15:00: It’s a first-and-10 for the Chargers on the Denver 11-yard line. Fullback Mike Tolbert is brought down after a yard by Dre’ Bly and Marquand Manuel.
14:25: Rivers’ pass to Gates is incomplete. That brings up third-and-9 on the 10. Ebenezer Ekuban chases Rivers to the right sideline and he throws the ball away just before he rolls out of bounds.
14:08: On fourth-and-nine, Nate Kaeding jogs out for a field goal attempt and knocks through the 28-yarder. The Broncos now lead the Chargers by one point — 31-30.
14:08: After a touchback, Jay Cutler and the offense trot out to start another drive. Selvin Young goes in motion to the left sideline and makes a nice catch close to the ground on a low pass from Cutler. He jumps back up and runs forward for an eight-yard gain. Second-and-2.
13:39: Brandon Marshall makes the first-down catch over the middle. Selvin Young goes in motion again to the left sideline on first down and Cutler finds a wide-open Daniel Graham in the middle of the field. Graham turns and runs for 13 yards and a first down on the Denver 46.
12:16: Cutler quickly finds Marshall on first down, and the receiver carries his defender for four yards to the sideline.
12:16: Marshall makes another reception as Cutler is knocked to the ground. On the way to the ground, Marshall fumbled but the Broncos recovered the fumble and it’s another first-down.
9:46: An eight-yard run by Selvin Young is followed up by a four-yard run by Andre Hall, and the Broncos have another first down on the San Diego 30-yard line.
9:27: Cutler’s first-down pass is knocked down near the line of scrimmage. On second-and-10, Cutler rolls to the right and fumbles the ball. He quickly recovers and picks it back up and avoids pressure running back to the left. He finds a wide open Daniel Graham who follows his blockers and picks up what looks like close to a first down. There’s a flag on the play, however, and Quentin Jammer is called for illegal contact before Cutler rolled out of the pocket. It’s five yards and an automatic first down on the Chargers 25.
9:13: Andre Hall is wrapped up in the backfield for a three-yard loss on first down. Just a quick note on Brandon Marshall’s performance tonight — his 14 catches tie a franchise record. The man he’s tied with is tonight’s honorary captain — Rod Smith.
8:13: Marshall makes another catch, but defensive holding is called on Antonio Cromartie — it’s a five-yard penalty and is an automatic first down. It also negates the play, so Marshall is still tied for the record.
7:51: Cutler scrambles for two yards on first down. On second-and-8, Young takes the carry up the left side for 10 yards and a first down.
6:21: Tony Scheffler makes a seven-yard reception, bringing up second-and-3 for the Broncos on the four-yard line.
5:41: Cutler’s pass is tipped in the endzone, and Scheffler dove in the back of the endzone, almost coming up with the touchdown.
5:30: Cutler rolls right out of the pocket on third down and tries to throw on the run to Eddie Royal in the endzone. Cornerback Antoine Cason for the Chargers intercepts the pass and runs out of the endzone. He fumbles the ball on the run-back, but it’s recovered by the Chargers. First-and-10 for San Diego on its own nine-yard line.
5:30: Rivers finds Vincent Jackson in traffic on first down, and there’s a flag on the play. Illegal contact on Marquand Manuel, but the penalty is declined after the play resulted in a first down.
5:09: First-and-10 on the San Diego 30, and Sproles takes the handoff. He’s stopped by Boss Bailey after four yards. Second-and-6 on the 34 for the Chargers. Rivers takes the snap and finds Sproles, who again makes a few moves and weaves his way all the way through the Denver defense and into the endzone. It’s a 66-yard touchdown run.
4:22: Rivers comes back onto the field and finds Legedu Naanee in the endzone for the two-point conversion. The score is now San Diego 38, Denver 31.
4:22: Hall and Pittman back to receive. Kaeding kicks the ball off again, and again it’s a touchback. First and 10 for the Broncos at the 20. Tony Scheffler drops a Cutler pass on first down.
4:16: Cutler finds Marshall for an eight-yard gain in the middle of the field, bringing up third-and-2. Cutler is in the shotgun and he hands the ball off to Michael Pittman on a draw play. Pittman breaks a tackle and powers forward for 12 yards. The ball is on the Denver 40.
3:07: Cutler drops back and finds Marshall on the right sideline. He steps out of bounds after an eight-yard gain. Second-and-2 and Eddie Royal goes up to pull in a first-down pass in traffic. The ball is now at the San Diego 39-yard line.
