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Week 9 Game Recap: Denver Broncos 7, Detroit Lions 44
What you need to know
| Denver Broncos |
The Broncos suffered their worst loss ever under Mike Shanahan. Not much went right for Denver in this game. The Broncos coughed up three fumbles and dropped six passes. They also lost starting quarterback Jay Cutler to what was called a leg contusion early in the second quarter. Cutler was able to walk off the field, but rode a cart into the locker room for x-rays. He was walking on the sideline in the second half, but did not return to the game.
After Detroit kicked a field goal on their opening drive, they tried a surprise onside kick. Denver recovered at the Detroit 46 yard line and drove to the Lions 30 yard line. However, Jason Elam's field goal attempt hit the upright. The Broncos would not cross midfield again until the third quarter. Denver managed only 69 yards in the first half and was outgained by 150 yards.
Denver's defense allowed The Lions to score on all of their first half possessions. Playing without their leader, John Lynch, the unit looked confused and out of sorts, especially in the first half, when Detroit kept them off balance with numerous formations and an effective mixture of runs and passes. The Broncos broke a 14 game streak of allowing the opposing team to have a 100 yard rusher. However, Jones would have had a good chance to reach that mark had he been given more carries.
Travis Henry returned from injury to play in this game, but had only nine attempts for 31 yards. Except for a 22 yard run, Henry was stuffed by the Lion defense. He was banged up on that run, but was able to return to the game.
With a late touchdown pass to Brandon Stokley, Denver kept alive its streak of scoring in 237 consecutive games. The streak dates back to a 1992 loss to the Raiders.
| Detroit Lions |
The Lions scored on each of their first four possessions and outgained the Broncos by 150 yards in a dominating first half. Jon Kitna and the Detroit offense did a good job of keeping the Denver defense off balance. Kitna had an efficient game. He completed 16 of 31 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns.
Kitna had been sacked an NFL high 32 times, but the Detroit offensive line protected him well and yielded only one sack.
Detroit opened the game running almost at will on the Broncos. Kevin Jones had six carries for 32 yards on the opening drive. He was frequently well into the secondary before contact. T.J. Duckett also had a big 19 yard gain on the first possession. Jones finished with 71 yards on 17 carries. Duckett added 41 on his five attempts and had a three yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Shaun McDonald led the Lions with five receptions for 78 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown was a 49 yard play that resulted from a short pass to McDonald, who picked up a great block from Mike Furrey and raced downfield for the score. Furrey added his first touchdown of the season in the second quarter.
Detroit's defense had a great game. The unit forced four turnovers and scored two touchdowns. Detroit leads the NFL in takeaways and is now plus eight in turnover margin. Detroit has scored 85 points this season as a result of turnovers.
The Lions tried a surprise onside kick after their first score, but it was unsuccessful.
What you ought to know
| QB Patrick Ramsey, Pass: 29 - 46 - 262 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 1 - 4 - 0 |
Ramsey replaced Cutler and threw his first passes of the season. With Denver trailing, Ramsey threw often. He was mostly ineffective as Denver was unable to score until late in the game. Ramsey's best passes were strong throws down the middle of the field. However, Ramsey was erratic; he threw one interception and had a number of passes that were off target. The interception resulted from an ill-fated screen attempt. Shaun Rogers picked the ball off and rumbled 62 yards for a touchdown. In his defense, Ramsey was victimized by six dropped passes.
Ramsey ran once to convert a four yard into a first down.
| QB Jay Cutler, Pass: 3 - 4 - 20 - 0 TD / 0 INT |
Cutler was injured on a second quarter sack. On the play, Cutler's lower left leg was sandwiched by two Lions. Cutler was able to walk off the field, but went to the locker room for x-rays. The x-rays were negative and Cutler's injury was called a leg contusion. He was standing on the sideline in the second half, but did not return to the game. Prior to his injury, Cutler completed three of his four passes for 20 yards.
| RB Travis Henry, Rush: 9 - 31 - 0, Rec: 2 - 13 - 0 (2 targets) |
Henry struggled to find running room for most of the game. His first seven carries netted only nine yards. Henry then broke loose with a 22 yard burst to the Detroit five yard line, but was shaken up on the play. He returned to the game, but had only one more attempt for no gain.
Henry caught both his targets for 13 yards.
| RB Selvin Young, Rush: 6 - 12 - 0, Rec: 2 - 15 - 0 (4 targets) |
Like Henry, Young struggled, averaging only two yards on his six attempts. Young had two receptions for 15 yards. He was also guilty of a dropped pass.
| RB Cecil Sapp, Rec: 1 - 2 - 0 (2 targets) |
Sapp caught one pass for a two yard gain. He dropped a pass as well.
| WR Brandon Marshall, Rec: 9 - 96 - 0 (19 targets) |
Marshall was targeted a game high 19 times. He caught only nine of the targets for 96 yards. Marshall was Ramsey's first choice on key short yardage passing plays, including two quick slants on third and fourth down plays in the third quarter. Either play could have resulted in a touchdown, but Ramsey threw the first pass well behind him. The second pass was broken up by the defense.
Marshall dropped two passes.
| WR Brandon Stokley, Rec: 4 - 32 - 1 (7 targets) |
Stokley caught an eighteen yard strike on Patrick Ramsey's first pass attempt of the game. He was quiet until late in the game when he added three more grabs, including a two yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter. Stokley nearly recovered Brian Clark's fumble in the end zone, but was narrowly beaten to the ball by a Detroit defender.
| WR Glenn Martinez, Rec: 3 - 27 - 0 (4 targets) |
Martinez caught three passes for 27 yards. He was hit very hard from behind on his last reception and was very slow to get up. Martinez was in pain and did not return to the game.
| WR Brian Clark, Rec: 2 - 9 - 0 (2 targets) |
Clark had a five yard reception on a third and six play. He broke a tackle and did all he could to fight for extra yardage and to reach the football for a first down, but came up a half yard short. At the end of the game, Clark caught another pass and tried to reach the ball across the goal line, but lost it before it he reached pay dirt.
| TE Tony Scheffler, Rec: 6 - 46 - 0 (7 targets) |
Scheffler caught six passes for 46 yards. He dropped his other target. His fumble resulted in one of four Detroit turnovers.
| TE Daniel Graham, Rec: 3 - 42 - 0 (5 targets) |
Graham caught three passes for 42 yards, including a big 21 yard gain. Graham also dropped a pass and was guilty of a false start penalty.
| PK Jason Elam 0 - 1 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 1 points |
Elam hit the upright on a 48 yard field goal attempt. He hit his only extra point attempt.
| DEN Rush Defense |
The Lions gained 130 yards on 29 attempts, but surprisingly didn't run more. Kevin Jones and T.J. Duckett were effective and likely could have put up much better numbers with more carries. Jones and Duckett found plenty of room to run and were frequently roaming the Broncos secondary before being tackled.
| DEN Pass Defense |
The Broncos pass defense was not much better. Detroit had a two play drive that chewed up 95 yards on two big pass plays. Tight End Sean McHugh got behind the defense on the first play and rumbled for a 46 yard gain. Jon Kitna found an open Shaun McDonald on a short pass that turned into a 49 yard touchdown reception after a block by Mike Furrey opened up a running lane.
Overall Jon Kitna passed for 252 yards and two touchdowns.
Elvis Dumervil had the only Broncos sack. However, he was also hit with a personal foul penalty on a facemask penalty that negated the sack and extended another scoring drive.
| QB Jon Kitna, Pass: 16 - 31 - 252 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 1 - 5 - 0 |
Kitna began the game second in the NFL with a 69.4 percent completion percentage. Although he completed just over 50 percent of his passes, he had an efficient game. Kitna threw two touchdown passes. They were his first touchdowns since week 4.
