DENVER -- In the end, Demaryius Thomas wasn’t lost, nowhere to be found in the Denver Broncos offense.
It’s just Thomas wasn’t playing the way he thought he should be. So maybe don't call it comeback, but it's certainly spells some trouble for the defenses left on the Broncos' docket.
“I don’t think it’s a slump," Thomas said after the Broncos’ 41-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Sports Authority Field at Mile High. “You have some bad games, you have some good ones. I can say I never had three like my first three, but to come back on a game like this, I think it helped me out and my team."
Thomas finished Sunday’s victory, which pushed the Broncos to 3-1 on the season, with a franchise record 226 yards on his eight receptions and scored two touchdowns.
In fact, Thomas was just one penalty flag away from the sixth 300-yard receiving game in NFL history. A 77-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Peyton Manning to Thomas in the third quarter was wiped out because of offsetting penalties that included a chop-block penalty on Broncos tight end Julius Thomas.
Asked after the game if it had crossed his mind how close he came to a 300-yard game, Demaryius Thomas said: “Yeah, it already had. Only thing that matters to me is getting the win."
In the usual afterglow a three-touchdown win brings, Broncos players said they knew the game would take that form because they knew the Cardinals would choose to crowd the line of scrimmage to stop the Broncos from running the ball, that they would blitz Manning more than most teams and would rely on their cornerbacks to match up on the Broncos receivers.
The Cardinals also chose to match Patrick Peterson -- at least before Peterson left the game with an ankle injury -- on Emmanuel Sanders and put Antonio Cromartie on Thomas. That decision had even Cromartie a little rattled after the game.
“Everything we saw on film, they came out and did," Cromartie said. “… For me, it’s probably by far the worst game of my career. … There were opportunities when I fell. Playing against a receiver like him, you can’t get into situations where you fall. He got the best of me. … When you give up 238 damn yards to any damn receiver, that’s not your best day."
Thomas has been frank in assessing his play in the season’s early going. Because he was playing more in the slot during Wes Welker’s suspension -- which was reduced from four games to two when the NFL and NFL Players Association agreed to a new drug policy -- Thomas said he was thinking too much, letting the dropped passes get to him too often.
Thomas dropped four passes in the Broncos' first three games after dropping five all of last season. The day after the Broncos' loss in Seattle, and just before the team went on its bye week, Thomas went to the Broncos complex before the team’s meetings that day and caught 250 balls.
“I did challenge myself," Thomas said. “Every game I had drops -- and not like I am used to that -- so I came in and caught balls. Throughout the week, once we got back to practice, I tried to do a little more than what I usually do. I did that, and my team is behind me, my coaches are behind me, and they stayed on me."
Manning said he didn't put any extra pressure on Thomas.
“Somebody asked me, ‘Did y’all challenge Demaryius?’ Demaryius challenged himself during the bye week," Manning said. “He knew he wasn’t playing up to his capabilities. He has high goals and high standards, and for whatever reason, I think he’s been thinking a lot."
On Thomas’ 31-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter, he showed the array of skills that make him among the league’s elite at the position. After he caught the pass, he stiff-armed linebacker Larry Foote and ran away from the fleet Cardinals secondary on the way to the end zone.
Sunday’s victory was also a glimpse of what the Broncos offense can be as it moves forward this season. Sanders, who leads the team in catches (32) and receiving yards (435), doesn’t have a touchdown catch yet. Neither does Welker.
“My confidence has never failed," Thomas said. “I know I am able to go out and make big plays and able to have great games. It was just getting back and concentrating and not letting one play bother me."