2:29: Cutler finds Brandon Stokley in the middle of the field, and he spins past defenders, sprinting his way toward the sideline before being dropped after a 20-yard gain. There is a flag on the play for illegal hands to the face on the defense, but it’s declined.
2:00: Just before the two-minute warning, Cutler finds Marshall on the left sideline. Marshall slips one tackler and is brought down just before stepping out of bounds. The clock runs down to the two-minute warning, and the Broncos face a second-and-4 at the San Diego 13-yard line when play resumes.
2:00: Cutler finds Marshall on a slant route, and Marshall leaps over his defender before being upended at the two-yard line. It’s first-and-goal for the Broncos.
1:26: Kory Lichtensteiger is eligible again, and Pittman dives over the pile, but he’s short of the endzone. Second-and-1, Chargers call a timeout.
An update: Marshall’s 18 receptions are not only a Broncos franchise single-game record, they tie for the second-most in NFL history.
1:14: After an incomplete pass on second down, it brings up third-and-goal for the Broncos on the one-yard line. The booth is reviewing the play, however, to see if the ball slipped out of Cutler’s hands and it is in fact a fumble.
1:14: The referees determine that the play was in fact a fumble. But since the whistle blew as an incomplete pass, the ball was dead at the spot the ball fell. It’s Denver’s ball at the 10-yard line. Third and goal.
1:14: Cutler steps up to the line in the shotgun formation. It’s a draw play to Selvin Young, and the running back takes it to the four-yard line. That makes it fourth and goal for the Broncos, down a touchdown.
0:29: Denver calls its second time out of the half. Fourth and goal, play of the game. Cutler is in the shotgun and he finds Eddie Royal for the touchdown.
0:24: The offense is on the field — Denver is going for the two-point conversion. Royal catches the two-point conversion from Cutler with 24 seconds remaining in the half. The score is now Denver 39, San Diego 38.
0:24: Prater and the special teams are on the field as the crowd chants, “Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!” Sproles is stopped at the 18-yard line, where the Chargers will start their drive.
0:12: After a 25-yard Antonio Gates completion, the Chargers have the ball on their own 43. Rivers is in the shotgun, and Denver calls its third and final timeout.
0:12: Chris Chambers appears to haul in a catch around the Chargers 39-yard line, but the play is ruled incomplete.
0:06: The refs elect to review the ruling on the field. Chambers’ second foot came down out of bounds, the ruling on the field stands. Second-and-10 for the Chargers on their own 43-yard line. Rivers is in the shotgun. He takes the snap and rolls to the right, then the left, then lets it fly to the endzone. The pass falls incomplete and as time runs out the Broncos secondary is celebrating on the field.
0:00: The Broncos win their home opener against the Chargers, 39-38.
-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Fourth Quarter, Gray Caldwell, Live Blog, Week 2
nice call for the two..about time time shanny plays to win….thank god it worked out in our favor..
I’m still trying to catch my breath………………..
What a great game i loved to see Philip Rivers all mad. He walked off the field mad he didnt even shake Jay Cutlers hand what a game.
Thrilling game, Rivers continues to disappoint me with his poor sportsmanship and “crybaby” attitude towards football in general. He has a wealth of talent within himself and around him, yet he lacks the humility and respect that you should expect of a professional athlete. Disappointing to say the least.
between a blowout and this type of close game….i’d chose the slap in the face 2pt conversion….wheeh….heartpounding win baby!!!!
go broncos
pinoy-bronco-fan
I couldn’t agree more navy_bronco_fan… that last 20 seconds just about killed me I couldn’t breathe anymore. I know they were trying to run down the clock before that last TD but Man oh man was that an on-the-edge of your seat ending!!!!!!! PHEW… I still can’t believe we pulled that off.
But in a way I think we owe it big to Rivers for throwing that Hail Mary at the very end… that was a pretty big longshot for someone to catch that, with 6 seconds left in the game, down by one and under some MAJOR pressure. We got real lucky that our defense actually decided to to their jobs at the very end. That side of the ball for us needed some major adjustments after what we all saw in the majority of the 2nd half.
I think that the Halftime break really slowed us down on both sides of the ball and it showed by how we played. We couldn’t catch a break no matter what. What really irritated me was when it took us about 9 minutes to get that ball down the field in the 4th, all to have it picked off and then a TD for the Stinkers a couple minutes later. I about lost my mind when I saw that. We really need to step up our game if we even want to have a shot at beating the Chiefs in 2 weeks in Kansas City. I live in that icky city, God help me, and I’ve been to that stadium a time or two for a game… it’s not an easy stadium to play in, let alone win. They will give us a fight so we need to be at our VERY best.
And you know that win was something special if you were able to see Shanny’s reaction when we got those 2 extra points. That was funny & priceless… Brilliant idea Coach to go for those 2 extra points. I really wasn’t looking forward to OT. Well I’m done ranting for now, thanks for the AWESOME game Orange & Blue… come back strong next week and STAY strong. And I didn’t see Rivers reaction when he found out his team sucks and they’ve started off the season 0-2 but I’m sure it was a fall-out-of-your-chair-laughing kind of moment. I still can’t stand that guy at all… oh and for the next game we play them, we really really really need to SACK that guy and put him on the ground where he belongs, whining all day… that’s all he seems to be good at.
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!
yeah that was some crazy calling but it worked out brandon is the man he will be the number one wider reciever in the league by the end of the year. eddie royal will be the best second wide reciever and you can quote me. they make good corners look bad( hall, jammer, cramartie) thats gotta say something about them.
that was an amazing end of the game…….im glad that the 2 pt conversion worked out
that game was a edge of your seat thriller game that could have ended badly and as i am sure everybody is aware there are those who wish to debate the win with the majority of people saying that the second to last play was obviously a fumble and while it truly may have been, it doesn’t matter the call was made and unlike most other teams in the leagues what makes the broncos the team that we all love is the fact that the broncos don’t cry about what was they just continue to play and that kind of professionalism speaks volumes about our team. I look forward to the next game in kansas city against the chiefs and i would like to say that if we can play strong the whole game and not in spurts then we have nothing to worry about, but all and all everybody else needs to lookout because the orange and blue is coming for you so you best be ready….GO BRONCOS
OH MY GOD!!!!my house went completely crazy everyone was jumping and screaming and giving fives!!!
My friends. Let me say this much, I was scared to death when Shanahan took that risk. Nevertheless, it worked out for the best and that’s all that matters. Bring on the Saints. We can outscore them. Who else can average 40 points per game?
Oh WOW!!!!! That was an amazing game!!! Wish is was there soooooo bad!
Tho i have to admit that the refs were on are side for a little bit.
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i meant i wish i was there soooooo bad!!!
That was the best comeback I’ve seen in a while….
BUT I HAVE TO ADMIT, IF HTE REFS WEREN”T ON OUR SIDE WE WOULD HAVE LOST THAT ONE
Thee Words: MILE HIGH MAGIC!!!
With the replay error, the fumble, and the 2-pointer how else could you describe it.
However Im very disapointed in the D. The game should not have turned out the way it did after we were up 21-3 in the second quarter. We should all be very worried with Reggie Bush and the rest of the saints marchin into Denver.
Still…todays game was incredible. Lots of highs, lots of lows, amazing win.
Today we found out that God is a Broncos fan
MY GOSH DAT WAS ABSOLUTELY MAGICAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…………….
Crybaby phillips didnt even shook hands……no respect and class at all…….
a another week with Royal making so called Pro-bowl CBs look bad……..
its all in thanks 2 Cutler zipping the pass 2 him…
and Marshall,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,WOW,,,,i dont even knw where to start………
its beautiful seein these guys grow together,,Cutler,Scheffler, and Marshall,,throw Royal into the mix………..
ITS JUST PLAIN SCARY TO THINK ABOUT HOW THESE GUYS WILL DEVELOP TOGETHER FOR THE YEARS TO COME………..(NEW MANNING-WAYNE-CLARK-HARRISON COMBO)?????????????…..CUTLER COULD BE BETTER,,HE CAN MAKE EXCELLNT PLAYS OUT OF THE POCKET TOO.
thank the BAILEY bros…………they led the team in tackles….
another great week……
Before we start printing Super Bowl tickets, we need to take a close look at this game.
1) Shanny did not have a choice! He had to go for the 2 point conversion. What did he say about going for 2? “I wasn’t going to let the game be decided by a coin toss.” I don’t know how you read that, but to me it says that he knew that the defense was totally incapable of stopping the Chargers.
2) While our run defense has improved slightly, we still don’t have the slightest hint of a pass rush.
3) Our kickoff coverage is totally erratic. We look great for a few plays and then look like we’re covering the kickoff with two poeple.
4) Our kick return blocking is pathetic! We’ve played two games and the best return we’ve managed is the 34 yard line! This is not acceptable.
5) While the replay decisions were technically correct, if the refs had called the game correctly to begin with, we would not have won this game.
I’m happy as can be that we’re 2-0 and on top of the AFC West, but we’re still a young team that has a lot of learning to do. We won a game we should have lost, don’t be disappointed when the opposite happens. With the many young players on this team, I’ll still be delighted with 8-8, because I know that 2009 we’ll be a major power to be feared.
i agree with oldsouthstander, our special teams is not looking good, specially our kickoff team. i thought niko was nice on special teams??
but anyway yea i about had a heart attack when i saw eddie catch the TD, then another heart attack when shanny said go for 2 lol. what a game tho, im so glad we smacked phillip n the chargers in the face.
but next week, we really really really need to step up on defense against saints. our run defense looks alot better tho; we didnt do too bad against the chargers and the raiders, who are both known to have really good run games. but JESUS CHRIST bench karl paymah n let jack williams play nickel or something. im still so pissed we traded foxy….
The defesnse? lets see. I think it was our offense that played equally poor in the second half. This was the Broncos of old. They had the 3rd quarter jinks going on. Oh and lets not forget to thank Ed H, for his role in our win. Our Offense is looking great this season, however in the 3rd quarter they were failing to convert and shooting themselves in the foot. We cannot leave a game this season in the defenses hands. Our defense is improved from last year slightly, but I would not want a game to depend on their efforts. I’m very happy they won the game, however not proud of the way it happened. Our Offense this season has the potential to hang with any team, a sound victory yesterday would of been awesome and shut the critics up. This week the media will be all over the Broncos win and they have gained no further respect in the league. It cannot be forgoten that the Broncos were killing San Diego in the first half. Hope this will be a lesson to them, Play all 4 Quarters.
First of all let me say this game was worth all the money I pay to Directv….secondly let me say that the offense was awesome…even in the second half, there are some people who mss foxworth who is equally as bad as Paymah, Foxworth is not even starting in Atlanta. Paymah is playing poorly and maybe williams will be a spark. One thing I noticed is that teams tend to run at Dre Bly, and for a speed guy he never runs down a play…there were a few plays run to his side that he did not even attempt to run down. Anyway, the saints are not going to be quite as much a challenge as the Chargers, Their defense is in no way as good. We do have to make sure we contain Bush the receiver, because Bush the runner cannot beat you.
just 2 words : unbelievable win !!! The Mile high magic is back , take care NFL teams !
i agree whith that guy oldsouthstander : our team is not perfect and this year it’s not built to win the SB , there’s improvement to be made . The defense is better than last year ( not difficult ) but needs to be more consistent , don’t forget thow that the chargers were fighting for their lives , 0-2 is pretty bad situation for a SB contender , our ST …. lot of work to do ! But the offense is terrific and can carry the whole team to the playoffs , beyond , we’ll need defense , but i’m confident it’ll improve with less pressure from the offense . Drafting Clady and Royal …..no word to desribe !!
Thank God the offense can put up points cuz the defense is horrible at best!!!
What a game. I understand everyones concern about the defense but lets look at the positives. Half of San Diegos points came on big plays. We are a young team and will improve in this area throughout the year. We gave up no sacks, held them to under 100 yards rushing and dropped a crap load of points on them. Our linebackers (exclude D.J.) are a huge concern for me. Great job……
Great game…but can anybody tell me why Paymah was on Chambers the whole time? He was getting played with…it almost cost the game.
I hate to say this but Champ Bailey appears to be slowing down. He got nuked by Chambers when Chambers scored and he got beat pretty badly by Ronald Curry a few times when we played the Raiders, but luckily Curry cant catch a ball thrown in slo-mo. Any way our defense looks terrible. The run defense has improved but with foxy’s departure our pass defense has taken a step backwards. Tackling must also improve against the Saints, otherwise Reggie Bush will torch us
Champ is nothing to be get worried about, that was one play, which was a really good throw and route by rivers and chambers.. paymah got torched though.. a very disappointing and embarrassing game from him
im worried about are pass rush….rivers jersey was too clean!!! where is moss???? and where were sum linebacker blitzes..even when we forced them to pass with lt out…we still couldnt produce passrush which is the main reason why paymah and baily were off there game!!! blame the dline…nice job on run stop however!!!
Im tired of hearing about the charity from the Refs! Get over it…we won, and that’s the bottomline. You all can guess about the defense, or Shanahan’s lack of confidence all you want. However, what you need to focus on is the fact that he has so much confidence in this offense, he felt that one of the best defenses in the NFL couldnt stop them from getting the 2pt conversion. The game’s on the line. You have no time to get the ball back. It’s a win or lose situation and you put your confidence in your team, and they WIN. Believe me, if you think both offense and defense get sent a message from Shanahan, you’re crazy! He sent the loudest, most “in your face” message he could have possiblity delivered, but he didnt do it in the locker room behind closed doors. He did it publicly in front of millions of viewers. WHAT A STATEMENT! In the words of MC Hammer…”Can’t touch this”. They couldnt!
I will again say that no matter how good a guy Foxworth was in the community he was just as bad as Paymah on the field. HE DOESN’T EVEN START FOR THE FALCONS!!!!! That aside, Champ got beat on ONE PLAY. That does not take away from his skills or the fact that he ran down all the long plays from the opposite side of the field, or that he was the one who stopped Sproles from having a second long kickoff return. Remember the offensive unit of the Chargers is nnot chopped liver. If you blitz too often you end up man to man all over the field and there is really no way for us to cover Gates in a situation like that. (In some of those situations where Paymah was on Chambers, Bailey was on Gates) Also our safties have to step up. On the Touchdown to Chambers, not only did the play materialize well, but Champ AND Chambers were deeper than the safety. There is some work to be done, but if you are a TRUE fan, you should know that this is a better and different team than last year and we should be legitimate contenders in a wide open AFC
It looks like a lot of ppl are biting fox cuz hes not starting for the falcons yet, but fox just got traded to the falcons, so he probly doesnt know the defense well enough yet. and yea its true that we just picked up chris lowry n hes getting PT, but titans n broncos defense is pretty similar, while the falcons run a 3-4. and apparently fox and royal were having the best training camps. so imagine what fox really couldve done for us, instead of paymah who’s had much less PT than fox too. plus fox can play safety…. but either way no use talking about this now. im just afraid that paymah is gonna be our achilles tendon now….. please start jack williams
btw did anyone see the hit little royal laid out on a charger LB when selvin had his long run????? not to mention cutler’s nice block lol
Those were good blocks. I think Karl Paymah is a better pure cornerback than foxy but he needed more experience. Paymah did give up some big plays but his guy was covered more often then not. Lowry is fast and he could make a great safety tandem with Hamza Abdullah in the future, they both need more experience though.
Norv Turner looks hilarious when he’s mad. He is still complaining to the NFL
yea, i’ll admit it was a nice job on getting the two, but to be honest i don’t see how you guys are even happy about the win, knowing that you didn’t earn it. all of you know that the chargers were screwed. and i wouldn’t be jumping up and down after winning like that.
DOOD !!!! the bottom line is,both Fox and Paymah have been burnt like toast since they have became Broncos.The reason why we kept Paymah over Fox is that Paymah is a much better tackler than Fox! Watch some highlights and get up on it.Don’t think that Paymah is not on the bubble!!!! This a 0 tolerance year for SHANNY !!!! 4 the one who is crying about the Broncos win——–DOOD !!! we one that game hands down!!! Blame it on Ed Hock all you want!!! He F’d up but the Chargers still had a chance to stop us from scoring and a chance to stop the 2 point conv. The sad thing about that is the Chargers hadn’t stopped the Broncos the whole game!!!! Whatever LT !!!!! Whatever Phillip !!!! Whatever ANTONIO !!!!!!
DUDE!! the chargers shouldn’t have even had to try to stop it. they were still to pissed about the blown call. i’m not crying about it because the chargers aren’t my favorite team, i just find it unfair to football that a division could possibly be decided by that call. and how can you win it hands down when the chargers had the game won when they recovered the FUMBLE? o and by the way, the broncos didn’t stop the chargers too much either. and rivers out passed cutler
Ya the refs where on our side. It’s about time! Come on special teams this is the NFL!!!
The Ref is still apologizing for his f*** up. If it wasn’t for him we would have lost by 7, maybe 14 if you count the Chambers fumble with the review box inoperble. C’mon this the NFL. Billions of revenue and you’re telling me a simple instant replay box was on the fritz? All he had to do was look up at the big screen where the broadcasters were replaying the catch. Don’t get me wrong, the Bolts aren’t one of my favorites by far, but I do believe in fairness and that game was a disgrace to all the refs calling games out there. Reminds me of Don King. That ref should be made an example of so this doesn’t happen again. By the way HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK HE MADE ($$$) FOR MAKING THOSE CALLS?