An All-Around Effort
The Denver Broncos were saying all week that it would take a total team effort to beat the defending world champion New England Patriots, even with home field advantage. After all, the Patriots were undefeated heading into the Sunday night matchup and boasted both a top-five scoring offense and scoring defense. Yes, they were without key weapons on offense like Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman, but Denver was going to be without the quarterback who led them to a 7-0 record to start the season, not to mention a former All-Pro edge rusher.
As it turns out, the Broncos were absolutely correct. Denver had major contributions from players in all three phases of the game, and some of them very unlikely heroes. Yes, some big-name players showed up with huge games; we’ve come to expect no less from Emmanuel Sanders and Von Miller in their time in Denver. But it was role players and substitutions who really determined the outcome of this game.
Names that at the start of the season we didn’t expect to be hearing regularly on the broadcasts were making big impact plays, both of the good and bad variety in Denver’s improbable comeback win over the New England Patriots.
We honor those “other” guys in this week’s edition of “Studs and Duds.” For a full list of the big-name MVPs, check out Sam Cowhick’s “Quick Hits.”
