Broncos excellent, shaky performance

Football season is back in session, and the hometown heroes, the Denver Broncos are in the spotlight more than ever before. Coming from the shadows of Tim Tebow's miracles, and into the greatness of future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning, means a lot is expected of the Broncos. Anything less than last year would be unacceptable.

With two regular season games now on the record, there are a few things to note as we look ahead into the football season. Opening game against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the entire team addressed the concerns everyone had with the team. Peyton Manning received a quarterback rating of 129.2, no interceptions, and the Broncos won in a very decisive 31-19. Everyone was ecstatic; Superbowl dreams were being re-imagined. Despite Manning's 610 days away from NFL activity, he seemed ready.

However, something sour was amuck once the Broncos set foot inside the Georgia Dome. A full week and a day passed since the Broncos had their first victory of the season, here at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. And right away, everything went wrong.

Manning immediately threw three interceptions, and ended up with a passer rating of 58.5. The Broncos lost 27-21 to the Atlanta Falcons. Despite all the hope and glory Manning is bringing to Denver, he didn't deliver on his second NFL performance of the 2012-2013 season.

While this is early in the season, and preliminary assumptions for Superbowl status teams are way out of the question, it doesn't suffice to say that these are temporary setbacks. With Manning's neck injury, and virtually everything riding on his health, the slightest of set backs could be translated as huge red flags.

Lucky for Denver, the following two games against the Houston Texans, and the Oakland Raiders are here in the Mile High City. Hopefully Manning is able to get his groove back together because Denver is counting on him to deliver, much more than Tebow did.