In their last two fourth quarters coming into Sunday’s game against Houston, the Broncos had been outscored 40-13. Denver reversed that trend in a 24-23 win by coming up with the contest’s final 14 points to complete the comeback.
A day later, Interim Head Coach Eric Studesville pointed to his defense’s ability to get off the field with key third-down stops as one of the big factors in helping to complete the come-from-behind win.
Houston went just 1-for-8 on third-down conversion attempts in the game with quarterback Matt Schaub tossing an incompletion on the Texans’ only fourth-quarter attempt. That play forced the punt that led to Tim Tebow’s go-ahead touchdown run.
“I think everybody buckled down and paid a little more attention to detail and made a couple changes, and everything came out on our end,” said Justin Bannan, who later tipped the pass that became Syd’Quan Thompson’s game-sealing interception.
Over the last four games, the Broncos defense has thrived on third down.
The unit, which also held Arian Foster – the league’s leading rusher – under 100 yards on the ground on Sunday, has allowed opponents to convert just 13-of-49 third-down attempts during that time.
In that span, the defense’s 26.5 percent successful third-down conversion rate ranks second lowest in the league behind only the Vikings, who face Philadelphia on Tuesday in a rescheduled Week 16 game and thus, have played just three times.
“That is outstanding for our defense to be able to accomplish that,” Interim Head Coach Eric Studesville said, “and to lock in each week and give ourselves a chance — particularly on third down, which is a huge down in the NFL.”
Studesville said that going forward the team’s play on the crucial down is a positive it can build upon. After big stops buoyed the team on Sunday to its first win in six games, the coach outlined a simple plan for future success.
“Defensively, we need to get them in more third-down situations,” Studesville said, “because we are playing very, very well on third down.”
TEBOW TO START
A day after Tim Tebow became the first rookie quarterback since the NFL merger to lead a 17-point comeback in his first home start, Studesville said the 2010 first-round pick will start the season finale on Sunday against San Diego.
The coach said he saw progress between Tebow’s first and second starts and expects the youngster to continue that trend in his third.
“The more he plays, the better he will get,” Studesville said. “The more experience he has, the more situations he sees – everything was not perfect. It was not perfect – but he will get up there, he will look at the tape, and he will get better from those things. And, we will get better from him the more he is there. There is something about that guy when he is out there running around, you just never know what is going to happen.”
In the two starts, Tebow has combined to go 24-of-45 passing for 446 yards with two touchdowns and interception. He’s added 18 carries for 105 yards and two more scores as the team has averaged 23.5 points per game.
With the division rival Chargers coming to town in Week 17, Tebow will have a chance to build upon those numbers.
“(Tebow) is going to get better at things this week that he did not do so well two weeks ago,” Studesville said. “That is the natural progression of things – is that guys see things. I think Tim is developing.”
INJURY UPDATE
With the day off from practicing Monday after the win, players who were nicked up in the game have a chance to rest before preparation for the season finale begins in earnest on Wednesday.
Studesville gave status updates on a pair of injured starters during Monday’s media session.
Knowshon Moreno re-aggravated a rib injury against the Texans and did not play in the second half, but Studesville said that while the running back is sore, he could have potentially returned to the field if necessary on Sunday and could be available against San Diego.
“He got rolled up a little bit and we will take it day by day as we go through,” Studesville said. “We are just going to try to get him healthy again and let him go.”
Studesville also said Champ Bailey has a bruised heel – the same injury that slowed him earlier this season. Studesville indicated the All-Pro cornerback is also sore and will require more time to judge his status for the week.
“It is the same foot and the same injury he had earlier in the year,” Studesville said. “We will just wait and see as we go further in the week.”
Tags: 2010, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Interim Head Coach Eric Studesville, Justin Bannan, Week 16
Nooooo I’m not trying to see a loss at my first ever Broncos game. I don’t care what they have to do but get a W on Sunday.
Bailey could be out. Thats enough to think we just might lose this one anyway. No arguements from me. Heck, play the boring Quinn. I`ll get a kick out of that. We`d lose for sure. HaHa!
well than we play our hearts out on sunday and tebow plays a great game but we end up losing to the stupid chargers. than we get 2nd draft pick. by the way what is the other teams schedules. the ones that have the same record as us.
by the way nfl net. reported tebow to start next week. so no quinn.
And if Moreno is out that could hurt us all the more. If he plays, let him dance.
How often do you go to the Super Bowl?
How often do you get a top 2 pick?
Actually in our case we go to SB’s way more often than we pick top 2, so let’s not throw it away on the last week of the season, just saying. I just hope SD comes to play, that’s what scares me, they just got eliminated from playoff contention and could have a huge letdown..
Socalbigbroncofan, type in (12/26 updated draft) and you`ll get the answer.
We are currently #2 with the tie breaker, but if we won and the teams with 5 wins all lose there would be 7 of us at 5-11, way too many teams for me to figure strength of schedule with all those, I’m not that bored haha, but odds are some of them would jump ahead of us.
I agree with Bay even though it would be nice to see SD get demolished by Tim Tebow i would rather see us loose and pick up Fairley to hopefully start building a top notch D-line that can get to the quarterback to make it easier on our DB’s its tough to cover when the QB has time to examine the field.
Bay, there are two games next week and all four teams are 5-10. So two teams for sure are going to win and be 6-10. So eliminate two of those teams to start with.
Thank you, this is our shot at gold, it would be a shame to miss out.
strandoftds, thanks.
bay if carolina is first with clausen do u think they go for luck if he is there?
I do carolina is desprite to replace Jake Delhome and the fans don’t think Clausen is it.
Thanks strand, that’s a good thing, so that means there could be 5 of us at 5-11, not 7, but of course if the Bills and Bengals lose, that’s another two teams ahead of us plus #1 Carolina, in the end it could be a HUGE difference if we win, don’t anyone fool themselves as I keep saying.
Week 17. Arizona vs S.F. and Detroit vs Minnesota. All with 5 wins each and go head to head.
If I were Carolina I would go Luck for sure, Claussen not only has not produced this year but he is kind of a hot head.
this explains in detail (12/26updateddraft) Type this in and you see layout.
bay u convinced me. i’m all about next year. lets draft some d.
We need to keep the draft order we have RIGHT NOW, period! All I want is a loss for New Year, LOL.
Amen to that!
If I keep preaching, they will come, haha.
And we do know the Allmighty is a Bronco fan.
Come on Sunday. Get here quickly.
We got real lucky this once already keeping our #2 pick despite a win, the odds of it turning out ok with another win are totally whacked, that’s just the truth of the matter.
Some of S.D. WR`s are jacked up. There RB also.
All I want for new years is a Denver Bronco’s D that look like it did in the first five games of the 2007 season.
Fairley or Bowers is fine with me.
That is for next year
Yes, I`m looking forward for next year. As in January 3. HaHa!
Draft day is Thursday, April 28.
Nobody actually responded to Bronco Turtle on the last page so I guess I will with one sentence…No Albert Haynesworth…everything else was feasible and good minus the whole Albert Haynesworth part…The guy is a cancer (And this is saying alot from a guy who loved Marshall). Does as he pleases, is lazy, decides when he wants to play and good luck restructuring that contract…Thats an instant Negative…The Redskins however would be happy to pawn him off on whichever sucker would take him. Also Champ hasn’t slowed down enough to put him at Safety yet…the guy has about 3 more good years at CB…But yes we should resign him
Baylin,
That was a funny post where u said we should throw the game by playing quinn. I agree he will stink it up and lose the game. Also loved your reasoning…so see if he will be a good back up to orton next year…or maybe we could audition him to see if any team is as stupid as we were to trade for him lol. Quinn may be a late bloomer tho…just not with the broncos….
I think Champ has played well this season besides the one chiefs game that we got up but thats because we were played back. We should resign him, he is teaching the young corners and is a reliable CB we dont have to gamble on in the draft.
Albert Haynesworth Doesn`t give a damn about football. All he cares about is the money. Fat, lazy, and no good.
Lazy, therefore he`s fat and no desire for PLAYING BALL.
Good wisdom Mikeyb1203.
Haynesworth!!! I didn’t even want to go there, what a waste of a football player…
Thank you my fiancee gets mad at me because i stay up late looking at anything that has to do with the bronco’s lol.
That might be a red flag as far as the wedding goes, LOL.
Lol no i think she is a keeper i converted her from a SD fan, and she loves Tebow.
The worst we can do isthe 5th pick with a win. We could also still have the #2 if the Bills, Cardinals and Bengals win. In strength of schedule, the Cardinals are the only one of the three that wouold draft ahead of us if these four teams tie.
So worst case scenario is #5 and best is #2. Let’s kick some Chargers a$$!!!!
Go BRONCOS!!!!
Look at who Bills and Cincy play, the Jets and Baltimore respectively i would rather not lose my pick.
The biggest thing about Champ is that he likes that we are going with Tebow now, so I would say that his chances of staying with us have gone from 10% to around 40%. Now the next big thing for him will be who we get as HC and at DC, that could be the make or brake deal with him, good D minded HC and the chances probably go up 60%, add a good DC and it might go all the way up to 70%. How do I come up with this crap? LOL.
broncofaninIL, where did you get that info? Sure would like to check it out, thanks.
I don’t i think he has faith that Denver will be a rising team in the next couple of years and i think he likes it in Denver especially playing around the energy of Tebow.
Doom will be back next year, right? that should help with our pass rush defense next year.
faninIL, so you must mean the Vikings, Browns, Cowboys, Lions, Texans and 49ers, all with 5 wins, all have more difficult strength of schedule than ours?
I would agree with all except the 49ers and maybe the texans.
I’m afraid your view of it is not as simplistic as you made it out to be, however I would love to know your sources. I would think we could slip back to the 6th or even 7th spot if only half of the team with 5 wins have easier schedule than ours, just saying. I guess I’ll have to do more research on it myself if you don’t want to share your source…
I’m all for getting this win against SD. Regardless of the outcome, we will still have a top ten pick, highest in years. After this tumultuous season, I’d love to ride off into the offseason with a little hope. Any glimmer of hope. No telling who will or won’t be here next season, I hope it means a lot to those men in Orange and Blue. It very well might be many of their last game as teammates. Something the last HC talked a lot about, but never could
deliver. So what if we drop from 2 to 6/7. A hopeful and optimistic offseason means way more then 1 potential player. Just my 2 pennies
GO BRONCOS, DEFENSE in2011
I only compared the division record to get the idea of what it could be.