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| GB at STL | IND at OAK | JAX at PIT | NYJ at NE | PHI at DAL | SEA at CAR | TEN at KC | WAS at NYG |
Week 15 Game Recap: Denver Broncos 13, Houston Texans 31
What you need to know
| Denver Broncos |
The playoff hopes for the Denver Broncos were essentially dashed by the upstart Houston Texans. Denver looked sluggish on both sides of the ball and QB Jay Cutler appeared unprepared and his play was littered with bad decisions.
RB Travis Henry and RB Selvin Young were unproductive on the ground. The only bright spots for the Broncos were WR Brandon Marshall and TE Tony Scheffler, both of whom topped 100 yards receiving. Marshall looked hurt at times, clutching his arm after a few catches. Scheffler barely scored on his touchdown catch, as the ball fell out of his outstretched hand just as the ball crossed the plane.
Defensively, Denver had trouble tackling and seemed to be overpowered by the dual running threat of RB Ron Dayne and RB Darius Walker.
| Houston Texans |
The former league laughing stocks kept their minimal playoff hopes alive with an impressive home victory against the Denver Broncos. Replacement QB Sage Rosenfels was inaccurate at times but played superbly in both the first and the final quarters and led his team to victory.
The Texans utilized a double threat in the backfield with the speedy and elusive RB Darius Walker and the powerful, stiff arming RB Ron Dayne. The combined efforts of the two running backs helped to set up the Texans' passing game and ate up valuable clock as the game neared the final minutes.
Andre Johnson played through an apparent left arm injury and played well. He made Broncos' defenders miss on a few tackles, scored a touchdown, and nearly scored another on a 28 yard pass from Rosenfels but he was run out of bounds at the one yard line. TE Owen Daniels also played well in the victory with three big first down catches.
On defense, DL Mario Williams rounded up three and a half sacks of QB Jay Cutler and DB Fred Bennett and DB Will Demps nearly pulled down a handful of interceptions and broke up three separate touchdown opportunities for Denver.
What you ought to know
| QB Jay Cutler, Pass: 27 - 39 - 254 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 11 - 0 |
Cutler was able to lead his offense on some effective long drives, unfortunately, they seemed to peter out toward the end. Two potential touchdown passes to WR Brandon Marshall and one end zone pass to TE Tony Scheffler were broken up. Marshall also dropped a low pass a few yards outside of the end zone. Cutler was also nearly picked off numerous times because of bad decision making. Houston's defensive backs were able to make plays on a handful of balls that likely should have been interceptions but fortunately for Cutler were either dropped or merely deflected. The Texans' defensive line kept pressure on Cutler throughout the game. The young quarterback's inexperience may have prevented the Broncos from making the match-up more competitive as they were forced to settle for field goals on two drives and turned the ball over on downs three times.
| RB Selvin Young, Rush: 8 - 34 - 0, Rec: 5 - 8 - 0 (5 targets) |
Young started the game for the Broncos, but was largely ineffective running the ball. However, he did bail QB Jay Cutler out of a few tight spots by hauling in five short passes.
| RB Travis Henry, Rush: 10 - 27 - 0 |
Henry made his first appearance of the game on the second drive for Denver. In the fourth quarter, Henry was hit and remained on the ground in apparent pain. He did not return.
| WR Brandon Marshall, Rec: 11 - 107 - 0 (16 targets) |
Marshall missed three touchdown opportunities in the first half. Two of the plays were broken up by the defense and the other missed opportunity came on a low pass from QB Jay Cutler in front of the end zone which Marshall grabbed but could not corral. He was clutching his arm throughout the game and was forced to spend some time on the sideline in the first quarter. However, the apparent injury did not slow him down or hinder his tenacious style of play as he muscled his way for every possible yard and did not shy away from contact.
| WR Javon Walker, Rec: 2 - 20 - 0 (5 targets) |
Walker was not a big factor in this game. His second catch of the game came on the Broncos' final play in which Walker caught the ball yards short of the first down and could not convert the first down.
| WR Brandon Stokley |
Stokley did not play in this game due to injury.
| TE Tony Scheffler, Rec: 7 - 100 - 1 (9 targets) |
Scheffler barely broke the plane of the end zone before the ball came out of his outstretched hand. The Texans picked up the loose ball and began to run it back for what would have been a touchdown but the touchdown call was upheld following review.
| TE Daniel Graham, Rec: 1 - 2 - 0 (1 targets) |
Graham left the game with an injury and did not return.
| PK Jason Elam 2 - 2 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 7 points |
Elam's first field goal attempt of the night turned out to be a sneaky pooch punt which put the ball on the four yard line for the Texans' offense. He converted both of his field goal attempts in the loss.
| DEN Rush Defense |
The Denver rush defense was not pretty in the loss. RB Darius Walker and RB Ron Dayne ran the ball effectively. The Broncos defensive line has been in turmoil all season and the Texans clearly exploited that with their running back tandem. Three of the four Houston touchdowns came on the ground. LB Ian Gold left the game with injury and did not return.
| DEN Pass Defense |
The Broncos' tackling was terrible throughout the game. TE Owen Daniels and WR Andre Johnson were able to break tackles and gain extra yards on their receptions throughout the game. They were also unable to get consistent, effective pressure on QB Sage Rosenfels and failed to sack him a single time.
DB Dre Bly picked off a tipped Rosenfels' pass and ran the ball back 37 yards before running out of bounds.
| QB Sage Rosenfels, Pass: 16 - 27 - 200 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 4 - 3 - 1 |
With Matt Schaub on the sideline with an injury, Sage Rosenfels took the snaps for the Texans. Rosenfels started the game hot but finished the first half only completing two of his final eleven passes. He scored the first touchdown of the game on a bootleg which he finished off by diving into the end zone.
Rosenfels warmed back up in the final period, throwing a touchdown to Andre Johnson and then setting up the final score of the game with a 28 yard play action pass to Johnson which landed them on the one yard line. Rosenfels has played well in the place of Matt Schaub and has helped to keep the Texans' meager playoff hopes alive.
| QB Matt Schaub |
Schaub did not play due to a separated shoulder. He has not been ruled out for the rest of the season yet, but QB Sage Rosenfels has played well in his place.
| RB Darius Walker, Rush: 13 - 66 - 0, Rec: 1 - 2 - 0 (1 targets) |
Walker started the game for Houston and ran well throughout. He looked quick and explosive and he provided a useful contrast to the power running style of Ron Dayne.
| RB Ron Dayne, Rush: 11 - 67 - 1, Rec: 1 - 4 - 0 (1 targets) |
Dayne did not start the game in the backfield but he powered the ball up the middle for a six yard touchdown run. He looked strong when running, employing a vicious stiff arm on a 25 yard run in the fourth quarter. He shared carries with rookie RB Darius Walker and they both ran roughshod over the meager Broncos' front line.
| WR Andre Johnson, Rec: 6 - 86 - 1 (9 targets) |
Johnson was run out of bounds on the one yard line late in the fourth quarter after an effective play action from Sage Rosenfels fooled the Broncos' defense. After the play, he was being looked at on the sideline by the trainers with an apparent left arm injury. The Texans did not run any meaningful offensive plays following the touchdown that followed that catch so it is not clear yet if he is seriously hurt. His touchdown catch came on a quick flip from Rosenfels and he ran into the end zone easily.
| WR Kevin Walter, Rush: 2 - 21 - 0, Rec: 3 - 32 - 0 (5 targets) |
Walter took two hand offs from QB Safe Rosenfels in the first half. The first attempt was on a standard end around play, and the second attempt was on a toss play.
| TE Owen Daniels, Rec: 3 - 53 - 0 (4 targets) |
Daniels was a strong target over the middle for QB Sage Rosenfels. The Broncos had some trouble bringing the big tight end down as Daniels was able to break or avoid tackles to gain extra yardage after the catch on a few occasions. Each of Daniels' catches went for a first down.
| PK Kris Brown 1 - 1 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 7 points |
Brown connected on his only field goal attempt of the game.
| HOU Rush Defense |
The Broncos were unable to get anything meaningful going on the ground against the Texans' defense. Denver played from behind for most of the game which may have limited their playcalling.
| HOU Pass Defense |
The depleted Houston pass defense stepped it up against the Broncos. DB Will Demps and DB Fred Bennett deflected numerous passes and broke up a couple of potential touchdowns for the Broncos. Demps dropped a potential interception which was thrown right at him by Jay Cutler who apparently did not see the defender when he threw the ball. The defensive backs were helped by the effective pressure of the pass rush. DL Mario Williams hauled in three and a half sacks and the pressure forced inexperienced Jay Cutler into some bad throwing decisions.
