Broncos-Lions: The good, the bad and the ugly from Sunday’s win

The Broncos got back on the winning track in Week 16. At Empower Field at Mile High, Denver beat the Lions by a score of 27-17. They did not start out the game smoothly and had to make a comeback in the fourth quarter, but at the end of the day they got it done.

Broncos head coach Vic Fangio was impressed at the podium after the game.

“They’ve played hard. It’s a one-for-all and all-for-one mentality. They’ve got a brotherhood going. I love being around this team. Nobody likes our record, but this team is a good team,” Fangio said.

The Broncos are now 3-1 with rookie quarterback Drew Lock starting. They keep winning in different ways and are building momentum they can carry over to next season. Up next, the 2019 season wraps up with a home game against the Raiders.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, however, let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the Week 16 win.

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The Good

I have started the hashtag #FeedPhil on Twitter and had been tweeting for the Broncos to do that for weeks to no avail. On Sunday, we finally saw the Broncos do just that. Lindsay finished the game with 19 carries for 109 rushing yards and one touchdown.

This performance comes after Lindsay commented last week that the team needed to stick with the rushing attack and be more consistent than they were against the Chiefs (when Lindsay only got seven carries).

“It felt good. It just goes to show that we had to go through some times because we had to change up some of the linemen, because of injuries and illnesses. We kept on continuing to be consistent on it. The offensive line did a hell of a job today. Drew (Lock) did a great job commanding the huddle and we just stayed consistent this time with everything we did,” Lindsay said.

The offense can perform at a high level when Lindsay is producing. This is only the second 100-yard game of the season for Lindsay, and hopefully he can have a repeat performance against the Raiders in Week 17.

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The Bad

In a win like this, it’s difficult to find the “bad” and the “ugly” part of this article. However, there are some things in this contest I took issue with.

I would have liked to see more of Noah Fant. The Broncos 2019 first-round pick has been having a strong rookie season, but in this game the team didn’t get him involved much. That makes back-to-back games where Fant only caught two passes.

It wasn’t that long ago that Fant had more than 100 yards receiving and was the most-dangerous asset in the passing game. That was in Week 14 against the Texans, when Fant had four catches for 113 yards and one touchdown.

He’s not going to do that every week, but I’d like to see more than a couple of passes thrown his way per game. Even though he didn’t do much as a receiver on Sunday, Fant did look good as a blocker. That’s a part of his game that has really improved and developed over the course of his rookie season.

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The Ugly

There were several Broncos players that were sick with the flu this week. It started last week with Courtland Sutton and carried over to multiple players in Week 16.

Some players were able to play through the sickness, while some players were sidelined due to the bug. Lock commented after the game that he was still dealing with being sick, but he was able to get out there and play. Defensive end Shelby Harris (who had a great game) talked about the sickness after the game.

“Everybody is sick, I even woke up sick this morning, but everyone is just coming out and battling for each other. We’re a good team, things didn’t go our way at the beginning of the year, but everyone is just sticking the course and playing for each other. I feel like that’s what we saw out there on the field today,” Harris said.

Let’s hope everyone can get healthy and feel better as the team gets some time off this week to celebrate Christmas and the holiday season with their families.

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