Mile High Sports

Ray, Phillips and other backups help pave the way to a Broncos win

Casey Light

Von Miller may be single-handedly paving his way to the stadium thanks to Old Spice, but it was several key backups that helped pave the way to a 3-0 start for the Denver Broncos in a 29-17 win over the Bengals in Cincinnati on Sunday.

Denver was without three starters for the Week 3 matchup: Outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware (forearm), right tackle Donald Stephenson (calf) and tight end Virgil Green (calf). Additionally, the Broncos were also without backup safety Justin Simmons (hand).

In their absence, head coach Gary Kubiak called on Shane Ray, Ty Sambrailo and a combination of John Phillips and Jeff Heuerman, with Shiloh Keo filling the backup role for Simmons.

Ray delivered the biggest performance of the bunch, totaling three sacks and two tackles for loss as part of his six tackles on the day in place of Ware. He was part of back-to-back sacks on Andy Dalton twice, including once where he accounted for both sacks and once in the fourth quarter with the Bengals knocking on the door. Sunday wasn’t the first time Ray has filled in for Ware, however. The Broncos defensive captain, who is expected to miss several weeks with a broken forearm, also missed time last season because of a back injury. Ray and Shaquil Barrett played in rotation, though, making this Ray’s first real game as the primary OLB opposite Von Miller. His performance will no doubt lead to another opportunity next week in Tampa Bay.

Keo put up a good fight for backup of the game, however, recovering a key special teams fumble and making a critical third-down tackle (his only one of the day) while Darian Stewart was recovering from a neck injury on the sideline. Keo wasn’t even on the Broncos roster for their first two wins. Denver waived him after he served a two-game suspension for a DUI following last year’s Super Bowl win. He re-signed with Denver for depth earlier in the week and turned out to be one of the key contributors on the day.

Phillips was hardly noticeable throughout the game, but he delivered big when he did hear his number called. The veteran tight end in his first year with the Broncos made just two catches on the day, both on the same scoring drive, including the touchdown that would give the Broncos the lead for good. Heuerman got into the action on the following drive, hauling in a 29-yard pass from Trevor Siemian to get the Broncos out of their own zone and to midfield. Two plays later Siemian would find Demaryius Thomas for a 55-yard touchdown.

Sambrailo not only had to fill in for Stephenson during this game, but also for left tackle Russell Okung, who went down mid-game with a back injury. (Okung would return to the game.) Sambrailo struggled at times during the contest, including taking holding penalties, but his mere presence on the field was a relief for Kubiak and the rest of the Broncos coaching staff. After playing just three games last season with a torn labrum in his shoulder, Sambrailo missed Denver’s first two games of this season with an elbow injury. The critics came out for Sambrailo, who struggled throughout the game, but by its end the CSU Ram turned Bronco was on the field in victory formation along with everyone else.

Here’s what the team at MHS was saying during and after the game, along with input from some of our favorite follows in the Denver media, about the important production from these backups in Denver’s big win over the Bengals.

Shane Ray

Early on, the Bengals took it right to Shane Ray on the ground…

Ray held is ground and eventually starting making his presence known in the backfield..

Ray would eventually get to Dalton and bring him down…

https://twitter.com/JMKannianen/status/780119547298783232

And then again…

At final tally, Ray had three sacks on the day to lead the team in that category…

Shiloh Keo

Denver forced the game’s first turnover on a punt return, a forced fumble by Zaire Anderson recovered by Keo…

Keo was a late addition to the team this week, and paid dividends…

John Phillips / Jeff Heuerman

Midway through the game, the tight ends were being used primarily in blocking roles, which was limiting the offense…

When Phillips made his first catch, it didn’t raise too many alarms…

A few plays later the Broncos were in the lead and Phillips had his first TD as a Bronco…

On Denver’s next drive Heuerman made his first NFL catch and it was a big one to move Denver to midfield and set up a touchdown pass two plays later…

Ty Sambrailo

In the early going, Sambrailo and Michael Schofield seemed to be holding down the right side of the line pretty well…

But as the game wore on, both struggled against the pass rush…

Sambrailo was eventually forced into penalties…

And then conceded a sack. Siemian was sacked twice on the day for a total loss of nine yards…

Sambrailo also missed a key block on a failed two-point conversion…

The Broncos emerged victorious, including Sambrailo, but it was clear he’ll need to improve next week if Stephenson can’t get healthy…

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