over the occasionally competent Oakland Raiders.

But is Peyton Manning … right? He sure didn’t look it for much of Monday night.

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Other than a hot spell to start the third quarter in which he led three straight touchdown drives, Manning struggled for much of the game. Even before the rain started pouring down at Paul Brown Stadium, Manning was having trouble driving the ball downfield and throwing with accuracy. He finished the game 28-of-44 passing for 311 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions — three of them in the fourth country.

Asked if he was hurt after the game, Manning said no.

All of Manning’s interceptions proved costly on Monday night:

Bengals safety Reggie Nelson stepped in front of Manning’s softly thrown first pick early in the second quarter in his own zone. Four plays later, the Bengals scored and took a 17-7 lead.

Manning’s second interception, at the start of the fourth quarter, could have been devastating. It came on a pass where there was no chance of Demaryius Thomas catching the ball bracketed by two defenders. Adam Jones ran the interception back to the Denver 23, and the Bengals might have scored had Nelson not taken a silly taunting penalty.

Down 30-28, Manning threw off balance to Thomas — it might have been both a bad route and a bad throw — and Bengals corner Dre Kirkpatrick snagged it and ran it back for the knife-in-the-back pick-six.

On the first play after a timeout with 1:14 left (frankly, John Fox probably should have kicked the field goal there from the Cincinnati 19), Manning misfired to Thomas again and Kirkpatrick once more picked it off to officially end the game.

And that was that. The Bengals scored 37 points in the game despite only three out of their 14 drives going longer than 28 yards.

Manning was a big reason why. That’s 12 interceptions now for Manning in his past eight games, after only three picks in his first seven games. Several of his passes wobbled once again, just as they increasingly have since the Broncos’ season-tilting loss to the St. Louis Rams in Week 11.

Yes, the run game buoyed the Broncos during the four-game win streak that followed. But opponents saw the Rams tape: You pressure Manning, force him to throw wide on third down and read screen all other times.

The Bengals carried out that plan, and now the Broncos must earn their way into a first-round bye — one they need, but if Manning continues to struggle, does it even matter?

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm