Revisiting the Broncos Past – Houston Texans

To help get Bronco Country through the TRUE offseason, I will be reviewing some past games against the teams the Broncos will face during the 2012 regular season.

After opening the season with two games in prime time, the Broncos will play their first afternoon game of the 2012 season when the Houston Texans visit Denver for only the third time.  Continue reading for a brief look at the first two games between the Texans and the Broncos in Denver.

Sunday, November 7 2004: In only their third season of existence, the Texans visited Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium for the first time and were easily handled by the Broncos.  Behind three Jake Plummer touchdown passes in the first half, the Broncos went into the locker room comfortably leading the Texans 24-7.  Plummer added another touchdown toss to Kyle Johnson in the third quarter, while Houston Texan running back Domanick Williams scored his second one-yard touchdown dive of the afternoon midway through the final quarter of the game.  The Broncos, who ended a two game losing streak with the win, improved their record to 6-3 with the 31-13 win and the Texans fell to 4-4.  Jake Plummer ended the day with stats that would make any professional quarterback proud – 16 for 24, 234 yards, four touchdown passes and no interceptions.  Despite a relatively quiet day with only three receptions for twenty-nine yards and one touchdown, Rod Smith broke two team records held by Shannon Sharpe during this game in the second quarter.  Smith set a new team record with his 676th career reception early in the second quarter, and then set another team record by grabbing his 56th career touchdown pass near the end of the first half.  Rod Smith will be inducted into the Bronco Ring of Fame during halftime of the September 23rd game against the Texans.

Sunday, December 26 2010: It is true that every dark cloud has a silver lining and in this case, the second half of the Houston Texan game was the silver lining of the Broncos gray cloud known as the 2010 season.  Three weeks removed from the firing of Josh McDaniels, the Broncos found themselves with a 3-11 record and near the end of one of the worst seasons in the team’s history.  Interim head coach Eric Studesville had yet to experience his first win and was looking for any spark that would ignite an organization that was in a dismal tailspin.  The spark he was looking for came in the form of the rookie quarterback from the University of Florida and the start of Tebow Time in the Rocky Mountains.  Trailing 23-10 at the start of the fourth quarter, Tim Tebow lead the Broncos on two touchdown drives of 74 and 76 yards that gave the Broncos a 24-23 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the game.  The first fourth quarter touchdown for the Broncos was a twenty-three yard touchdown pass from Tebow to Correll Buckhalter, while the second Bronco touchdown of the quarter was a six-yard run by Tebow himself.  The win was secured when Syd’Quan Thompson intercepted a deflected Matt Schaub pass with just over one minute remaining.  Unfortunately, the season ended with a loss one week later when the Chargers escaped Mile High with a 33-28 victory.  A long pass from Tebow to Brandon Lloyd on the last play of the game fell incomplete giving the Broncos a 4-12 record for the disastrous 2010 season.  Three days following the loss to San Diego the Broncos named John Elway Executive Vice President of Football Operations… his responsibility?  Stop the tailspin!

Go Broncos – beat Houston! (125 days and counting)

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