Stud No. 1 – Max Garcia
For as much as Schofield and Paradis struggled (see Duds No. 1), Max Garcia excelled on Sunday night, even getting some love from Cris Collinsworth on the national broadcast for his zone blocking dominance.
We’ve been championing Garcia as much more than simply a capable backup, although he has struggled with penalties in his limited time on the field leading up to Sunday.
But Garcia responded with his best game of the season when he was announced as the starter at left guard in place of Evan Mathis, who has been battling a hamstring injury for several weeks. (Big kudos to Mathis as well, who, injured, came in after Louis Vasquez left in the second quarter.) Not only did Garcia respond at left guard, he moved over to right guard mid-game to replace the injured Vasquez and didn’t miss a beat.
Garcia was not only Denver’s best lineman in both run blocking and pass protection, he picked up a huge fumble by Ronnie Hillman in the third quarter that would have given New England the ball at the Denver 20-yard line and put the final nail in the coffin on the Broncos hopes of an upset.
