Best statistics
Maybe the best statistic of the game stems from the worst. The Broncos finished the game minus-four in the turnover battle and as Kubiak said to the team following the win, 35 times in the NFL this season teams have finished the game minus-four and all of them lost the contests. Sunday the Broncos did not.
“You’ve turned the ball over five times – statistically, you’re supposed to lose the game. We overcame a lot of adversity today. It just shows how strong of a team we’ve got, but going down the road, we can’t make those same mistakes. Hopefully we’ve got them all out of the way,” Emmanuel Sanders said Sunday.
A defensive player remained calm at halftime despite the turnovers due to the fact that the Broncos were moving the ball well on offense in the first half, totaling 279 yards.
“Cool as a fan, man. We were cool as a fan. It wasn’t like we were losing or anything,” Aqib Talib said of the atmosphere in the locker room at halftime. “We just knew they couldn’t stop our offense they just kept turning it over. 10-yard run, turnover. Wide open receiver, dropped ball, turnover. Emmanuel Sanders, 70-yard catch and run, turnover. It wasn’t like they were stopping us, we knew we just had to settle down and make the plays that presented themselves.”
The offense turned it around in the second half, led by Manning. They scored 20 points in quarters three and four, finishing the day with 503 total yards. Manning was quick to point out why they were successful in the second half as opposed to the first in his comments after the game.
“I’m not sure that had much to do with me being in there,” Manning said. “I think just that the execution was better in the second half. Up front, they gave some bigger holes to run the ball. I can’t say – I can’t take credit for having a really good handoff. Like I’m helping those guys hold onto the ball. I refuse to do that.”
The Broncos defense held up under the immense pressure the turnovers placed on them. They gave up only two field goals in the first half and held the Chargers to only one play of over 20 yards Sunday. The top-ranked defense has become accustomed to tough situations and coming out on top.
“We don’t even really think about that, its just when it is time for us to go play, we go play,” Wolfe said in reference to the turnovers.”We’re excited to go play. We turn a negative into a positive and its our chance to go out and show why we are the best.”
Despite playing the Chargers offense on short fields after Broncos fumbles and interceptions, the defense only allowed the opponents in the red zone once. They also stopped the Chargers on both of their fourth down attempts and held them to only 6-of-18 on third downs. The Broncos win also helped the defense to the NFL’s top-ranked defense in total yards allowed (283.1 per game), pass defense (199.6 per game), sacks (52) and finished third in rushing defense (83.6 yards per game).
