The hole opened and Mike Anderson shut the case as the Broncos starting running back.

In a game that most closely resembled a regular-season affair for the Broncos, Anderson took his second carry of the game 93 yards for a touchdown, finished the night with 159 yards and likely cemented himself as the No. 1 runner when the Broncos travel to Miami for the Sept. 11 season opener.

"It was real nice to see Mike make a big play like that,'' Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "Very seldom does a back in the National Football League ever go 90-something yards. To see Mike do that was pretty impressive.''

"Mike looked awesome,'' Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer said. "That's a guy who's hungry to get out there and play.''

Anderson has run with the No. 1 offense for all of training camp, but Tatum Bell, and particularly Ron Dayne, had done enough over the last month to at least throw a small question mark into the mix.

And that was the high-water mark as the Broncos defeated the Indianapolis Colts 37-24 at Invesco Field at Mile High to move to 3-0 in dress rehearsals. The game likely finished the preseason for the majority of the Broncos starters, who are not expected to play against the Arizona Cardinals Friday night in Tempe, Ariz.

The Broncos will also trim at least 15 players from the roster by Tuesday as the league's first roster cuts loom. Rosters have to be pared to 65 players by Tuesday, but because of roster exemptions earned for players they sent to NFL Europe this spring, the Broncos only have to get to 72 players.

Rosters will go to 53 players on Sept. 3.

And in his last cameo of the preseason, Anderson certainly made the most of it. He finished the first half with 137 yards rushing on his eight carries, including the 93-yard touchdown run with 11 minutes, 34 seconds remaining in the first quarter that gave the Broncos a 7-0 lead.

Anderson's 159 yards came on just 13 carries — 12.2 yards per carry — to go with two touchdowns.

"It's all about just believing in yourself,'' said Anderson, who spent all of the '04 season on injured reserve with a groin injury.

Still, in a rematch of last year's AFC Wild Card game — a 49-24 Colts win in Indianapolis in January — the Broncos starters on offense were certainly forced to be efficient. The No. 1 offense scored 17 points in the first half despite having the ball for just 9:54 before halftime.

In quarterback Peyton Manning's most extensive action of the preseason — he had thrown just 22 passes in the three preseason games coming in — the Colts held the ball for just over 20 minutes in the opening half.

The Colts ran 43 plays, compared to the Broncos' 20, yet the game was tied 17-17 at halftime, and the Broncos never looked to be losing their grip on things. The first-team offense then added a touchdown and a field goal on its first two possessions of the second half for a 27-17 lead with 6:57 to play in the third quarter.

Plummer likely completed an efficient preseason with 10-of-16 passing for 150 yards and a 40-yard touchdown pass to Ashley Lelie.

For his part, however, Manning also showed why he has been the back-to-back winner of the MVP award and why a defense even as fast as the Broncos' has its work cut out for it. Piloting the Colts' fast-paced attack, he finished the opening half 17-of-23, including hitting 16 of his last 19 passes before halftime, for 201 yards and two touchdowns.

Manning finished the game 18-of-25 for 206 yards and the two scores. The Colts dropped to 0-4 in the preseason with the loss.

"It feels like we haven't won a game in a long time,'' Colts coach Tony Dungy said. "We haven't, and that's not a good thing.''

Manning hit Reggie Wayne for a 27-yard touchdown pass with just over five minutes remaining in the first half when he split the Broncos coverage.

Wayne would have also had a 48-yard touchdown reception late in the first quarter, but Broncos cornerback Lenny Walls knocked the ball out of Wayne's hands before he reached the end zone. The ball rolled forward into the end zone and then out of bounds so the Broncos took over on their own 20-yard line after the touchback.

Manning then hit Marvin Harrison for an 18-yard touchdown pass with 26 seconds left in the first half. On the play Manning went after rookie cornerback Darrent Williams, who was playing in place of Champ Bailey.

Williams thought the Broncos were in a defensive play call where he had deep help, but he didn't get that help. Harrison went by Williams and Manning quickly found perennial Pro Bowl selection running free.

In the second half, Broncos running back Quentin Griffin also got his first action of the preseason. He had been held to one practice a day during two-a-days in training camp because he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee last October and had not played in the Broncos' first two preseason games.

Griffin was the team's starter in last year's regular season opener, but had another arthroscopic surgery on his knee earlier this year to clean out some scar tissue and is just now approaching full speed.

Griffin finished with 33 yards on his nine carries.

Running back Maurice Clarett, who was one of the team's three third-round picks in April's draft, has not yet played in the preseason, but is expected to get some carries Friday against the Cardinals.

Notes: Walls left the game in the third quarter with a bruised left knee and did not return Wide receiver Triandos Luke also suffered a sprained ankle ? The Broncos sold 74,152 tickets for the game, 68,701 were used.

legwoldj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2359.

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