second down and ten. out of a screen. bailey playing press coverage on wallace. not letting him get the release after ben looks that way. comes back, it's intercepted! picked off and running into the end zone for a touchdown! tracy porter. >> cris: where have we seen that before? >> al: tracy porter who locked up the super bowl for new orleans with a pick of manning. they have locked this one up with a pick of roethlisberger. >> cris: what a game for tracy porter tonight. a little inside release, didn't like it, arrows back outside. you can see porter looking back at roethlisberger. and there he goes. and somewhere peyton manning is saying, see, ben?

got me, too. you want to go for two here, right? >> al: you do. you want to make it 14. it's 12 right now. manning saying put the ball down. we're going to go for two. after a 43-yard return. >> cris: and boy, let the expectations go up in denver. they were sky high anyway. but after beating the pittsburgh steelers, there's going to be a lot of super bowl talk around here. >> al: the two-minute warning with 1:58 left on opening night in denver. 31-19. 4g lte has the fastest speeds. so let's talk about coverage. based on this chart, who would you choose ? wow. you guys take a minute. verizon, hands down. i'm going to show you guys another chart. pretty obvious. i don't think color matters. pretty obvious. what's pretty obvious about it ? that verizon has the coverage. verizon. verizon. we're going to go to another chart. it doesn't really matter how you present it. it doesn't matter how you present it.

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conversion here. the officials mistakenly called but you have to do the conversion before the two-minute warning. even at 1:58. so a blown call. what else is there? so here's your two-point conversion.

with mcgahee in the backfield. manning sending his three studs out wide to the left. polamalu is going to come in and get blocked, but they keep it on the ground, and they keep mcgahee out of the end zone. that's larry foote. so they've already taken the two-minute warning. and we have 1:58 to play. coming up after the game, it's "the wendy's post-game report." michele will interview the stars of the game. and then bob, tony and mike will break it all down. and cris and i will take a look ahead to a very intriguing matchup at candlestick next week with detroit going to san francisco. >> cris: ben roethlisberger, you're going to be able to see, he's going to look to his left and get a good view. there was no doubt in his mind

what was going on. he saw tracy porter there and just tried to squeeze one in that he really didn't have to do. you can't say he was throwing blindly. he was staring at it the whole time. just thought he could thread it in there. obviously, a big mistake. >> al: so pittsburgh needing two touchdowns, down by 12. >> cris: boy, what a difference tracy porter makes. you have champ bailey on your team, so the other guy is going to get a lot of throws over that way. and tracy porter tonight making him think maybe you ought to throw back over to champ bailey's side. >> al: bailey telling us the other day, look, you guys stop the run, we will take care of the pass, trust me. >> cris: they did. a pretty good job. not complete stoppage of the run, but a much better job by the broncos' defensive front seven than what we saw a season ago. >> al: the steelers are averaging less than three yards per rush tonight. and that will win you a lot of

ball games if you're the defense. >> cris: i'll tell you, though, you've got to give some credit to the offensive line of the pittsburgh steelers. the pressure really has not been a major factor. elvis dumervil, von miller, they have not gotten there. and this is a banged-up line that played with their final five guys available for much of the game. >> al: only two linemen with their hands on the ground. they're going to rush five and they're going to get to him and spin him down! speaking of von miller, there he is. >> cris: well, they put the tight end that way. but mike adams underestimating the quickness of von miller off the edge and just couldn't get there. miller ducks underneath and finally gets to ben roethlisberger. >> al: so second down and 15 from the 15 yard line.

and only three this time. sanders makes the catch. it will be third down at about five from the 25 yard line. 1:15 left in reg. denver going to atlanta for their game next monday. jets go into pittsburgh. under a minute now. and ben's going to go down at the 15 yard line with miller there again. miller just did a tebow. >> cris: bringing everybody off the edge. these going to go back inside and get the sack. doug legursky kind of got lost on that one. do we get a tebow out of this one? >> al: we do. of course we do. >> cris: a little. a little tribute to the guy, the wonderful playoff game against pittsburgh last year. >> al: we've had a mile-high

salute and a tebow don't. >> cris: what was the stat, tebow was the first quarterback to win a playoff game in his first or second year and then move to another team. >> al: right. he completed only ten passes in that game for over 300 yards. here are the numbers tonight. each guy throwing two touchdowns, but roethlisberger throwing that huge interception. >> cris: how about peyton manning coming back after almost two years away against the number one ranked defense and putting up a 129 quarterback rating. come on. you can't do that. >> al: been looking for all the world like peyton manning. on every level. they're going to wrap him up with another sack. this is woodyard. so three sacks to end pittsburgh's night. and now a kneel-down for denver will do it.

