Denver Broncos: What we learned in win against Oakland
Phillip Lindsay should be the starting running back
Running back Lindsay pulled off a 53-yard run in the second quarter, the bulk of his 107 rushing yards.
That should make his 7.6-yard average seem less impressive, right? Well, not exactly. Even without his 53-yard gain, Lindsay still averaged 4.1 yards per attempt.
In the end, having a long run as he did is always impressive. In comparison, the next-longest run by any Broncos player was Royce Freeman’s 14-yard gain.
Lindsay has carried the ball 29 times for 178 yards so far this season, while Freeman has 99 on 23 carries.
The number of carries is not drastically different. The production, however, is.
It remains to be seen if Lindsay will continue this trend down the stretch of the season. Maybe the Broncos have more planned for Freeman, their third-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Whatever the Broncos have planned, I fully expect that this is just the beginning of two great running backs’ careers.
Emmanuel Sanders is Case Keenum’s guy
Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders was phenomenal in the win.
He snagged all four of his targets for 96 yards. His performance put him over 200 yards on the season, with 231.
That puts him 150 yards ahead of the next leading receiver, Demaryius Thomas, who has 81 total receiving yards in two games.
Von Miller is still amazing
Not that anybody thought otherwise, but Broncos pass rusher Von Miller continues to be one of, if not the best linebacker in the league.
With 7:56 left in the first quarter, Miller got to Raiders quarterback Derek Carr and stripped Carr of the football. Unfortunately, the turnover didn’t stand, due to a Todd Davis penalty.
In the second quarter, with about 12:30 left, Miller got to Carr for the Broncos’ lone sack that counted. It was a third-down sack. Punt.
Miller now has four sacks through two games, after recording three in week one vs Seattle. This could be a record-setting year for Miller.
At this rate, he could set a career-high in sacks. His current season high is 18.5 sacks when he was in just his second year in the league.
Shaquil Barrett’s blocked extra point
As it ended up, linebacker Shaquil Barrett made the difference-making play with 35-seconds left in the first half.
The Raiders lined up for an extra point to extend their lead to 13-0. Except the football didn’t make it anywhere near the goalpost.
Barrett, lined up four players inside the line of scrimmage, got through his blocker and quickly made a move getting to the ball while it was already in the air.
With Denver’s 20-19 victory, that was literally the difference of the game.