Peyton saved by Broncos’ defense

DENVER — Peyton Manning is still searching for answers and the end zone.

Counting the preseason, the NFL’s career touchdown champion has yet to find the goal line in 21 drives.

Thanks to Denver’s dazzling defense, he’s also celebrating a record 13th seasonopening win, 1913 over the Ravens on Sunday, a slugfest Gary Kubiak said “might be the greatest defensive football game I’ve ever been a part of as a coach.”

Manning was 24 of 40 for 175 yards and his four sacks were his most since his emotional homecoming at Indy in 2013. Asked to grade his performance, he said, “I’m going with fair,” an assessment that the fans at Sports Authority Field might consider generous judging by their own harsh reactions.

Offenses, though, don’t always have to do the heavy lifting, said Broncos safety Aqib Talib, who scored Denver’s only touchdown.

“I think John Elway had like 115 yards and won the Super Bowl one time, so it’s definitely possible,” Talib said.

Manning managed just 150 net yards, but that was 50 more than Joe Flacco in a game in which neither team ran a play inside their opponents’ 20 until 3:50 remained.

Ravens’ Suggs tears Achilles

Baltimore’s sixtime Pro Bowl selection tore his left Achilles in the fourth quarter and will miss the rest of the season, coach John Harbaugh announced.

“I don’t even know what happened out there,” Harbaugh said. “All of a sudden, I look back and he was on the ground. But these are the things in life that happen.”

The 32yearold Suggs missed the first six weeks of the 2012 season after tearing his right Achilles.