Kitna's orchestration of the offense kept the Broncos defense off balance, especially early in the game when Detroit opened a commanding lead. At one point, Kitna completed nine consecutive pass attempts.
Kitna's sneak pushed the pile up the middle for five yards on his lone rushing attempt and converted a third and four into a first down
| RB Kevin Jones, Rush: 17 - 71 - 0, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (5 targets) |
Jones was the focus of Detroit's first possession. He delivered 32 yards on six carries on the drive. Jones found ample running room and was usually through the hole before being touched. Surprisingly, Jones had only eleven more attempts for the remainder of the game.
Jones had only one reception for five yards. He was targeted a couple of other times on down the seams of the defense. Kitna led him just a little too much on each occasion. Had the passes been completed, they would have resulted in big gains.
| RB T.J. Duckett, Rush: 5 - 48 - 1 (1 targets) |
Duckett made the most of his five carries. He had runs of 19 and 24 yards. On the 24 yard play, quarterback J. T. O' Sullivan was hit as he handed the ball to Duckett. Duckett was unable to hold onto the ball, but it bounced right back to him. He found a big hole up the middle for a long gain. Duckett also had a three yard touchdown run.
| RB Aveion Cason, Rush: 2 - 8 - 0 |
Cason had two rushing attempts in the fourth quarter.
| WR Shaun McDonald, Rush: 1 - 6 - 0, Rec: 5 - 78 - 1 (9 targets) |
McDonald led the Lions with five catches for 78 yards and one touchdown. The touchdown came on a short pass. McDonald followed a great block by Mike Furrey and raced to the end zone for the score.
McDonald ran an end around for a six yard gain early in the game.
| WR Roy Williams, Rush: 1 - -8 - 0, Rec: 3 - 44 - 0 (9 targets) |
Williams was targeted a team high tying nine times, but caught only three passes for 44 yards in the game. Kitna tried to hit Williams on a pass in the end zone, but Williams either did not see the pass or just gave up on it too soon. He also dropped a pass that was thrown slightly behind him.
Williams lost eight yards on an end around play that was snuffed out by the defense.
| WR Calvin Johnson, Rec: 3 - 47 - 0 (5 targets) |
Johnson caught three passes in the game. He'd been limited with a back issue earlier in the week and seemed to be the third option after Williams and McDonald.
| WR Mike Furrey, Rec: 3 - 32 - 1 (3 targets) |
Furrey caught all three targets thrown his way. Furrey scored the Lion's fist touchdown on a fifteen yard grab in the first half. Furrey's blocking also freed up Shaun McDonald's on a 49 yard catch and run for a touchdown.
| TE Sean McHugh, Rec: 1 - 46 - 0 (1 targets) |
McHugh got behind the defense on a play action pass from the Detroit five yard line and rumbled for a 46 yard gain.
| PK Jason Hanson 3 - 3 FG, 5 - 5 XP, 14 points |
Hanson had a perfect day; he hit field goals of 43, 53, and 38 yards and nailed both of his extra point attempts.
| DET Rush Defense |
Denver rushed for only 47 net yards on 16 attempts an average of less than three yards per rush. Travis Henry had one 22 yard gain. The Broncos gained only 25 yards on their other fifteen attempts.
Ernie Sims led the Lions with six solo tackles and three assists.
| DET Pass Defense |
Detroit surrendered 256 net passing yards to the Broncos, but had a great game nonetheless. The Lions sacked Denver quarterbacks five times, forced three lost fumbles and an interception, and scored two touchdowns. Detroit is now plus eight for the season in turnover ratio and leads the NFL in takeaways and points off takeaways. Shaun Rogers had two and one half sacks and a 62 yard interception return for a touchdown. Corey Smith had one and a half sacks and forced a Patrick Ramsey fumble that was recovered by Dewayne White for another touchdown. Jared Devries and Ernie Sims also contributed half sacks.
