The AFC West, long ruled by the Denver Broncos, has suddenly become a division that requires teams step up week after week. The Broncos felt that pressure again this week against a surging Chargers team as both the Chiefs and Raiders won early games, leaving Denver in a must-win position to maintain a tie for first place in the division. Denver did indeed step up, largely in part to their other inside linebackers stepping up in the absence of Brandon Marshall.
Todd Davis matched a career high in tackles and Corey Nelson made his first regular season start, both contributing in big ways to the win despite flying mostly under the radar in a big game for the “No Fly Zone.”
Davis logged eight tackles, good for second behind safety T.J. Ward who led the team with 10. Although he played just 53 percent of defensive snaps, Pro Football Focus graded Davis their highest-rated Broncos defender with a score of 86.7.
Davis has been on a slow and steady rise this season, starting opposite Marshall, but Sunday was a big opportunity for Nelson.
Until Sunday, Nelson had made just one NFL start. In a Preseason Week 4 game, all the way back in 2014. Finally, against in Week 8 of 2016, he got the call.
Nelson’s name wasn’t called often on the CBS telecast, however. He didn’t make any of Denver’s numerous big plays that led to victory. No sacks, no interceptions, no game-saving pass deflections. But he was without a doubt one of the most valuable Broncos in the 27-19 win.
Nelson earned the start when Brandon Marshall was made inactive because of a hamstring injury and was charged with the daunting task of wearing the communication helmet in Marshall’s absence. The responsibility to stop a Chargers offense that had sliced and diced the Denver defense en route to a 21-13 win in San Diego just 17 days prior fell squarely on Nelson’s 24-year-old shoulders. Further complicating that task was the fact that defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, who calls in the defensive plays from the sideline, left the game and in the second quarter and was hospitalized after an off-field collision with Chargers running back Melvin Gordon. Phillips would leave the hospital later Sunday night unscathed, but it was Nelson and linebackers coach Reggie Herring who had to keep San Diego in check in place of both Marshall and Phillips.
Nelson didn’t blow up the box score on Sunday. He logged five tackles, just one solo, and he had one of Denver’s 13 passes defended. But he was all over the field, all day long. Of Denver’s 81 defensive snaps, Nelson was on the field for 77 of them. His 10 plays on special teams ran his total play count to 87, the most by any Broncos player on the day.
He narrowly missed tallying a fumble recovery when DeMarcus Ware appeared to hit Philip Rivers just before he threw the ball and Nelson scooped it up for a 26-yard return. The call was overturned, however, and Nelson returned to relative anonymity in the game, despite being Denver’s special teams captain for the coin toss. But astute observers will go back to the highlights from Sunday’s win and see No. 52 all over the field, helping to make those big plays possible.
Neither Davis nor Nelson made the highlight reel for plays of their own, but make no mistake, they stepped up in a big way and helped Denver keep pace in a very tight AFC West race.