The Broncos might have ended up with more than 350 yards of offense in Sunday’s 28-16 loss, but it’s the handful of yards that they couldn’t come up with that seem to bother the team most.

Yes, the short-yardage nightmare is back.

Much like they did in the first month of the season, the Broncos struggled most in the shortest of down-and-distance situations against Indianapolis, and failed runs and incomplete passes killed several promising drives.

The Broncos converted only 6 of 18 total third downs, and only one when they needed less than three yards for a first down.

During the Denver Broncos-Indianapolis Colts game at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Colts – namely Peyton Manning – went through the proverbial roller coaster of ups and downs as he did well early on, played like his brother Eli a bit later before finishing strong. Manning threw two early touchdowns, would proceed to throw some untimely interceptions, then as his custom, lead the Colts on a drive in the fourth quarter. The end result? I think that if you’ve followed the Colts this season, then you probably know. But for those who casually follow the team, Indianapolis held off Denver 28-16 to gain home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

The Indianapolis Colts remain undefeated and broke the NFL record for consecutive regular season wins in Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos 28-16.

Peyton Manning passed for four touchdowns, three to Dallas Clark, as Indianapolis eclipsed the New England Patriots’ string of 21 victories between 2006 and 2008.

The Colts (13-0) have not lost a regular season game since falling to the Tennessee Titans 31-21 in October 2008.

Indianapolis also wrapped up home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs and became the most successful NFL team in any decade with their 114th victory since 2000. The San Francisco 49ers held the previous record of 113 wins in the 1990s.

The Arizona Cardinals haven’t looked anything like a Superbowl team in the NFL preseason. They entered their final exhibition contest against the Denver Broncos looking for their first win. The Broncos controlled the contest on both sides of the ball en route to a 19-0 shutout victory over the struggling Cards. Denver managed to improve their preseason record to 1-3, while Arizona ended the exhibition campaign winless at 0-4.

Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck and Denver’s Kyle Orton both played fairly well in the first half, but the Seahawks reserves pulled away in the second half. The Seahawks improved to 2-0 on the NFL preseason with a 27-13 win over the Denver Broncos.

Hasselbeck completed 16 passes in 23 attempts including two touchdowns, though he was sacked three times. That was a big concern as he missed considerable time last season due to a back injury, but appeared to suffer no ill effects here:

Kyle Orton’s debut as the Denver Broncos starting QB didn’t go quite as planned. Orton, who was acquired from Chicago in the off-season, threw interceptions on each of his first three offensive series. San Francisco’s offense did just enough to eke out a 17-16 NFL preseason victory before their home fans.

Despite his three interceptions and a solid backup performance by Chris Simms. Broncos coach Josh McDaniels has been steadfast in his support of Orton. Orton appeared thankful of this fact in his postgame comments: