Broncos finally show fight, fortitude to rally by Dolphins
DENVER — At last, the Denver Broncos showed some fight.
Pushed around, bullied and written off as just another finesse Peyton Manning team in recent weeks, the Broncos played angry as they rallied from an 11-point, fourth-quarter deficit for a 39-36 win against the Miami Dolphins.
These Broncos weren't soft. These Broncos were bruisers, and they reclaimed first-place in their competitive division by mauling the Dolphins with a resurgent running game. A week after rushing just nine times for 29 yards in a loss to the St. Louis Rams, the Broncos racked up 201 rushing yards against the NFL's No. 1-ranked defense.
And they did it without their top two tailbacks, with a trio of young, undrafted and unproven running backs, and an offensive line in turmoil. Denver's first four plays and five of their first six were all runs, with offensive coordinator Adam Gase making a deal with starter C.J. Anderson: Gain at least four yards, and he'll call another run play. It inspired Anderson in just his second career start, and it motivated the offensive line, a group that has seen three lineup changes since October.
"When they're hyped up like that, why would you not want to run behind that?" said Anderson, who had 167 yards and a touchdown.
NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
The Broncos' offensive identity certainly hasn't changed. This is still Peyton Manning's show — and he still threw four touchdowns in the win. It just needed a shift in attitude. That was the challenge issued by Denver's coaches last week: Block harder, play smarter, run tougher.
The Broncos understood that if they are going to remain competitive in the AFC, they needed more than Manning. Denver invested in defensive changes in the offseason to build a better overall team, but it took until desperation kicked in after the ugly loss to the Rams to fully commit to a more balanced offense.
"We got in a chunk-and-dunk game a week ago, and we needed to reel that back in," head coach John Fox said. "We just ran more. It's not about innovation — it's just about doing it."
These Broncos are still fallible — allowing 36 points at home proved that. But in a wild AFC playoff race, with 10 teams with at least six wins, the Broncos got a much-needed win to pull a game ahead of the Chiefs and the Chargers in the AFC West before next week's game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
Yet for much of Sunday afternoon, the Broncos could see their three-year stranglehold on the division, and their reign as the NFL's most dangerous offense, slipping away. Denver ran well enough early, but had to settle for just one field goal in the first quarter and didn't score again until a touchdown just before halftime.
In the meantime, Ryan Tannehill and the Dolphins offense carved up Denver's once-stout defense, while Miami was the team getting the breaks, none more significant that during a second-quarter drive in which Miami fumbled three times — and recovered all three times.
The gaffes added up for the Broncos, from an ill-advised replay challenge from Fox in the first quarter, to a missed 33-yard field goal by kicker Brandon McManus on the opening drive of the third quarter, and a fumbled punt return later in that quarter that resulted in a 10-point swing to the Dolphins.
Down 28-17 late in the third quarter, it was fair to wonder if the Broncos did indeed have the fortitude to rally. The quarter ended with a fourth-and-2. Gase called a run play into Manning's headset, and then called for Manning to change it to a different running play after approaching the line of scrimmage.
Manning stuffed the ball in Anderson's belly, left guard Orlando Franklin (the offensive lineman who took the brunt of the criticism over the past week) pulled, and Anderson burst free for a 20-yard gain. The Broncos went on to score 22 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones.
GALLERY: BEST OF WEEK 12 AROUND THE NFL