and john fox will have a big opening-night win. >> cris: woodyard was just sort of spying ben roethlisberger here. really was just waved and then all of a sudden he came out and started to run. woodyard ends up with the sack. well, it's just hard to put into words what peyton manning must be feeling after all the rehab, after four procedures on his neck, after a lot of people wondering whether or not he should retire. what else did he have? he had the super bowl ring. he had the four mvps, but it wasn't enough. john elway telling me that when peyton manning first got here, he was two days after getting released by the indianapolis colts. and he was so stunned that he couldn't even talk to him yet about coming to the broncos, that he just emotionally wasn't at that point. but boy, what a job elway did to sell him.

>> al: they have to run one more snap. it's like going to a new school. hey, mom, hey, dad. i've got all these new friends. i'm a little nervous. he's the most popular kid in class right now. >> cris: unbelievable. what a performance. >> al: he anlsed a lot of questions tonight. i don't know what the rest of the year will bring. who knows? people wondered was he healthy? could he do? will he look the same? what's going on? what if he takes a hit? all that stuff. well, for one night, anyway, all "a's" in his new environment. michele is going to talk to him on our post-game show. he's congratulated by htodd haley. what a night. "wendy's post-game report" coming up next as denver wins it over pittsburgh. back after these messages. anncr: this casino's in west virginia.

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>> announcer: welcome to "the wendy's post-game report." here now, bob costas. >> well, there you see the final. the story was peyton manning coming in. the story is peyton manning as we go out. he was 19 of 26 for 253 and a pair of touchdowns, departmeid throw an interception. he is our player of the game, and he is down on the field with michele tafoya. michele? >> peyton, leading up to this game, you said so many people asked you, are you ready? are you settled? and you told them, i don't know. how does the answer to that question change now? >> well, there's always a lot of unknown going into the first week, michele. it was a very interesting game.

i think four possessions going into the fourth quarter. our offense did a good job staying patient. i think we're still trying to form our identity. i think that will happen throughout the season. certainly nice to get a great win against a great pittsburgh team. roethlisberger was awesome on third down. wasn't much fun sitting on the bench there all night. great job on our defense in the end getting that turnover and offense came up big when we had to. >> michele: peyton, you've been out of this for a year. what does this feel like right now? what's going on in your mind? >> obviously, it feels good, michele. like i said, it's just one game, and try to keep it in perspective. i know how hard i've worked to get to this point. i know how much help i've gotten along the way from a lot of people, how much support. so i'm very grateful for that. it definitely feels good. it's special. i definitely will say it's special. >> michele: the game changed when you guys went no huddle. you seemed to fall into that familiar rhythm. how much did that help you? >> it helped a lot. i know we talked with cris and al up there about we're going to use the no huddle as a change-up.

once we did it, it went so well, the coaches said stay with it. i was kind of afraid that might happen. so, you know, i think it's important we continue to grow, we continue to learn, get better, learn a lot from this game. we've got a tough schedule. atlanta looked awesome today. so we've got our hands full next week. >> michele: and the steelers still had a chance to win with ben with the ball with three minutes to go. when porter picked it off, what went through your mind? >> that was a great feeling. i hated having to settle for a field goal at the end. we had a couple shots to decker and just came up a little short. i wanted to get a touchdown, make it a two-score game. you don't like giving the ball to ben on a two-minute drive. our defense had been bending all game and never quite breaking. that was a huge play by porter. and bringing the pass rush there at the end was fun to see. >> michele: you join dan marino and brett favre in the 400-touchdown category, touchdown passes. after all you've been through, what does that mean to you personally? >> well, it's a tremendous honor. i love those guys.

