Broncos Look To Keep Momentum Against San Diego

Sunday night, a national television audience fell in love with Denver Broncos signal-caller Brock Osweiler with the burgeoning 6’8″ star excelling on NBC’s Sunday Night Football , earning his second win in as many starts with a 30-24 win against the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.

With that said, Osweiler (57-93, 666 yards, 4 TD’s/2 INT’s) has been everything the Broncos have hoped he would be and perhaps a little more. Despite having a slow start against the Patriots, Osweiler completed 23 of 42 passes for 270 yards, a touchdown and an interception, doing much of his best work in the 4th Quarter and overtime.

When the Broncos were in dire straits, trailing 21-17 in the 4th Quarter, Osweiler led a 5-play 83-yard drive, capped off by a 4-yard touchdown pass to reserve receiver Andre Caldwell that gave the Broncos a 24-21 lead.

When the Patriots responded with a 47-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski as time expired in regulation, Osweiler led the Broncos to a 48-yard touchdown run by C.J. Anderson to end the game.

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The Broncos, now at 9-2, are leading the AFC West and in the running for one of the top two seeds in the AFC playoffs which would result in a first-round bye and home-field advantage for at least one round.

In any event, the Broncos are still richly blessed by a tremendous defense that is in the Top 5 in all major defensive categories, including first in net yardage defense surrendered (285.8 yards) and passing defense (197.1 yards) per game, third in rushing defense (88.7) and fourth in scoring defense (18.6).

Thus, in the event Osweiler should stumble, his defensive teammates are ready to make things hard on opponents.

They have a fascinating match-up Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium in what could likely be their last sojourn into San Diego as the lame-duck Chargers seem a likely candidate to migrate northward to Los Angeles.

The Chargers, sporting an AFC West-worst record of 3-8, have a chance to play spoiler against the Broncos the next five weeks of the season as they will play the Broncos twice in that span.

The Chargers’ star signal-caller Philip Rivers (23 TD’s/8 INT’s, completing 68.5 percent of his passes, 3,511 yards) is having a tremendous season but he’s the only San Diego player who fits that description.

The Broncos have traditionally done well at San Diego, only trailing the all-time series there 32-23 and with a win and the New England Patriots banged up, there is a great chance for the Broncos to perhaps sneak into the #2 seed Sunday.

There is a lot of football left to be played with five full weeks remaining but the Broncos, who have won 14 consecutive road games in the AFC West, are in great shape and Osweiler only seems to be getting better while reserves such as linebacker Shane Ray and receivers Cody Latimer and Bennie Fowler are all making big plays when it matters most.

Add all of this up and it seems the Denver Broncos are peaking at the right moment as December is upon us with the home stretch looming ever closer.