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.”
Dud No. 3 – Darius Kilgo
Sylvester Williams has been one of the pleasant surprises of the 2015 season. He’s proven more than capable in replacing Terrance Knighton and has helped anchor a Broncos rush defense that ranks No. 3 in the NFL. But that’s only part of what made his departure midway through the first quarter of Sunday night’s game so worrisome.
Losing Williams could be a big blow to a stout rush defense that has really started to jell since the return of Derek Wolfe after a four-game suspension, especially if his backup, Darius Kilgo, can’t step up in a meaningful way.
Kilgo played just seven snaps on Sunday in relief of Williams, who played just eight himself before being carted to the locker room with an ankle injury.
Instead of Kilgo, Denver turned to defensive end Vance Walker, who played surprisingly well in the hybrid end/tackle role. He even got to Tom Brady once, but had his sack negated by a Von Miller late hit penalty.
This time of year, with injuries piling up, Denver can’t afford to have backups who are ineffective, let alone who can’t get on the field. Williams is expected to miss additional time now, so Wade Phillips needs to determine quickly if Kilgo can fill that role as he’s designed to, or if they will move forward with Walker.
Stud No. 3 – Andre Caldwell
Scan back through the various training camp articles that have been written about “veterans who could be on the chopping block” over the past several years and you’ll see one recurring theme: Writers don’t have much love for Andre “Bubba” Caldwell.
Caldwell and his $1.55 million contract were popular choices to free up cap space to shore up the offensive line, especially with the depth Denver has at wide receiver, yet somehow the eighth-year player continued to find a roster spot.
He didn’t have the biggest stat line on Sunday, just two catches for eight yards on four targets. But his touchdown catch late the fourth quarter gave the Broncos a three-point lead with just over a minute to go.
Since taking the reins as quarterback in the third quarter of the Kansas City loss, Brock Osweiler has targeted Caldwell on nine different occasions. That’s only one less than he was targeted in the previous eight games with Peyton Manning at the helm.
Caldwell may not be an elite receiver like Emmanuel Sanders, but he’s showing that his time working second-team reps with Osweiler could be a dangerous weapon, and at least one that opponents must game-plan against, down the stretch.
Duds No. 2 – Omar Bolden
Omar Bolden breathed air into the Broncos with a punt return touchdown against Indianapolis to end the first half and keep their hopes in that game on life support, but beyond that one play this season he’s been about as flat as a Patriots football.
The same held true against New England where he was actually yanked from punt return duties after muffing a punt and nearly losing possession in the fourth quarter. His other return went for just 8 yards.
Bolden was also pressed into fill-in duty on defense when T.J. Ward went down with an ankle injury in the first half. His efforts there were equally marginal, and highlighted by his inability to get Brandon Bolden out of bounds after the running back beat Danny Trevathan on a wheel route. Instead, their Bolden went for 63 yards and a score that put New England up by two touchdowns.
To his credit though, Bolden owned his poor play. After the game he tweeted, “I made some costly mistakes last night that could’ve hurt the team….. So happy we were able to overcome those mistakes & get that W!”
Stud No. 2 – Cody Latimer
Admittedly, the staff here at Mile High Sports has not been particularly kind to Cody Latimer in his time with the Denver Broncos. Unable to find the field last year because he didn’t know the playbook and flat-out beat out of reps by guys like Bennie Fowler earlier this year, Latimer hasn’t had a great start in his first two years in Denver.
As a second-round pick in 2014, Latimer should have by all rights collected his second touchdown at this point. And while he and his critics are still waiting for that to happen, Latimer made perhaps the biggest (and least heralded at this point) play in the win over New England.
With Omar Bolden and David Bruton getting extra reps for the injured T.J. Ward, Latimer was promoted to gunner mid-game. On his second opportunity he didn’t disappoint, forcing a muffed punt that changed the entire shape of the second half.
Instead of getting the ball back with a chance to drain the clock and go up by three scores, New England let Denver in the end zone and back within a touchdown. It was without a doubt the biggest play of the night and the biggest play of Latimer’s young career.
Duds No. 1 – Michael Schofield & Matt Paradis
It’s tough to beat up on Michael Schofield and Matt Paradis too much in this game; after all, the Broncos rushed for a season-high 179 yards and three touchdowns in the win. Indeed, in a game that saw Tom Brady and Brock Osweiler complete an equal number of passes (23) on the same number of attempts (42) and be separated by just 10 yards passing (270 to 280), it was the running game that proved to be the difference in the game.
The Broncos offensive line sprung C.J. Anderson for 100 yards and two scores alone, while Denver’s defense held New England to just 39 yards on 16 attempts on the day. But the heavy lifting by the o-line against the Patriots came mostly from Max Garcia, Ryan Harris, Evan Mathis and the tight ends.
Schofield and Paradis both struggled in pass protection and weren’t much better against the run. They were also responsible for a pair of big hits on Osweiler as well as nine combined hurries, per Pro Football Focus.
The biggest mistake of the game for Denver came from Schofield, who allowed Jabaal Sheard to get a hand on Osweiler’s arm and force the game’s first turnover – an interception that led to a Patriots touchdown on a short field.
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.