brett and dan are two of my favorite quarterbacks of all time. and i don't feel like i belong in their category, but to be mentioned amongst them, it's a true honor. and it's one i don't take for granted. obviously, a lot of players have caught those touchdowns on different teams through the years. and i appreciate all of them. so a big thanks to all those guys that have caught those touchdowns. >> michele: congratulations. thanks, peyton. >> thank you, michele. >> bob: our thanks to peyton manning and to michele tafoya. and we might as well stay on topic as we bring in tony dungy from new york. you've seen peyton manning play as much as anyone through the years. your impressions of your performance tonight? >> tony: i thought he was fantastic, bob, especially when they went to the no huddle. i really have to say, i'm so happy for him. he talked about hard work. most people will never know how hard he worked, how much he threw, how much he really tried to rehab. when he wasn't sure if he would get back. so to come here tonight and get

to that point and really play this way -- and this is the peyton manning that i've been used to seeing. they caught him in a blitz earlier. they come back with the same blitz. he goes to demaryius thomas on the quick pass. he read one on one and threw it out to jacob tamme. these are the things he brings to the table, the competitiveness, the smarts, the ability to make everybody else better. and i think what you're going to see is john fox realizing, this is what i've got in peyton manning. i've got to get to this no huddle, let him be peyton. and they're going to be a dangerous team down the road, bob. >> bob: tony, peyton himself cautioned when he talked to michele after the game that it's just one game. so we stipulate this as we ask the question, how far can he take this team? >> tony: you know, he has a great capacity to make his teammates better. i think they always knew what he could do. and they saw it in practice. i was there monday and watched them practice. and you could see the energy. but to see it actually take place in the game and score on

four consecutive drives, i think the offense knows what they're capable of. and more than that, he knows now that he's back and he can throw the football in a game situation as well as he ever has. so this is not a team that anybody's going to want to play, i don't think. >> bob: and obviously, they're in a division that's very winnable. thanks, coach. we'll talk to you next week. turning now to mike florio, "pro football talk." mike, take us through some of the day's most important injuries, please. >> mike: bob, new starting quarterback john skelton in arizona may not be the starting quarterback next week or beyond. he suffered a high right ankle sprain, mri coming on monday. in tennessee, new starting quarterback jake locker has a separated left shoulder. he says he will play week two against san diego. the news not as good for bills' running back fred jackson. he has a sprained right lcl. he will have an mri on monday. saffold, rams' left tackle, scariness dent in detroit, he banged his head into a teammate,

suffered a neck injury, carted off. x-rays negative. he has feeling in his extremities, will spend the night in a hospital. >> bob: thank you. get the latest news and information from mike florio all week long by tuning into the all new "pro football talk" which airs tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. and every weekday on the nbc sports network presented by chevrolet. al and cris back to wrap it up after this. s one! they get married at the end. turns out he's an alien. the whole thing's one big dream. how about the one where a group of friends encounter something totally unexpected? very spicy... how's it end? with you driving us to wendy's. wendy's asiago ranch chicken club is totally unexpected. our boldly spicy whole filet... applewood smoked bacon... and natural asiago cheese. way past ordinary... that's wendy's way. now that's better. and now get a frosty for just 99 cents. silverado! the most dependable, longest lasting, full-size pickups on the road. so, what do you think? [ engine revs ]

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welcome back to the "wendy's post-game report." here now, al michaels. >> al: and with cris collinsworth, a vintage performance by manning. and we get to see one of the new young studs in matthew stafford. they had their hands full, the lions did today, with st. louis. he led them on a couple drives including an 80-yarder down the stretch with a few seconds remaining for detroit to win the game. >> cris: which is what they did all year last year. calvin johnson made a bunch of those plays. this one probably will be a little more heated this time around, you know? jim harbaugh and jim schwartz, those guys, they kind of get after it a little bit. it's just their personality, you know? it didn't surprise me at all because i know how explosive those two guys are. but to see what the 49ers did today in green bay, randy moss scoring a touchdown. this is a pretty good-looking team. >> al: alex smith, 211, 2 touchdowns, frank gore, over 111

on the ground. crabtree back, vernon davis, a team to be reckoned with. >> cris: no doubt about it. san francisco looked as close to sort of a baltimore ravens defense as any i've seen. >> al: that's next week from candlestick park in san francisco. final score here in denver wins it. coming up next, your local news followed by "dateline." for al michaels, cris collinsworth, michele tafoya and our entire nbc sports crew saying good night from denver. [ romney ] this president can ask us to be patient.

this president can tell us it was someone else's fault. but this president cannot tell us that you're better off today than when he took office. [ female announcer ] here in virginia, we're not better off under president obama. his defense cuts threaten over one hundred thirty thousand jobs, lowering home values, putting families at risk. the romney plan? tax cuts for middle class families. north american energy independence. create over three hundred forty thousand new jobs for virginia. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approved this message.